Informix Dynamic Server, Linux Edition
Informix Software, a leading database vendor, was one of the first enterprise software companies to make a port of their industrial-strength software available on Linux. The version of Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) that runs on Linux differs from the flagship version that runs on commercial Unix operating systems such as Solaris only in some arcane areas.
Be forewarned however: Informix Dynamic Server is no lightweight to install or maintain. Nor is it inexpensive. This is commercial software in all its costly glory. You can download a 30-day free trial version. (If you prefer, you can order a CD with the trial version directly from Informix.)
After that, IDS is normally licensed on a per-user basis, with a fee of $99 per user, though in a practical production setting you would need to contact Informix to negotiate a license.
Many of the concepts involved in installing and running Informix Dynamic Server are comparable to those discussed earlier in this chapter in the section on PostgreSQL. However, unlike PostgreSQL, Informix Dynamic Server is a commercially supported product. If configured correctly, it has world-class performance characteristics. If this is what you need, IDS may be for you.
This section provides an overview of the steps required to install IDS, Linux Edition. For more, read the Installation Guide, available in PDF format at
http://www.informix.com/informix/products/linux/5274.pdf
Downloading of the "try and buy" version is handled by Intraware, at
To download IDS:
1. |
Open the Intraware "try and buy" page for IDS, Linux Edition, at http://www.intraware.com/membership/index.html?source=83 |
2. |
Complete the form on the page. |
3. |
Click Submit Membership Info. An Intraware logon ID and password will be emailed to you. |
4. |
Proceed to the download page, http://member.intraware.com/shop/trybuy/images.html?PLNE=000200, using your logon ID and password for access. |
5. |
Click Submit to accept the license terms. |
6. |
Select a file download method (for example, FTP). You will be provided with detailed instructions for your download, as well as a serial number and key. |
Tip
Make sure to write down the serial number and key. You will need these to install IDS.
Tip
The compressed installation file is about 19MB. You can download it in one file or in segments.
The installation package contains three products:
The Informix server
Informix-Connect, which is used to achieve client access to the server
The Informix Client Software Developer's Kit (SDK), which contains the programming interfaces for the server You do not need to install the Client SDK unless you are planning to create programming interfaces for your databases. By the way, the interface most commonly used with Informix is ESQL/C, a special C library that can be compiled with programs written in Gnu C.
To create an informix user:
1. |
Log on as root. |
2. |
Use the procedures outlined earlier in this chapter to create an Informix superuser named
informix
(see "To configure the Postgres user"). |
3. |
Make sure that the user informix belongs to a group you create named
informix.
|
To create an installation directory:
-
Using
mkdir
at the command line or in the Gnome File Manager, create a top-level location for the Informix products you will install. By default, this is /opt/informix, although you can change the location if you'd like.
To set environment variables:
-
Add settings for the PATH and INFORMIXDIR environment variables to the
.bash_profile files of the informix user and any other user that will be connecting to the database server. You should add these lines:
INFORMIXDIR=/opt/informix export INFORMIXDIR PATH=$PATH:$INFORMIXDIR/bin export PATH
To install the Informix software:
-
The Informix software is delivered in Red Hat's RPM package format. Running as root, use Gnome RPM to install the packages, as described in Chapter 3.
To run the Informix installation scripts:
1. |
Log on as root. |
2. |
Verify that an informix user and an informix group both exist. |
3. |
Verify that INFORMIXDIR is set to the installation directory by typing
$INFORMIXDIR
at the prompt. |
4. |
Run a script to install the client connection and Informix Dynamic Server modules by typing ./installconn –o |
5. |
Press Enter. |
6. |
When prompted, enter the serial number and key that you recorded at the Intraware site. |
7. |
Press Enter. A series of installation messages will appear on the screen. If no error messages appear, the installation was successful. |
Initializing IDS
After Informix Dynamic Server has been installed, there are a number of steps that must be taken to initialize Informix Dynamic Server for use. These are briefly outlined in the following section. For more detailed information, read the Informix Dynamic Server 7.3 Administrator's Guide, available in PDF format at
http://www.informix.com/answers/
To initialize IDS (general steps):
1. |
Set the required environmental variables (in addition to INFORMIXDIR and PATH, these include ONCONFIG and INFORMIXSERVER). These are generally placed in users' profile files. |
2. |
Create a sqlhosts file, which specifies database server names, connection types, and service names. |
3. |
Edit the onconfig file in the INFORMIXDIR/etc directory to set the parameters for the database engine. |
4. |
Start the database engine by typing oninit –I You should now be able to use client access tools, such as DB-Access, to connect to the database server, create tables, and run queries. |
Oracle for LinuxOracle is the leading vendor of enterprise database software. Several versions of Oracle products now run well on Red Hat Linux. Free trial versions are generally available. For more information, go to http://platforms.oracle.com/linux/ Oracle 8i is a database product intended specifically for Web development. It has now been ported to the Linux platform. Advanced features include:
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