Creating a snapshot for deployment on Linux

The second task in the embeddability tutorial is to create a snapshot of the HCL OneDB™ install binary files and the dbspaces on the template computer by using the deployment assistant.

Before you begin

Prerequisites:
  • The HCL OneDB installation and an instance of it are on a template computer.
  • You must be logged in to the template computer as user informix.
  • Save copies of $INFORMIXDIR/bin/ifxdeploy and $INFORMIXDIR/etc/ifxdeploy.conf outside of the $INFORMIXDIR directory. (You will need to have these copies outside of $INFORMIXDIR when you deploy the snapshot on the target computer.)
  • The HCL OneDB instance from which you want to create the snapshot is running.

Procedure

  1. Start a terminal window.
  2. Set the INFORMIXDIR and INFORMIXSERVER environment variables.

    For example:

    export INFORMIXDIR=/opt/IBM/informix
export INFORMIXSERVER=demo_on
  3. Start the deployment assistant with the following commands: 
    cd $INFORMIXDIR/bin
ifxdeployassist
  4. Enter database server connection parameters in the first deployment assistant GUI window.
    If you are completing this task as part of the embeddability tutorial, specify the following information:
    1. Instance Name: demo_on
    2. Host Name: localhost
    3. Port Number: 9088
    4. Connection Type: SQLI
  5. Specify the full path name of the snapshot file.
    Enter /home/informix/Desktop/demo_on if you are completing this task as part of the embeddability tutorial.
  6. Optional: Clear the features or packages that you do not want to include in the snapshot to reduce the footprint.
    Important: The deployment assistant does not enforce any interdependencies between components of a functional instance.
  7. If you are prompted with the Data Spaces window, decide whether to include the dbspaces associated with the source HCL OneDB instance in the snapshot. Keep the Include the Data Spaces box checked if you are doing this task as part of the embeddability tutorial.
    Tip: Record the full path names of the dbspaces if you select to include them in the snapshot. You will need to know the locations of the dbspaces when you deploy the snapshot.
  8. Review the deployment configuration summary.
  9. Record the information displayed in the Deployment Summary window and click Close . Save the information that you have recorded because you will need to know the snapshot locations for the next step.
  10. Save the snapshots that you have created with the deployment assistant, the $INFORMIXDIR/bin/ifxdeploy file, and the $INFORMIXDIR/etc/ifxdeploy.conf file on external media (for example, a flash drive or CD) for future deployment.
    For the embeddability tutorial: save the database server snapshot as demo_on.tar.gz and the dbspaces snapshot as demo_on_db.tar.gz.