Introducing the HCL OneDB deployment utility

Using the deployment utility

The ifxdeploy utility is included with the HCL OneDB server at $INFORMIXDIR/bin on Linux™ and UNIX™ and at %INFORMIXDIR%\bin on Windows™. To use the deployment utility, you must run the ifxdeploy utility either from a command line or as part of an application integration script. You can run the utility in silent mode without any user interaction.

The ifxdeploy utility

The ifxdeploy utility is located in $INFORMIXDIR/bin on Linux and UNIX and at %INFORMIXDIR%\bin on Windows.

To use the deployment utility, you must run the ifxdeploy utility either from a command line or as part of an application integration script. You can run the utility in silent mode without any user interaction.

The deployment utility configuration file

You can pass parameters to the deployment utility using command-line options, or by using a configuration file that you pass as a parameter with the -config command-line option. You can also use both command-line options and a configuration file. Some examples on using ifxdeploy with command-line options and a configuration file on Linux and Windows are given below:

Example 1: Invoking the deployment utility with command-line options and a configuration file on Linux and UNIX

ifxdeploy -y -verbose -config ifxdeploy.conf -file
 /opt/IBM/Informix/demo_on.tgz –start 180

Example 2: Invoking the deployment utility with command-line options and a configuration file on Windows

ifxdeploy.exe -y -verbose -config ifxdeploy.conf -file 
 C:\informixtemp\demo_on.zip –start 180

The following points summarize key information about the deployment utility configuration file:

• A sample deployment utility configuration file named ifxdeploy.conf is included on the HCL OneDB server at $INFORMIXDIR/etc on Linux and UNIX and at %INFORMIXDIR%\etc on Windows.
• You can also specify instance-specific information for the instance that is getting deployed in the configuration file:
  • INFORMIXSERVER sets the primary server name.
  • SERVERNUM sets the primary server port number.
  • INFORMIXSQLHOSTS sets the value for the INFORMIXSQLHOSTS environment variable.
  • ONCONFIG sets the onconfig file. If not specified and the ONCONFIG environment variable is not set, a new onconfig file is created based on the onconfig.std file template.
• Use BEGIN ALIAS and END ALIAS statements to define additional server names and listeners. Each alias results in a new SQLHOSTS entry and a new value for the DBSERVERALIASES configuration parameter in the onconfig file.
• Use the BEGIN ONCONFIG and END ONCONFIG statements to add to or override configuration parameters values specified in the onconfig file.

Example 3: Sample deployment utility configuration file entries for Windows

INFORMIXSERVER  demo_on
PROTOCOL1 onsoctcp
PORT1 9088
SERVERNUM 1

BEGIN ALIAS 
SERVERNAME alias1
PROTOCOL drsoctcp
PORT 9091
END ALIAS

INFORMIXDIR "C:\Program Files\IBM\Informix"

RELOCATE C:\IFMXDATA\demo_on=C:\IFMXDATANEW\demo_on

ROOTPATH C:\IFMXDATANEW\demo_on\rootdbs_dat.000

BEGIN ONCONFIG
BUFFERPOOL default,buffers=1000,lrus=8,
lru_min_dirty=50.000000,lru_max_dirty=60.500000
MAX_PDQPRIORITY	80
END ONCONFIG

Dynamic chunk relocation

The deployment utility provides the option to relocate the dbspaces to a new location of your choice. This option is particularly useful when the drives or the directory structures of the source template computer and the target computer are different. An example of this would be if the data spaces are on/data1 on the template computer and you want to relocate them to /data2 on the target computer.

You can set the new location of the dbspaces either by using the -relocate command-line parameter with ifxdeploy, or by using the configuration parameter RELOCATE in the ifxdeploy.conf file. You can specify a single new parent directory or map multiple separate chunk paths to different locations.

Example 4: Command-line argument to relocate all chunk paths to a single directory

/data2/demo_on

-relocate /data2/demo_on

You can set the new location of the dbspaces either by using the -rootpath command-line parameter with ifxdeploy, or by using the configuration parameter ROOTPATH in the ifxdeploy.conf file. If you relocate dbspaces, you must also relocate the root dbspace.

Example 5: Command-line argument to specify a new root path

-rootpath /data2/demo_on/online_root