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Administering
In addition to administering the database server, you can tune performance, replicate data, and archive data.
System administration
These topics contain concepts, procedures, and reference information for database and database server administrators to use for managing and tuning HCL Informix® database servers.
High-Performance Loader User's Guide
The describes how to use the HCL Informix® to load and unload large quantities of data efficiently to or from Informix databases.
Appendixes
This section contains additional reference information.
Picture strings
The HPL uses two types of picture strings: COBOL picture strings and other picture strings.

Administering
In addition to administering the database server, you can tune performance, replicate data, and archive data.
- System administration
  These topics contain concepts, procedures, and reference information for database and database server administrators to use for managing and tuning HCL Informix® database servers.
  - List of utilities
    HCL Informix® includes utilities and applications that you can use to perform administrative tasks and capture information about configuration and performance.
  - Administrator's Guide
    The Informix® Administrator's Guide provides the information required to administer HCL Informix.
  - Administrator's Reference
    The Informix® Administrator's Reference includes comprehensive descriptions of HCL Informix configuration parameters, the system-monitoring interface (SMI) tables in the sysmaster database, the syntax of database server utilities such as onmode and onstat, logical-log records, disk structures, event alarms, and unnumbered error messages.
  - DB-Access User's Guide
    The Informix® DB-Access User's Guide describes how to use the DB-Access utility to access, modify, and retrieve information from Informix database servers.
  - High-Performance Loader User's Guide
    The describes how to use the HCL Informix® to load and unload large quantities of data efficiently to or from Informix databases.
    - High-Performance Loader overview
    - Examples of loading and unloading jobs using the ipload utility
      This section shows how the components of the fit together. The section includes a step-by-step tutorial with two examples (for a load and an unload job) that use the ipload graphical user interface (GUI).
    - The ipload utility windows
      This section contains information about using the ipload utility.
    - Define HPL projects
      This section explains how to create a project and how projects are related. The individual components that you store in projects are described in later sections.
    - Configure the High-Performance Loader
      This section describes the process of configure the .
    - Define device arrays
      This section describes how to define and use device arrays with the .
    - Define formats
      This section describes the formats that the provides and shows how to prepare and edit the format component.
    - Define queries
      This section describe how to define queries including how to create, edit, and export and import queries.
    - Define maps
      This section describes how to define maps with the . It also describes the options that are available for defining maps.
    - Define filters
      This section describes how to create, edit, and delete filters.
    - Unload data from a database
      This section describes the Unload Job window.
    - Load data to a database table
      This section describes the load process.
    - The Generate options of the ipload utility
      This section describes the Generate options for the ipload utility.
    - The HPL browsing options
      This section describes the browsing options that are available for the .
    - Manage the High-Performance Loader
    - The onpload utility
      This section describes how to use the onpload utility.
    - The onpladm utility
      This section describes how to use the onpladm utility.
    - Appendixes
      This section contains additional reference information.
      - The onpload database
        The tables in the onpload database hold information that the onpload utility uses. This section describes the tables in the onpload database that you create or modify with ipload.
      - High-Performance Loader configuration file
        The default $INFORMIXDIR/etc/plconfig.std file on UNIX™ or %\INFORMIXDIR%\etc\plconfig.std on Windows™ is the high-performance loader configuration file.
      - Picture strings
        The HPL uses two types of picture strings: COBOL picture strings and other picture strings.
        Alphanumeric pictures
        Alphanumeric pictures control formatting of alphanumeric strings. An alphanumeric picture allows you to mix constant characters in the picture specification with the data being processed. You can also mask out unwanted character types.
        Numeric pictures
        Numeric pictures allow you to decode and reformat integer and decimal numeric values. A value is interpreted as a numeric value only if its picture string contains numeric picture-control characters.
        Date pictures
        When you load data, the date-format picture specifies how the formats the input data before it writes the data into a database. When you extract data from a database, the date-format picture specifies how the HPL reformats the date before it writes the date to the output.
      - Match condition operators and characters
        This section describes the operators that are available when you match text and it provides an example of each operator.
      - Custom-conversion functions
        Custom-conversion functions allow you to add additional data conversion capability to the . This feature lets onpload call a custom-conversion function during the data-conversion process.
      - The onstat -j option
        The -j option of the onstat utility provides special information about the status of an onpload job. The -j option provides an interactive mode that is analogous to onstat -i.
      - The HPL log-file and pop-up messages
        This section provides explanatory notes and corrective actions for unnumbered messages that print in the log file. The section also includes information specific to messages that are returned to standard output or appear in a pop-up dialog box (depending on the way you started onpload).
      - Custom drivers
        If your operating system supports dynamic linking of libraries, you can use a custom driver to extend the functionality of the to support different file types or access mechanisms.
      - Run load and unload jobs on a Windows™ computer
      - Conversion and reversion scripts for HPL database migration
        When you convert or revert to different versions of the database server, you can use conversion and reversion scripts to manually upgrade or revert your onpload database. You must use these scripts if you are required to upgrade between the same server versions.
  - Performance Guide
    The Informix® Performance Guide describes how to configure and operate your HCL Informix database server to improve overall system throughput and to improve the performance of SQL queries.
  - SNMP Subagent Guide
    The describes the Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and the software that you need to use SNMP to monitor and manage HCL Informix® database servers and databases.
  - InformixHQ Guide
    InformixHQ is a modern web console for visualizing, monitoring, and managing your Informix server instances. It is purpose built for ease-of-use, scaling out, and optimizing DevOps needs. It provides critical performance management capabilities, monitoring how key performance metrics are changing over time and tracking how efficiently Informix is running your workload even when you’ve stepped away from your screen. Its monitoring system feeds directly into a customizable alerting system so you can be immediately alerted via email, Twilio, or PagerDuty whenever an issue occurs on one of your Informix database server instances. InformixHQ is designed to be scalable to efficiently manage and monitor as many Informix database server instances as you need. Moreover, it's a tool that can be shared by the DBAs, the app developers, the ops engineers, and management and accessed from any desktop, laptop, or mobile device. InformixHQ is the centralized hub for graphical monitoring, alerting, and administration of your Informix database servers.
- Backup and Restore Guide
  The Informix® Backup and Restore Guide describes how to use the Informix ON-Bar and ontape utilities to back up and restore database server data. These utilities enable you to recover your databases after data is lost or becomes corrupted due to hardware or software failure or accident.
- Enterprise Replication
  The HCL® Informix® Enterprise Replication Guide describes the concepts of data replication using Informix Enterprise Replication, including how to design your replication system, as well as administer and manage data replication throughout your enterprise.

Picture strings

The HPL uses two types of picture strings: COBOL picture strings and other picture strings.

COBOL picture strings describe a data field in a file that a COBOL program generates. For a discussion of COBOL picture strings, see COBOL records. The other picture-string type reformats and masks character data. This appendix discusses the non-COBOL picture strings.

Picture strings allow you to insert constants, strip unwanted characters, and organize the position of character data. Picture strings have three basic types: alphanumeric, numeric, and date. Each type is handled uniquely. The picture-string type is determined by the control characters that you use to specify the picture.

You specify the picture string in the Picture text box in the Mapping Options window. For information about the Mapping Options window, see Mapping options.