What's new in HCL Informix®

When migrating to version 15.0.1.x from version 11.70, 12.10, 14.10, or 15.0.0.x, the server will perform an in-place conversion and the sysmaster database will be rebuilt.

All outstanding In-Place Alters must be resolved before the migration to 15.0.1.x, regardless of prior version.

When migrating from version 15.0.0.x to version 15.0.1.x, if the version 15.0.0.x instance is in Compatibility Mode it will remain in Compatibility Mode after the conversion to 15.0.1.x. If the version 15.0.0.x instance is in Native Mode (Infrastructure Version 1) it will remain in Native Mode after the conversion to 15.0.1.x.

Regardless of mode, in-place reversion with the onmode -b command is supported between versions 15.0.1.x and 15.0.0.x. A 15.x instance in Native Mode cannot be reverted in place to version 14.10, 12.10, or 11.70 .

During an in-place migration to Informix server version 15.0.x from 11.70, 12.10, or 14.10, the initial migration leaves an instance in Compatibility Mode. In compatibility mode, both old and newly-compiled applications can be used, but none can take advantage of certain version 15.0.x enhancements such as page sizes above 16k , chunk sizes above 4TB, and large tables. To use those features, the instance must be moved into native mode. Note that applications must be recompiled with the latest Informix libraries in order to make use of large tables in native mode.

Migration of an Informix server version 15.0.0.x instance to version 15.0.1 is supported whether the instance begins in compatibility mode or native mode.

All features that are new to version 15.0.1.x, such as enhancements to database properties and KAIO support for large block formatted devices, will be available in both compatibility mode and native mode.

There are many properties implicitly associated with a database, but only a few could be set explicitly when a database is created. This feature provides extensions to the CREATE DATABASE statement that will allow the desired properties to be stated (but, by default, they do not have to be specified), when required, while creating a database. Newly added options that can be given explicitly in the CREATE DATABASE statement include:

These new options can be used in any order and need not follow any particular sequence.

Previous syntax which did not support these new options, works exactly the same as before.

For more information, see CREATE DATABASE statement.

You can set STRING_TRUNCATE_ERROR onconfig parameter OR STRING_TRUNCATE_ERROR session environment option to control how string insertions (using DML statements INSERT, UPDATE, MERGE) are handled when their values exceed the column length in a non-ANSI database. As in all previous versions of Informix, the error is always enabled in a MODE ANSI database and cannot be disabled.

Use the STRING_TRUNCATE_ERROR configuration parameter or STRING_TRUNCATE_ERROR session environment option to either generate an error -1279 Value exceeds string column length or to silently truncate the string without reporting an error.

For more information, see STRING_TRUNCATE_ERROR configuration parameter, STRING_TRUNCATE_ERROR session environment option.

Given an L0 backup (L1 backups are not supported in table level restore), archecker shall be able to scan all dbspaces specified in the AC_DBSPACE and/or the archecker schema file in parallel so that it can complete the restore faster. New archecker configuration parameter AC_MAX_RESTORE specifies the number of processes which will perform physical restore of a table from dbspaces mentioned in AC_DBSPACE.

Parallel table level restore is not supported on Windows platform.

For more information, see Perform a parallel restore, AC_MAX_RESTORE configuration parameter.

AC_DBSPACE specifies a list of dbspaces that the archecker utility uses during a backup verification process. If this parameter is missing, the verification fails. With this user must manually list all dbspaces for a full backup verification. This feature makes the AC_DBSPACE parameter optional. When the user does not provide this parameter, the system will automatically and dynamically determine the list of dbspaces to verify.

For more information, see , AC_MAX_RESTORE configuration parameter.

This feature allows you to change the BUFFERPOOL configuration parameter on the fly. lru_min_dirty, lru_max_dirty can be tuned dynamically and buffers and lrus are not dynamically tunable. This is possible if AUTO_LRU_TUNING configuration parameter is set to 0. BUFFERPOOL will be automatically tuned if AUTO_LRU_TUNING is set to 1.

For more information, see BUFFERPOOL configuration parameter, AUTO_LRU_TUNING configuration parameter.

Direct I/O is enhanced to support devices with 2k and 4k block sizes.

For more information, see , DIRECT_IO configuration parameter (UNIX).

Actian licensing system has been rolled out for HCL Informix. It provides a convenient way to generate, access and track licenses, simplifies the end-user (customer) self-auditing process, and allows POCs and trials to be easily converted into fully licensed installations. License keys are required to run HCL Informix server.

For more information, see HCL Informix Licensing and https://communities.actian.com/s/supportservices/actian-licensing/hcl-informix-licensing?language=en_US.

HCL Informix® 15.0.0.2 is available on Linux ARMv8 Platform. For more information, see Release notes.

HCL Informix® 15.0.0.1 is available on Windows Platform. For more information, see Release notes.

Starting from HCL Informix® 15.0.0.1, .Net Framework will not be included.

Minimum Java version supported is updated to Java 11.