The ifxdeploy command: The deployment utility

Use the ifxdeploy command to deploy a snapshot or remove a snapshot that you already deployed.

Syntax

Figure 1: Installation command

1  ifxdeploy -INSTALL  -i INFORMIXDIR  --snapshot snapshot_file?  --verbose?  --nonroot?  --silent
Figure 2: Create instance command

1  ifxdeploy -INSTANCE create  -i INFORMIXDIR  -s INFORMIXSERVER?  -o ONCONFIG  --ixpass password?  --sqlhosts sqlhosts_file? +  --dbalias name = alias , protocol = protocol , port = port?  --servernum server_number?  --image_archive archive_file , dest_directory?  --rootpath rootpath?  --relocate
2.1 path
2.1 + ;old_path=new_path
2.1 + ;old_path,old_offset=new_path,new_offset?  --start number?  --verbose?  --nonroot?  --silent
Figure 3: Uninstallation command

1  ifxdeploy -UNINSTALL  -i INFORMIXDIR?  --verbose?  --deluser?  --nonroot?  --silent

Command options

Table 1. The ifxdeploy command options
Element Purpose Key considerations
--deluser
Windows: Removes user informix and the Informix-Admin group.
Linux and UNIX: Removes user informix and group informix or the non-root user who owns the instance.
 The --delifx option functions when there is only one HCL OneDB™ installation on the computer.
--dbalias name = alias, protocol=protocol, port=port Specifies new database server aliases and related SQLHOSTS connectivity settings for the deployed instance. Each alias name must be unique and conform to server alias name rules. See DBSERVERALIAS configuration parameter.

The protocol must be a valid connection type for the operating system. The port must be a valid port number. See sqlhosts connectivity information.
-i INFORMIXDIR Path for the deployed instance. Must be set here or as environment variable (no default path is provided).
--ifxpass password Specifies the password of the user used to create the HCL OneDB service. Specify the password for user informix or the non-root user on the target computer. If you specify a password and the informix user does not exist on the target computer, the informix user is created with the specified password.
--image_archive archive_file, target_directory Specifies the path of the snapshot archive file and the target directory on the target computer. The directory is created and the snapshot is uncompressed. Valid formats for the archive_file are .zip and .tar.

If your dbspaces will be in multiple directories, do not use this option. You must create directories for the dbspaces yourself, set the proper ownership and permissions, and extract the snapshot contents into the directories.
--nonroot Specifies that the instance is owned by the non-root user who runs the command. UNIX and Linux only.
-o ONCONFIG The onconfig file name. If none is specified here and no ONCONFIG environment variable is set, a new file is created from the onconfig.std file.
--relocate path Specifies new parent directory of chunks in the deployed instance. You must have the appropriate ownership and permissions to modify the directories. You can specify a single new parent directory or map multiple separate chunk paths to different locations. In addition, you can substitute offsets of the old paths with new values if you are indicating multiple new parent directories.
Windows: If the parent directories have spaces in the paths, place the string of paths after the --relocate option in double quotation marks.
Linux and UNIX: If multiple parent directories are specified and have spaces in the paths, place the string of paths after the --relocate option in single quotation marks.
--rootpath rootpath Indicates the location of the root dbspace.
Windows: Default path:drive:\ifmxdata\server_name\rootdbs_dat.000
Linux and UNIX: Default path:$INFORMIXDIR/server_name/rootdbs
-s INFORMIXSERVER Primary database server name. Must be set either here or in the INFORMIXSERVER environment variable before deployment (no default value is provided).
--servernum server_number Specifies the server number of the instance. The number must be an integer from 0 to 255. The default is 0.
--silent Directs the utility to run in silent mode. When you use this option, messages do not display on the screen but are written in a log file. If you use the -silent option and -verbose option together, you must also include the -l argument.
--snapshot snapshot_file Extracts a compressed snapshot of the file specified as snapshot_file.
Windows: Indicate the location of the compressed image as an absolute path.
--sqlhosts sqlhosts_file Specifies the name of the SQLHOSTS file. Default is the value of the INFORMIXDIRSQLHOSTS environment variable, if set.
--start number Starts the database server after the number of seconds. Default is 600.
-UNINSTALL Removes a snapshot that was originally deployed by the deployment utility.
--verbose Runs the command in verbose mode.

Usage

Before you use this command, create a snapshot and copy it to the computer where you want to deploy the snapshot. You must provide the location of the snapshot when you create the instance. See Creating a snapshot for deployment manually for more information.

Run this command on the computer where you want to deploy the snapshot. To deploy a database server, run the ifxdeploy -INSTALL command and then the ifxdeploy -INSTANCE create command. To remove an existing deployed database server, run the ifxdeploy -UNINSTALL command.

On Windows, you must run the command as an administrative user. On UNIX or Linux, you can run this command as the root user or as a non-root user. The user who runs the command is the owner of the database server instance.

If you included data spaces in your snapshot in compressed format, you must extract the data spaces before you run the ifxdeploy command.