Welcome
JSON compatibility
You can use the popular JSON-oriented query language created by MongoDB to interact with data stored in HCL Informix®.
HCL Informix® JSON compatibility
The Informix JSON Compatibility Guide describes how applications that use the popular JSON-oriented query language created by MongoDB can interact with data stored in HCL Informix®.
Wire listener
The wire listener is a mid-tier gateway server that enables communication between MongoDB clients and the Informix® 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.
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®.
- HCL Informix® JSON compatibility
  The Informix JSON Compatibility Guide describes how applications that use the popular JSON-oriented query language created by MongoDB can interact with data stored in HCL Informix®.
  - About the Informix® JSON compatibility
    You can combine relational and JSON data into a single query by using the Informix® JSON compatibility features.
  - Wire listener
    The wire listener is a mid-tier gateway server that enables communication between MongoDB clients and the Informix® database server.
    - Configuring the wire listener for the first time
      You must configure the wire listener by specifying an authorized user and customizing the wire listener configuration file.
    - The wire listener configuration file
      The settings that control the wire listener and the connection between the client and database server are set in the wire listener configuration file.
    - Wire listener command line options
      You can use command line options to control the wire listener.
    - User authentication with the wire listener
      You can authenticate users through the wire listener with MongoDB authentication or with the database server, through a pluggable authentication module (PAM).
    - Encryption for wire listener communications
      You can use Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol to encrypt communication for the wire listener.
    - High availability support in the wire listener
      The wire listener provides high availability support.
  - JSON data sharding
    You can shard data with HCL Informix®. Documents from a collection or rows from a table can be sharded across a cluster of database servers, reducing the number of documents or rows and the size of the index for the database of each server. When you shard data across database servers, you also distribute performance across hardware. As your database grows in size, you can scale up by adding more shard servers to your shard cluster.
  - MongoDB API
    The Informix® support for MongoDB application programming interfaces and commands are described here.
  - Informix® REST API
    The Informix® REST API allows application developers to access data in their Informix database server through simple HTTP requests. Applications can query, insert, load, update, and delete data in relational tables, in JSON collections, or in TimeSeries tables all through simple, JSON-based REST requests.
  - Manage time series through the wire listener
    You can create and manage time series through the wire listener. You interact with time series data through a virtual table.
  - Troubleshooting Informix® JSON compatibility
    Several troubleshooting techniques, tools, and resources are available for resolving problems that you encounter with Informix® JSON compatibility.
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.

Wire listener

The wire listener is a mid-tier gateway server that enables communication between MongoDB clients and the Informix® database server.

The wire listener is a Java™ application and is provided as an executable JAR file as part of the Informix® APIs package. The JAR file provides access to the MongoDB API.

MongoDB API access: The wire listener implements the MongoDB Wire Protocol. This allows you to connect MongoDB applications and client drivers to the Informix® database through the wire listener. The MongoDB applications send MongoDB operations and commands to the wire listener, which automatically translates those commands to SQL which it runs against the Informix® database using JDBC.; You can use the MongoDB API to access Informix® JSON/BSON collections, relational tables, or TimeSeries tables.

The wire listener configuration properties file defines every operational characteristic. By default, when you create a database or a table through the wire listener, automatic location and fragmentation are enabled. Databases are stored in the dbspace that is chosen by the server. Tables are fragmented among dbspaces that are chosen by the server. More fragments are added when tables grow.

This graphic depicts the MongoDB clients that connect to the Informix server through the wire listener.