Informix News - - CURSOR Service Distribution

IBM Sub-Capacity licensing for Informix and Db2

Processor-based licensing with full- and sub-capacity in virtual environments

If Informix or DB2 are to be used in virtual environments, the question of how to calculate licenses quickly arises with processor-dependent licenses. Is a calculation based on logical resources sufficient or must the physical hardware be fully licensed?

This article is a brief summary of the various IBM sources for licensing Informix or Db2 in virtual environments. It introduces the common processor-based licensing and the associated definitions for full- and sub-capacity. This article also provides a summary of the general requirements and important information about the verification requirements when using sub-capacity licensing.

Informix V14.10.xC2 Editions offer extended Limits

Informix Release 14.10.xC2 of September 2019

For the Informix Developer- and Informix Innovator-C Editions, IBM increases CPU and memory usage limits with release 14.10xC2.

The increase makes Informix even more attractive for small and medium-size applications.

The upgrade was made without a special announcement - through changes in the license terms with the release of Informix 14.10.xC2.

Customers who upgrade to this version with a new license or an update as part of their product maintenance, will benefit from the enhancements. The extensions do not apply to older releases, also because the limits are fixed in the source.

For more details on the conversion, with replacements and conversion factors, please click here ...

Announcement of IBM price adjustments for Informix 14.10

Preisupdate IBM announces worldwide price adjustments for its software portfolio with an announcement on September 10th. This includes Informix products from January 1, 2020.

For sales within the Federal Republic of Germany, Informix prices will be increased by approximately 3%. This applies to both new licenses and product maintenance (renewals).

Registered visitors can view IBM's prices for Informix 14.10 here!

An excerpt from the announcement can be found here:

IBM price adjustments for software effective January 1, 2020

Preisupdate

As in previous years, IBM announces a price adjustment for its software portfolio at the beginning of the new year. This will also affect the Informix and Db2 products, new licenses and renewals. The price adjustment is for sales within the Federal Republic of Germany, usually an increase of about 3%.

You can find detailed price information in our IBM Informix and IBM Db2 pricefiles.

The complete announcement and the intended base prices for download can be found here:

Informix 14.10 - Client-SDK support for 32-bit applications

tools Many applications based on Informix have two things in common: existential importance for the company and exceptionally long periods of use. It is not surprising that many long-established solutions are available as 32-bit versions.

With the introduction of Informix 14.10 in April 2019 and the current Client-SDK 4.5, HCL and IBM no longer offer 32-bit portings for the new versions.

For software engineering reasons, many 32-bit applications can only be ported to 64-bit with great effort. Will these applications not be able to run on Informix 14.10 in the future?

The main question is, will 32-bit applications continue to be supported, and if so, for how long?

CURSOR recognized this problem early and pointed out the need for a solution to IBM and HCL.

Setting up a secure SSL connection for Informix servers
and clients

Informix SSL In public, but also in private networks, there is a potential risk that a connection between a database server and a client can be intercepted.

The best way to prevent eavesdropping is to establish an encrypted connection. Informix provides an easy way to set up secure SSL connections. Server and clients have a private key that is exchanged before the connection is established. The key is stored both on the server and on the client in an encrypted keystore.

This article describes how to set up a secure SSL connection for Informix servers and clients with a few commands.

The starting point for this article is based on the development of the CURSOR Admin-Scout. Informix administration with the Admin-Scout is done classically via a server-client connection. For us it was an important concern to secure this connection according to approved techniques. The second part of this article therefore describes how to set up an SSL connection between the database server and the Admin-Scout.