Informix Machine Notes

                      =================================
                            MACHINE SPECIFIC NOTES
                                    FOR
                IBM Informix Database Server 12.10.FC3 PRODUCT RELEASE
                               ON Windows x64
                               DATE: 27 Feb 2014
                      =================================

OS Information : Built on Windows Server 2003 x64, Certified on Windows XP x64, 
                  Windows Server 2008 x64, Windows Vista x64,
                  Windows 7 x64, Windows 8 x64, and 
                  Windows Server 2012 x64.

System Requirements
===================

1.  This product is built on Windows 2003 with Service Pack 2 using the
    following compiler from Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (Version 9.0.21022.8):

        Microsoft Visual C++ 2008 91605-270-8320404-60087

2.  Operating system patches information for the IBM Informix Database Server
 
    Windows 2003:

        Service Pack 2

        948656 Fix for "A program that allocates a large block of contiguous 
               memory may not start or may intermittently fail in Windows 
               Server 2003 with Service Pack 2."

    Windows XP:

        Service Pack 2

        894472 Fix for "Third-party programs that require lots of memory do 
               not run in Windows XP Service Pack 2."

    For information about Microsoft service packs and patches, see the Microsoft
    Support web site at http://support.microsoft.com.

3.  Enable Connections on Windows Vista

    To enable connections between database servers on the Vista operating
    system, you must enable network discovery and NetBIOS over TCP/IP.

    To enable connections:

    1) From the Control Panel, double-click Network and Sharing.
    2) In the Sharing and Discovery section of the Network and Sharing Center,
       click Network discovery and then Turn on network discovery.
    3) In the Network section, click View Status next to the Local Area
       Connection.
    4) In the Local Area Connection Status dialog box, click Properties.
    5) In the Local Area Connection Properties dialog box, choose the
       appropriate Internet Protocol Version and click Properties.
    6) In the Internet Protocol Version Properties dialog box, click Advanced.
    7) On the WINS page of the Advanced TCP/IP Settings dialog box, click
       Enable NetBIOS over TCP/IP and then click OK.
    8) Continue clicking OK or Close until all dialog boxes are closed.

4.  Informix Server uninstallation

    Due to an issue in installer tool, the registry entries created by 
    installer will not be automatically removed after Informix server 
    uninstall. The work around is to cleanup existing registry entries under 
    HKLM->Software->Informix->DBMS.

5.  IBM Informix Database Server uses the libraries and utilities provided by
    the IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) for data encryption and Secure Sockets
    Layer (SSL) communication. The GSKit is bundled with the server and will
    be installed on your machine as part of the server installation process.
    Here are more details on the GSKit:

       a. The GSKit is also bundled with other IBM products and might
          already be present on your machine. If the GSKit was previously
          installed, but is older than version 8.0.50.17, Informix server 
          will upgrade the GSKit on your machine to version 8.0.50.17. If 
          GSKit is not installed, Informix server will install GSKit in 
          \Program Files\ibm\gsk8_64 directory on your machine.

       b. The GSKit installation directory must have 25 MB of free disk space.

6.  Using BladeManager 4.20

    If the GUI BladeManager wblademgr.exe is used, Microsoft .NET Framework v2 
    or higher is required to be installed on the system.

Check the following web site for the latest Windows system requirements
for IBM Informix Database Server:

    http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=630&uid=swg27013343


System Configuration
====================
 
1.  Location of Shared Memory
 
    The ONCONFIG variable SHMBASE is recommended to be set to the following:
 
        SHMBASE 0x80000000L

2.  Administrator permission for running server utilities

    On Windows Vista, Windows 2008 and Windows 7, you must run any 
    server utility commands with administrator permission: for example, 
    the 'oninit -iy' command to initialize the server.

    To run Informix utility commands as an administrator, from the Start menu, 
    choose the Informix server name and then choose "Run as administrator". 
    A command prompt with administrator permissions opens.


Feature Notes  (alphabetized by feature)
=============

1.  Informix Interface for TSM

    The Informix Interface DLL for TSM is installed as 
    
        %INFORMIXDIR%\bin\libtxbsa.dll  

    This interface is built with TSM API version 5.3.2.

    To use Tivoli Storage Manager with Informix databases, refer to IBM 
    Informix Backup and Restore Guide.

2.  IPv6 Support 

    The Informix database server supports Internet Protocol Version 6 (128 Bit
    Internet Addresses) as well as IPv4 (32 Bit Addresses).

    In order for the machine name that is specified in the SQLHOSTS registry
    to resolve to the correct IP address, the name services files on the
    Operating System should be correctly configured.

    For compatibility with earlier version of Informix client and server
    products, assign each host name with both an IPv4 address and an IPv6
    address. If the listener needs to be bound to an IPv4 address, and the
    name services resolve the name in the order of the IPv6 address followed
    by the IPv4 address, then an explicit IPv4 address needs to be put in the
    nodename field of server registry.

3.  J/Foundation (Java in the Server)
 
    J/Foundation supports the JRE 6.0 release from IBM Corporation.

    The JRE 6.0 is available under %INFORMIXDIR%\extend\krakatoa\jre and
    should be used with J/Foundation.

    To use this JRE, set the value of the ONCONFIG variable JVPJAVAHOME as
    follows:

        JVPJAVAHOME    <jvphome>\jre
            where <jvphome> is %INFORMIXDIR%\extend\krakatoa

    For IBM Informix Database Server ONCONFIG settings for J/Foundation,
    refer to "onconfig.std" in %INFORMIXDIR%\etc.

    Java Attach API
    ------------------
    There is a known defect (IZ73533) in the IBM Java SE Runtime Environment SR7
    where if the Attach API is enabled, it causes high CPU utilization. In order
    to avoid this behavior, the Attach API has been disabled by setting the
    following server ONCONFIG parameter:

        JVPARGS -Dcom.ibm.tools.attach.enable=no
 
4.  Large Memory Addressability (LMA)

    IBM Informix LMA provides the ability to support system configurations
    with greater than 4GB of RAM. 

    The values for the following ONCONFIG parameters are increased from
    32-bit limit by LMA support:

        - The maximum number of buffers in BUFFERPOOL is 2147483647.
  
        - The maximum of LRU queues for lrus field in BUFFERPOOL is 512.

        - The DS_TOTAL_MEMORY, which is the total memory available for
          decision support memory, is only limited by the amount of virtual
          memory available. The sort memory comes out of the DS_TOTAL_MEMORY
          memory and hence there is no explicit limit on the amount of sort
          memory.

        - The read ahead parameter RA_PAGES is only limited by the number of
          buffers and therefore can be any value less than 2147483647. The
          "chunk" write algorithm is not dependent on the amount of buffers
          or shared memory and can write as many pages in a single I/O as
          possible.

        - The maximum size of any shared memory segment is 4398046511104 bytes.

        - The maximum value for SHMADD is 4294967296 kilobytes.

    Refer to IBM Informix Administrator's Reference manual for the information 
    about the related configuration parameters setting.
 
5.  LDAP Authentication 

    This feature is set up and configured like the Pluggable Authentication
    Module (PAM) that is used on UNIX and Linux. Use the LDAP Authentication 
    Support module when you want to use an LDAP server to authenticate your 
    system users.

    The authentication module is a dynamic link library that resides in the 
    %INFORMIXDIR%\dbssodir\lib\security directory. The parameters of the module
    are listed in the %INFORMIXDIR%\dbssodir\pam.conf file. 

    The source code for a fully functional LDAP Authentication Module and 
    samples of the required configuration files are included in the 
    %INFORMIXDIR%\demo\authentication directory. You can modify the code for 
    your specific LDAP Authentication Support module.

6.  Network Protocols

    The following protocol(s)/interface(s) are supported on this platform:
 
      SOCKETS using TCP/IP
      IPC using named pipe

      To use SOCKETS with TCP/IP:

          a. The NETTYPE entry in the ONCONFIG file and the value data of
             PROTOCOL in the SQLHOSTS registry entry must contain "onsoctcp"

          b. To enable an IBM Data Server Client to connect to the database
             server, the NETTYPE entry in the ONCONFIG file and the value
             data of PROTOCOL in the SQLHOSTS registry entry must contain
             "drsoctcp"

             If a CLI or JCC client wants to connect to the database server
             through DRDA while supporting SQLI connections, you must add a
             DBSERVERALIASES entry to the ONCONFIG file that corresponds to
             the SQLHOSTS registry entry.

      To use IPC (interprocess communication) with named pipe:

          a. The NETTYPE entry in the ONCONFIG file and the value data of
             PROTOCOL in the SQLHOSTS registry entry must contain "onipcnmp".

    Remote 32-bit or 64-bit applications and tools (example: ESQL/C, 4GL, ISQL) 
    can only connect to the IBM Informix Database Server using the TCP/IP
    protocol.

    Local 32-bit applications and tools can connect to the 64-bit server using
    either the TCP/IP or the IPC named pipe protocols.

7.  OnLine Backup and Restore (ON-Bar)
 
    ON-Bar uses the XBSA interface. Some of the functions invoked by ON-Bar 
    are in a dynamic link library supplied by third party storage management
    vendors. For ON-Bar to access these functions, you must specify the library
    name and location in the BAR_BSALIB_PATH parameter in the ONCONFIG file.

    For example, if you are using PSM: 

         Set BAR_BSALIB_PATH to %INFORMIXDIR%\bin\libbsapsm.dll

    For example, if you are using TSM:

         Set BAR_BSALIB_PATH to %INFORMIXDIR%\bin\libtxbsa.dll 

8.  Secure Sockets Layer

    IBM Informix Database Server uses the libraries and utilities provided by
    the IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
    communication. 

9.  Simple Password Communications Support Module

    The name of the IBM Informix dynamic link library for Simple Password CSM
    on Windows is libixspw.dll. This dynamic link library is installed in
    %INFORMIXDIR%\bin.


Features not supported
======================

1.  MQ Messaging Database Extension

2.  Web Feature Service Database Extension

3.  Mapped users


Migrating to this 64-bit Version
================================

1.  To migrate to this 64-bit version from previous versions of the server
    (for Windows 64-bit as well as Windows 32-bit), refer to the migration 
    process described in the IBM Informix Migration Guide, Version 12.10.

    To revert from this 64-bit version to previous 64-bit versions refer to
    the IBM Informix Migration Guide, Version 12.10. 

    To revert from 64-bit 12.10 (this server) to 32-bit 12.10:
    ----------------------------------------------------------
    a. Disconnect all users from this server. The 64-bit server should be in 
       online mode.

    b. Run the following command as user informix or DBA:
            %INFORMIXDIR%\etc\conv\update.exe -32 -d

    c. Shutdown the 64-bit server.

    d. Bring up the 32-bit 12.10 server by setting your INFORMIXDIR
       environment variable to point to the 32-bit distribution.

    To revert from 64-bit 12.10 (this server) to 32-bit 11.70, 11.50, 11.10, 
    10.00:
    ------------------------------------------------------------------------
    a. Disconnect all users from this server. The 64-bit server should be
       in online mode.

    b. Run the following command as user informix or DBA:
            %INFORMIXDIR%\etc\conv\update.exe -32

    c. Revert to Version 11.70 or 11.50 or 11.10, or 10.00 32-bit by following the steps 
       described in the IBM Informix Migration Guide, Version 12.10, in the 
       section "Reverting from Informix Version 12.10".

2.  All UDRs and Database Extension modules that are built in 32-bit mode must 
    be re-compiled in 64-bit mode to work with the 64-bit server. If you have 
    any UDRs that were developed on 32-bit, make sure that the proper size 
    and alignment of the data structures are used for the UDRs to work 
    correctly on 64-bit after re-compilation in 64-bit mode.


Known Defects in this release
=============================

For information about known defects in this release, see: 
Click here for a list


Defects Fixed in this release
=============================

For information about defects fixed in this release, see: 
Click here for a list


(C) Copyright IBM Corp. 2007, 2014