Informix Machine Notes

                      =================================

                      =================================
                            MACHINE SPECIFIC NOTES
                                    FOR
                IBM Informix Database Server 14.10.FC7 PRODUCT RELEASE
                               ON Windows x64
                               DATE: 23 Oct 2021
                      =================================

OS Information : Built on Windows 2016 x64..
                 Certified on Windows 2019.

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

1.  This product is built on Windows 2016 using the following compiler from
    Microsoft Visual Studio 2017:

        Microsoft Visual C++ 2017

2.  Informix Dynamic Server uninstallation

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

3.  Installation Prerequisite on Windows 2016 or Later Versions

    User may need to temporarily turn off User Account Control(UAC) security
    before you install Informix Dynamic Server.

    For information about how to create groups, add users to groups, and
    turn off User Account Control, see your Windows documentation.

4.  Informix Dynamic 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 8.0.55.25, the Informix
          server installation will upgrade the GSKit on your machine to
          version 8.0.55.25. If GSKit is not installed, the Informix
          server installation will install GSKit in the directory
          \Program Files\ibm\gsk8_64 on your machine.

       b. The GSKit installation directory must have 35 MB of free disk space.

Check the following web site for the latest Windows system requirements
for Informix Dynamic 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, 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
=============

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 the IBM Informix Backup and Restore Guide.

2.  IPv6 Support

    The Informix Dynamic 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)

    The IBM Runtime Environment, Java(TM) Technology Edition, Version 8.0
    release is installed in $INFORMIXDIR/extend/krakatoa/jre and should be
    used with the J/Foundation component.

    A Java user-defined routine (UDR) runs in a Java virtual processor. Use
    the VPCLASS configuration parameter to specify the number of virtual
    processors for the server. You configure Java virtual processors in
    the "Java configuration parameters" section of the onconfig configuration
    file. The default onconfig.std file is in the $INFORMIXDIR/etc directory.

    To develop Java UDRs for the server on this platform, use Java Platform,
    Standard Edition Development Kit (JDK) 8 or an earlier version according
    to Java compatibility guidelines. That kit can be downloaded from https://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/downloads/jdk8-downloads-2133151.html.

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 configuration 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 Informix Dynamic 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.  XML User-Defined Routines

    You cannot run XML UDRs at large memory segments (VX class) on this
    platform.

    To avoid XML UDR execution failure, configue and adjust the following
    Informix Dynamic Server configuration parameters in the configuration
    file:

        PRELOAD_DLL_FILE -
             Specify the path name for a shared library file that is
             pre-loaded when the server is started.

        BUFFERPOOL -
             Adjust the memory field to a lower value.

        SHMVIRTSIZE -
             Adjust it to a lower value.

9.  Secure Sockets Layer

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

10. 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.  Web Feature Service Database Extension

2.  Mapped users

3.  Rolling upgrades to Informix Dynamic Server version 14.10.xC2 and 14.10.xC6
    are not supported.

    Rolling upgrades are not supported in Informix Dynamic Server version
    14.10.xC2 and 14.10.xC6. Migration to this version from a previous version
    requires changes to disk structures, and the conversion process is
    incompatible with a rolling upgrade. When upgrading HDR and RSS secondary
    servers to version 14.10.xC2 or 14.10.xC6, you must follow the steps listed
    in the on-line documentation under "Migrating an offline cluster to a
    new major version."


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

For information about defects fixed in this release, see:
http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=ibm10870226


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