Welcome
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.
Administrator's Reference
The HCL® 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.
Appendixes
Database server files
Database server files are created in default directories, or in a directory that the relevant configuration parameter specifies. A database administrator might need to edit or examine the content of files that are used by the database server.

HCL Informix® V15.0.0 documentation
Welcome to the documentation for HCL Informix® 15.0.0 and related client tools and products.
Product overview
HCL Informix® is a fast and scalable database server that manages traditional relational, object-relational, and dimensional databases. Its small footprint and self-managing capabilities are suited to embedded data-management solutions.
Installing
These topics describe how to install HCL Informix® database servers, client products, and modules.
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 HCL® Informix® Administrator's Guide provides the information required to administer HCL Informix.
  - Administrator's Reference
    The HCL® 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.
    - Configuring and monitoring Informix®
    - Administrative Utilities
    - SQL Administration API
    - Appendixes
      - Database server files
        Database server files are created in default directories, or in a directory that the relevant configuration parameter specifies. A database administrator might need to edit or examine the content of files that are used by the database server.
      - Troubleshooting errors
        Occasionally, a series of events causes the database server to return unexpected error codes.
      - Event Alarms
        The database server provides a mechanism for automatically triggering administrative actions based on an event that occurs in the database server environment. This mechanism is the event-alarm feature.
      - Messages in the database server log
        Unnumbered messages are printed in the database server message log (online.log). The error messages include corrective actions.
      - Limits in Informix®
        This topic lists the system-level and table-level parameter limits, the system defaults, and the access capabilities of Informix®.
  - DB-Access User's Guide
    The HCL® Informix® DB-Access User's Guide describes how to use the utility to access, modify, and retrieve information from 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.
  - Performance Guide
    The HCL® 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 HCL® Informix® Backup and Restore Guide describes how to use the HCL Informix 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 describes the concepts of data replication using HCL Informix® Enterprise Replication, including how to design your replication system, as well as administer and manage data replication throughout your enterprise.
Migrating and upgrading
You can upgrade to the 15.0.0 release of HCL Informix® or migrate from other database servers to Informix. Upgrading is an in-place migration method that uses your existing hardware and operating system software. Some changes to the Informix database server can affect upgrading from a previous release.
Client APIs and tools
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of client APIs to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Embedding Informix®
When you embed HCL Informix®, you can use enterprise-class high-availability and high performance with embeddability features such as easy programmability, a small disk and memory footprint, and silent deployment.
Extending Informix®
Beyond standard relational database objects, HCL Informix® can be extended to handle specialized data types, access methods, routines, and other objects. Informix includes many built-in extensions that are fully integrated in the database server. Informix also provides modules, which are packages of extended database objects for a particular purpose and that are installed separately from the database server. Alternatively, you can create your own user-defined objects for Informix.
Data warehousing
In addition to designing and implementing Informix® dimensional databases, you can use tools to create data warehouse applications and optimize your data warehouse queries.
Designing databases
The first step in creating a relational database is to construct a data model, which is a precise, complete definition of the data you want to store. After you prepare your data model, you must implement it as a database and tables. To implement your data model, you first select a data type for each column and then you create a database and tables and populate the tables with data. You can also implement fragmentation strategies and control access to your data.
JSON compatibility
You can use the popular JSON-oriented query language created by MongoDB to interact with data stored in HCL Informix®.
Security
You can secure your Informix® database server and the data that is stored in your Informix databases. You can encrypt data, secure connections, control user privileges and access, and audit data security.
SQL programming
You can use the HCL Informix® implementation of the SQL language to develop applications for Informix database servers.
Troubleshooting HCL Informix®
Several troubleshooting techniques, tools, and resources are available for resolving problems that you encounter in your HCL Informix® database server environment.

Database server files

Database server files are created in default directories, or in a directory that the relevant configuration parameter specifies. A database administrator might need to edit or examine the content of files that are used by the database server.

Database server files that you can use lists database server files that you might need to look at, copy, edit, move, or delete (except where noted).
Database server files that are for internal use only lists database server files that are for internal use only. You must not edit, move, or delete these files.

Table 1. Database server files that you can useThis table lists the files that you might refer to or use when you configure and use the database server.
File name	Directory	Purpose	Created
af.`xxx` `xxx` identifies a specific assertion failure	$INFORMIXDIR/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\tmp (Windows™) Specified by DUMPDIR configuration parameter	Assertion-failure information	By the database server
ac_msg.log	/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	The message log for the archecker utility	By the database server
ac_config.std	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Template for archeckerparameter values	By the database server
bar_act.log	/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™) Specified by the BAR_ACT_LOG configuration parameter	activity log	By
bar_dbug.log	/usr/informix/ (UNIX™) \usr\informix\ (Windows™) Specified by the BAR_DEBUG_LOG configuration parameter	debug log	By
bldutil.`process_id` (UNIX™) bldutil.out (Windows™)	/tmp (UNIX™) \tmp (Windows™)	Error messages about building the sysutils database	By the database server
buildsmi.out (UNIX™) buildsmi_out.`%INFORMIXSERVER%` (Windows™)	/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Error messages about building the sysmaster database	By the database server
concdr.sh	$INFORMIXDIR /etc/conv (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR% \etc\conv (Windows™)	Converts the syscdr database during an upgrade	By the database server
core (UNIX™)	Directory from which the database server was started	Core dump	By the database server
gcore.`xxx` (UNIX™)	$INFORMIXDIR/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\tmp (Windows™) Specified by DUMPDIR configuration parameter	Assertion failure information	By the database server
.informix (UNIX™)	User's home directory	Set personal environment variables	By the user
informix.rc (UNIX™)	$INFORMIXDIR/etc	Set default environment variables for all users	By the database administrator
InstallServer.log (Windows™)	C:\temp	Database server installation log	By the database server
ixbar.`servernum`	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Emergency boot file that is used in a cold restore	By
jvp.log	/urs/informix Specified by JVPLOGFILE configuration parameter	Messages from the Java™ virtual processor	By the database server
.jvpprops	urs/informix/extend/krakatoa Specified by JVPPROPFILE configuration parameter	Template for Java™ VP properties	During installation
oncfg_ `servername`.`servernum`	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Configuration information for whole-system restores by ON-Bar	By the database server
online.log	$INFORMIXDIR/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR% (Windows™) Specified by the MSGPATH configuration parameter	Database server message log, which contains error messages and status information	By the database server
onconfig	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Configuration information	By the database administrator or the database server administrator
onconfig.std	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™)	Template for configuration parameter values Important: Do not move, modify, or delete the onconfig.std file unless instructed to do so by IBM® Software Support. However, you may make a copy of the onconfig.std file to create a customized configuration file, and then move the copy to another location.	During installation
psm_act.log	/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™) Specified by the PSM_ACT_LOG configuration parameter	Log file for	By
pua.map	$INFORMIXDIR/gls/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\gls\etc\(Windows™)	Mapping file for displaying characters in Unicode Private-Use Area (PUA) ranges.	By the user
revcdr.sh (UNIX™) revcdr.bat (Windows™)	$INFORMIXDIR/etc/conv (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc\conv(Windows™)	Reverts the syscdr database to an earlier format	By the database server
shmem.`xxx`	$INFORMIXDIR/tmp (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\tmp (Windows™) Specified by DUMPDIR configuration parameter	Assertion-failure information	By the database server
sm_versions.std	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Identifies storage manager in use	During installation
sqlhosts.`servername`	$INFORMIXDIR/etc %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Connection information	During installation; modified by the database server administrator The file extension is the server name (the default extension is ol_informix`version`)
sqlhosts.std	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Template for connection information	During installation

Table 2. Database server files that are for internal use onlyThis table lists the files that are required by the database server.
Important: Do not move, modify, or delete these files unless instructed to do so by IBM® Software Support.
File name	Directory	Purpose	Created
illlsrra.`xx`	$INFORMIXDIR/lib (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\lib (Windows™)	Shared libraries for the database server and some utilities	By installation procedure
INFORMIXTMP	/INFORMIXTMP (UNIX™) \%INFORMIXDIR% (Windows™)	Temporary directory for internal files	By the database server
.inf.servicename	/INFORMIXTMP (UNIX™) drive:\INFORMIXTMP (Windows™)	Connection information	By the database server
.infos.`dbservername`	$INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX™) %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows™)	Connection information	By the database server
JVM_`vpid`	Specified by JVPLOG configuration parameter	Messages that the Java™ virtual machine generates	By the Java™ virtual machine
servicename.exp	/INFORMIXTMP (UNIX™) `drive`:\INFORMIXTMP (Windows™)	Connection information	By the database server
servicename.str	/INFORMIXTMP (UNIX™) `drive`:\INFORMIXTMP ( Windows™)	Connection information	By the database server
VP`.servername.nnx`	/INFORMIXTMP (UNIX™) `drive`:\INFORMIXTMP (Windows™)	Connection information	By the database server