Preparing connectivity files

Prepare the files that the HCL Informix® instance uses to communicate with client applications and with other database servers.

About this task

The connectivity information allows a client application to connect to any HCL® Informix® database server on the network. The connectivity data for a particular database server includes the database server name, the type of connection that a client can use to connect to it, the host name of the computer or node on which the database server runs, and the service name by which it is known.

Connectivity configuration determines whether your instance has a database server alias and a port for clients that use the Distributed Relational Database Architecture™ (DRDA®) protocol. DRDA® is for open development of applications that allow access of distributed data. DRDA® is interoperable with HCL Data Server clients. If you created a database server with the default configuration file while installing Informix®, then your instance already supports DRDA® connections.

You must prepare the connectivity information even if the client application and the database server are on the same computer or node. You are not required to specify all possible network connections in the sqlhosts file before you start the database server. But to make a new connection available after you have initialized the database server, you must take the database server offline and then bring it back to online mode again.

Procedure

  1. Edit the sqlhosts file to include the correct connectivity information with a text editor or equivalent tool.
    • The default location of this file is $INFORMIXDIR/etc/sqlhosts.
    • If you set up several database servers to use distributed queries, use either one sqlhosts file to which the INFORMIXSQLHOSTS environment variable points or separate sqlhosts files in each database server directory.
  2. Enter settings in the /etc/hosts and /etc/services files if your system uses Internet Protocol network connections.