Informix Machine Notes
Here you find actual Machine Notes to Informix Products that we prepared for you.
=================================
MACHINE SPECIFIC NOTES
FOR
IBM Informix Dynamic Server 11.50.UC7 PRODUCT RELEASE
On Linux Intel
DATE: 10 May 2010
=================================
OS Information : Built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4 (Nahant Update 3).
Certified on RHEL 5, SUSE SLES 10 and 11, Asianux 2.0
and 3.0, Ubuntu Server Edition 6.06.1 and 8.04 LTS,
Debian 4.0 and 5.0, on i686 and x86_64 (EM64T/AMD64)
System Requirements
===================
1. This product was built on Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 4
(Nahant Update 3, Kernel: 2.6.9, Glibc: 2.3.4) for i686 compatible
processors. The i686 version of glibc is required. The following
compilers were used:
gcc and c++ compiler 3.4.5 20051201 (Red Hat 3.4.5-2)
The following packages have to be installed on your Linux system:
libaio-0.3.105
libgcc-3.4.5
libstdc++-3.4.5
ncurses-5.4
pam-0.77
This product has been certified on:
- Red Hat Enterprise Linux ES release 5 (Kernel: 2.6.18, Glibc: 2.5)
for i686 and x86_64 (EM64T/AMD64). The following packages have to be
installed:
libaio-0.3.106
libgcc-4.1.1
libstdc++-4.1.1
ncurses-5.5
pam-0.99.6.2
- SUSE SLES 10 (Kernel: 2.6.16, Glibc: 2.4) for i686 and x86_64
(EM64T/AMD64). The following packages have to be installed:
libaio-0.3.104
libgcc-4.1.0
libstdc++-4.1.0
ncurses-5.5
pam-0.99.3.0
- SUSE SLES 11 (Kernel: 2.6.27, Glibc: 2.9) for i686 and x86_64
(EM64T/AMD64). The following packages have to be installed:
libaio-0.3.104
libgcc43-4.3.3
libstdc++43-4.3.3
ncurses-utils-5.6
pam-1.0.2
- Asianux 2.0 (Kernel: 2.6.9, Glibc: 2.3.4) for i686 and x86_64
(EM64T/AMD64). The following packages have to be installed:
libaio-0.3.103
libgcc-3.4.3
libstdc++-3.4.3
ncurses-5.4
pam-0.77
- Ubuntu Server Edition 6.06.1 LTS (Kernel: 2.6.15, Glibc: 2.3.6) for
i686 and x86_64 (EM64T/AMD64). The following packages have to be
installed:
bc 1.06
libaio1 0.3.104
libgcc 4.0.3
libncurses 5.5
libpam 0.79
- Debian 4.0 (Kernel: 2.6.18, Glibc: 2.3.6) for i686 and x86_64
(EM64T/AMD64). The following packages have to be installed:
libaio1 0.3.106
libgcc 4.1.1
libncurses 5.5
libpam 0.79
2. System Specific Update level on x86_64 (EM64T/AMD64) for KAIO problem
A problem is found when IDS running on RHEL 4 for x86_64 with update
level below 4. This is tracked as Red Hat bugzilla bug number 86891
(RIT86891- "32bit program using AIO io_queue_init returns -22 in 64bit
system").
When IDS is suffering from this OS defect (i.e. a 32-bit IDS version in
RHEL 4 below UL4 and using KAIO), the server will give an assertion
failure, and the instance will not start, and print the following message
in the server log:
09:49:54 Assert Failed: initializing KAIO failed
09:49:54 Who: Session(1, xyz@abc, 0, (nil))
Thread(14, kaio, 0, 1)
File: kaioapi.c Line: 246
09:49:54 Results: io_queue_init(32768) failed returning -22, errno = 0
09:49:54 Stack for thread: 14 kaio
A circumvention in this case can be to disable KAIO. The fix is to upgrade
RHEL 4 for x86_64 to at least update 4.
3. The UNIX graphical tools ipload, onperf and xtree only require
OpenMotif runtime libraries version 2.2.x. The minimum version is
2.2.3, i.e. openmotif-2.2.3 or openmotif-libs-2.2.3.
4. The Korn shell is required for the ISM and IDS alarmprogram scripts.
Install it as /bin/ksh. On Ubuntu Server Edition, pdksh needs to be
installed.
If the product runs on Ubuntu Server Edition x86_64, the following
32-bit packages are required:
libc6-i386
libncurses
The 32-bit libncurses is missing and not packaged, you need to copy
it from a i386 (32bit) installation: /lib/libncurses.so.5 to x86_64
32-bit compat libs: /lib32/libncurses.so.5.
If the product runs on Debian 4.0 x86_64, the following 32-bit packages
are required:
libc6-i386
lib32ncurses5
5. If a suitable library libaio.so.1 is found, IBM Informix Dynamic Server
enables Kernel Asynchronous I/O (KAIO) automatically. Otherwise KAIO is
disabled. The minimum version of libaio is 0.3.103.
6. The High Performance Loader utilities, onpload and ipload, require a
minimum of 35 MB of memory and 70 MB of swap space in order to run.
7. IBM 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 7.0.4.27, IDS will upgrade the
GSKit on your machine to version 7.0.4.27. If GSKit is not
installed, IDS will install GSKit in /usr/local/ibm/gsk7
directory on your machine.
b. The GSKit installation directory must have 25 MB of free disk space.
c. One of the following packages must be installed on your system:
RHEL 4 - compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-47.3 or later
RHEL 5 - compat-libstdc++-33-3.2.3-61 or later
d. The RPM Package Manager is required to be installed on the system.
Check the following web site for the latest Linux system requirements for IBM
Informix Dynamic Server:
http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/linux/ids.html
System Configuration
====================
1. Kernel Parameters
The values of the kernel parameters that were used for testing this
product are given below. These values might need to be tuned depending
on the application and availability of system resources. They can
either be dynamically changed in the /proc file system or are defined
in the kernel sources and can be changed by rebuilding the kernel.
SHMMAX: 33554432
SHMMIN: 1
SHMMNI: 128
SHMSEG: 128
SHMALL: 4194304
SEMMNI: 128
SEMMSL: 250
SEMMNS: 32000
SEMOPM: 32
- The value of the kernel parameter "SEMMSL" should be set to at least
100. This is the maximum number of semaphores per set.
2. Location of Shared Memory
The ONCONFIG variable SHMBASE is set to the following:
SHMBASE 0x44000000L
- SHMBASE can also be set to start above the shared library addresses.
When doing so, ensure that dynamically loaded shared libraries
do not collide with the shared memory segments.
The address space layout can be checked by the following command:
$ cat /proc/<pid of oninit process>/maps
- Some Linux distributions (e.g. SUSE SLES 10) provide a way to dynamically
change the default start address for shared libraries on a per-process
basis. This feature is available if the file /proc/$$/mapped_base
exists.
To change the start address for shared libraries of the oninit processes,
the new start address needs to be specified by the user root in the shell
from where oninit is started. For example, the following sets the start
address of shared libraries to 0xB0000000L:
$ echo $$
29712
$ su root
Password:
# echo 0xB0000000 > /proc/29712/mapped_base
# exit
$ oninit
3. JRE Shared Libraries
In order to ensure the JRE shared libraries are loaded properly, the
following steps are necessary:
a. Add the following lines at the end of /etc/ld.so.conf
<$INFORMIXDIR>/extend/krakatoa/jre/bin
<$INFORMIXDIR>/extend/krakatoa/jre/bin/classic
<$INFORMIXDIR>/extend/krakatoa/jre/lib
This assumes the bundled JRE in $INFORMIXDIR/extend/krakatoa/jre
is used. Substitute <$INFORMIXDIR> by the value of your
INFORMIXDIR environment variable.
c. Run ldconfig as root
# ldconfig
Feature Notes (alphabetized by feature)
=============
1. High Performance Loader
User-defined conversion routines must be provided in a dynamic, shared
library called ipldd11a.so. This library is installed in the
$INFORMIXDIR/lib directory. You can set the location of this file with
the HPL_DYNAMIC_LIB_PATH configuration parameter in file pointed to by
PLCONFIG environment variable. For more details, refer the manual
"High-Performance Loader User's Guide".
Onpload will use shared memory during its execution. It will allocate
memory beyond the address for the server, leaving room for server shared
memory expansion.
Depending on the location of the shared libraries, OS stack and etc., a
suitable location of pload shared memory spaces needs to be determined.
Linux system administrator is the best person to find the correct values
for PLOAD_SHMBASE for his particular system. The suggestive values for
PLOAD_SHMBASE could be 0x10000000L, or 0x44000000L.
2. IPv6 Support
IBM Informix Server supports Internet Protocol Version 6 (128 Bit Internet
Addresses) as well as IPv4 (32 Bit Addresses).
In order for the machine name specified in the SQLHOSTS file to resolve
to the correct IP address, the name services files on the operating system
should be correctly configured. If the machine has IPv6 address configured
and the listener thread is bound to an IPv6 address, then the name
resolution files /etc/nsswitch.conf should be configured to fetch IPv6
address. Also use the appropriate /etc/hosts setting if local machine
settings are used.
For compatibility with older IBM Informix client and server products,
assign the same hostname 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 IPv4 address,
then an explicit IPv4 address needs to be put in nodename field of SQLHOSTS
file. Client applications should also use the same setting.
3. ISMP - InstallShield Multi-Platform
A JRE is embedded in the installation program. If you have problems with
the embedded JRE, you can use your own. The minimum recommended JRE version
is 1.4.2.
4. J/Foundation (Java in the Server):
J/Foundation supports the JRE 5.0 release from IBM Corporation, which uses
the Linux native threads based Java Virtual Machine.
JRE 5.0 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 developing Java UDRs used with J/Foundation, use the JDK 5.0, which
can be downloaded from:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/eclipse/
For IBM Informix Dynamic Server ONCONFIG settings for J/Foundation,
refer to "onconfig.std" in $INFORMIXDIR/etc.
5. Kernel Asynchronous I/O (KAIO)
KAIO is enabled by default on this platform. It can be disabled by setting
the environment variable KAIOOFF=1 in the environment of the process that
starting the server.
When using KAIO, it is recommended to run poll threads on separate VPs by
specifying NET as VP class in the NETTYPE onconfig parameter, e.g.
NETTYPE ipcshm,...,...,NET or
NETTYPE soctcp,...,...,NET
On Linux, there is a system wide limit of the maximum number of parallel
KAIO requests. The file /proc/sys/fs/aio-max-nr is containing this value.
It can be increased by the Linux system administrator, e.g. by
# echo new_value > /proc/sys/fs/aio-max-nr
The current number of allocated requests of all OS processes is visible
in /proc/sys/fs/aio-nr.
By default, IBM Informix Dynamic server is allocating half of the maximum
number of requests, and assigns them equally to the number of configured
CPU VPs. The number of requests allocated per CPU VP can be controlled by
the environment variable KAIOON, by setting it to the required value before
bringing up the server. The minimum value for KAIOON is 100. If Linux is
about to run out of KAIO resources, e.g. when dynamically adding many CPU
VPs, warnings will be printed to the online.log file. In this case, the
Linux system administrator should add KAIO resources as described above.
6. MQ DataBlade Module
The MQ DataBlade module provides mechanism for data exchange between
IDS and queues managed by Websphere MQ.
MQ DataBlade requires minimum version 6.0 of Websphere MQ to be installed.
7. Network Protocols
The following protocols and interfaces are supported on this platform:
SOCKETS using TCP/IP
IPC using stream pipe (implemented using Unix Domain Sockets)
To use SOCKETS with TCP/IP:
a. NETTYPE in the ONCONFIG file and the nettype field in the
sqlhosts file entry must contain "onsoctcp".
b. To enable an IBM Data Server Client to connect to Informix
Dynamic Server, NETTYPE in the ONCONFIG file and the value data
of protocol in the sqlhosts file entry must contain "drsoctcp"
If a CLI or JCC client wants to connect to IDS via DRDA while
supporting SQLI connections you could add a DBSERVERALIASES entry
to ONCONFIG which corresponds to the sqlhosts file.
To use IPC (interprocess communication) with stream pipe:
a. NETTYPE in the ONCONFIG file and the nettype field in the
sqlhosts file entry must contain "onipcstr".
Fast poll is supported with TCP/IP and stream pipe interfaces. FASTPOLL
in the ONCONFIG file can be set to 0 to disable the fast poll. By default
the fast poll is enabled (value is 1).
The protocol used for supporting MaxConnect on this platform is "onsocimc".
8. Online Backup and Restore (ON-Bar)
ON-Bar uses the XBSA interface. Some of the functions invoked by ON-Bar
are in a shared library supplied by third party storage management vendors.
For ON-Bar to access the functions, the library must be installed in one of
the three ways noted below:
a. Rename the library to $INFORMIXDIR/lib/ibsad001.so
b. Create $INFORMIXDIR/lib/ibsad001.so as a symbolic link to the
library.
c. Set the BAR_BSALIB_PATH parameter in $INFORMIXDIR/etc/$ONCONFIG
to the full pathname of the library.
9. OnSNMP
The SNMP agent for OnSNMP is based on SNMP Research (SNMPR).
10. Optical
The Optical feature has not been tested with the Optical Simulator.
The name of IBM Informix shared library for Optical on Linux is
"iosm11a.so". This library must be located in $INFORMIXDIR/lib (or
must have a link provided in $INFORMIXDIR/lib).
Refer to the "Optical Subsystem Guide" for more information about
enabling optical functionality.
11. Pluggable Authentication Module (PAM)
PAM functionality is supported on Linux operating system. The PAM is
dependent on the libpam.so library supplied by the Operating System vendor.
Use of PAM can be enabled or disabled by the system administrator. By
default, IBM IDS will use the traditional authentication mechanism in
order to avoid widespread changes required by the users.
The PAM service identifies the PAM module. This PAM module typically
resides in /usr/lib/security and its parameters are listed in
/etc/pam.conf.
12. Processor Affinity
The processor affinity feature, that allows the pinning of a CPU VP
processor to a physical processor in a multi-cpu configuration, is
supported on this platform.
13. Raw Character Devices
Some Linux distributions support binding a raw character device to a
block device. Any block device may be used. IBM Informix Dynamic Server
supports using raw character devices.
14. Secure Sockets Layer
IBM Informix Dynamic Server uses the libraries and utilities provided by
the IBM Global Security Kit (GSKit) for Secure Sockets Layer (SSL)
communication. The GSKit provides iKeyman utility (gsk7cmd, gsk7ikm)
and a non-java utility (gsk7capicmd) for managing digital certificates
necessary for SSL communication.
a. Product prerequisite for iKeyman utility:
The iKeyman utility requires the IBM Java Runtime Environment
(JRE) or IBM Java Development Kit (JDK) version 1.3.1, 1.4.1 or
higher with the Java Cryptography Extension (JCE) security package.
b. Environment for iKeyman utility:
- JAVA_HOME must be set to the JRE/JDK installation directory
- PATH must include <JRE/JDK installation>/jre/bin
- CLASSPATH must include <GSKit installation>/classes/cfwk.zip,
<GSKit installation>/classes/gsk7cls.jar and
<JRE/JDK installation>/jre/lib/ext/ibmpkcs11.jar
c. Before uninstalling GSKit, verify that it is not needed on your
system. It is possible that software other than Informix Dynamic
Server requires GSKit. Uninstall by identifying and removing GSKit
packages using the command-line interface:
Run rpm command with the -qa option to obtain a list of installed
GSKit packages with their exact names.
For example:
rpm -qa | grep gsk
As root user run the rpm command to remove each package as needed.
For example:
rpm -ev gsk7bas-7.0.4.27
d. If you want to restore Secure Sockets Layer capability after you
have uninstalled GSKit, see the readme file in $INFORMIXDIR/gskit
for how to install GSKit.
15. Simple Password Communications Support Module
The name of the IBM Informix shared library for Simple Password CSM
on Linux is libixspw.so.
Features not supported
======================
1. DataBlade module registration using the blademgr utility with a Secure
Sockets Layer (SSL) connection. Use the built-in SQL SYSBldPrepare( )
function to register the DataBlade module instead.
Known Defects
=============
Refer to section I in doc/ids_defects_11.50.txt for the information
regarding known issues.
Defects Fixed in current Release
================================
Refer to section II in doc/ids_defects_11.50.txt for the information
regarding defects fixed in this release.
Defects Fixed in Previous Releases
==================================
Refer to sections III to VII in doc/ids_defects_11.50.txt for the information
regarding defects fixed in previous release.
(C) Copyright IBM Corp. 2002, 2010
