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Die Termine und Themen-Schwerpunkte der diesjährigen IUG Workshops stehen jetzt fest:

• 1. Workshop
  • Datum: Dienstag, 23. März
  • Ort: Hamburg
  • Thema: Cloud Computing, Virtualisierung und Entwicklungswerkzeuge

IBM has updated the IDS System Requirements Webpage which now covers the latst IDS fixpa(c)k IDS 11.50.xC6.

As you probably know, IDS offers a superior high availability and scale out technology called MACH11 that is available on all platforms that IDS runs on. For that reason I consider IDS as IBM's flagship offering for Linux powered systems. Good news for all Linux fans:

A new Informix blog as seen the light of the day:

• Ruminations on Informix

I think we can expect high quality technical content as the blog author is one of the IDS architects: Jonathan Leffler

Welcome Jonathan to the Informix Blogosphere !

I'll add the blog to Informix Zone as well as planetIDS as soon as I get the permission from Jonathan.

I just read the Editorial of the IIUG Insider January 2010. While Gary's words might sound harsh, he is exactly expressing the feeling and opinion of the worldwide Informix community.

We have all seen those statements and promises on Powerpoint slides as well as directly from IBM executives how seriously IBM takes Informix and how great IBM's strategy for Informix is. However the reality speaks a different language:

If you have a good knowledge of MS SQL Server and you would like to share your knowledge with others in order to ease the migration process from MS SQL Server to IDS then please take a look at this IBM Residency offer:

• Residency Details: Migrating from SQL Server to IBM Informix Dynamic Server

A new issue of the IBM Database Magazine has been released.

There are two Informix related articles included. One from IIUG president Stuart Litel and the other one from Informix Datawarehouse Specialist Lester Knutsen:

• Stuart Litel - IIUG User View: To IOD or IIUG?

For those who are interested in running IDS on the Mac, here are some helpful articles about installing and accessing IDS thru PHP on the Mac:

• Mike Abney: Installing Informix on a Mac I
• Mike Abney: Installing Informix on a Mac II
• Antonio Musarra: Mac OS X Snow Leopard: Informix IDS 11.5 + PHP 5.3

Webcast: Top 10 reasons to consider IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ for IDS servers

• Date: Wednesday, Feb the 24th
• Time: 1.5 hour, 8:30 AM Pacific, 10:30 AM Central, 11:30 AM Eastern, 4:30 PM London, 5:30 PM Berlin/Paris
• Title: Top 10 reasons to consider IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ for IDS servers
• Speaker: Satheesh Bandaram (IBM)

You can register for the webcast here...

The beta program for IDS 12 - Codename Panther - is starting soon. Take the opportunity to explore the new features of this new IDS release which will probably be released in the third quarter this year.

Participating in the beta program gives you direct contact to the IBM Informix lab. You can explore the new functionality in your environment and see how it could improve your current and future installations of IDS.

From the Beta Program invitation letter:

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Sicher haben Sie sich in Ihrem 'Informix-Leben' in bestimmten Situationen gefragt, ob es nicht Sinn machen würde, wenn die Datenbank für das jeweilige Problem eine elegante Lösung anbieten würde.

Deshalb freuen ich mich, im Namen der Deutschen IUG, die Verfügbarkeit einer neuen Web-Eingabemaske bekanntzugeben mit der Sie Verbesserungsvorschläge (Feature Requests) zu den Informix-Produkten erfassen können:

For those interested in building Data Warehouses with Informix as database platform, the following series of webcasts hosted by IBM Informix Business Partner Advanced DataTools might be interesting:

• Data Warehouse Webcast Topics

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Neue Ausgabe des IBM/Informix Newsletters

Im Newsletter-Archiv befindet sich die neueste Ausgabe (01/2010) des INFORMIX-Newsletters.

Inhaltsverzeichnis der Ausgabe Januar 2010:

• Aktuelles
• TechTipp: IDS 11.50.xC6 ist verfügbar
• TechTipp: OAT 2.27 - Language Path
• TechTipp: IDS 11.5 - External Tables
• TechTipp: Update Statistics (Teil 1)
• TechTipp: INFORMIX, The GREEN DATABASE

Cosmo has sent me a fantastic write up, outlining all the new features in IDS 11.50.xC6. I thought I'd share some of it with you:

Using an RSS Server to Take a Backup

It is now possible to make an archive of an instance from an RSS server. This will help reduce the I/O load on the primary server. The backup is no different to one made on the primary and can be restored to any node within the cluster.

According to an article on net-security.org a Moscow-based company will publish several security flaws among different products from IBM and other vendors during this month.

Informix is also named in the article:

• Software testing firm says no to responsible disclosure

Excerpt:

According to Brian Krebs, among the disclosed vulnerabilities there 
will be those that affect Web servers such as Zeus and Sun; Mysql, 

The schedule for the 2010 Informix Bootcamps has been published by IBM. You can find it on the following website. Don't be confused due to the header that says 2009 Schedule and Registration Information. The dates for each location are for 2010. The website also shows an agenda for this free of charge event:

• Informix 11.5 Bootcamp Schedule

If you are interested in running certified IBM Informix MACH11 cluster configurations on IBM x BladeCenter hardware then the following website will give your further details on this new IBM Hardware/Software bundle offering:

• Informix Cluster Configurations

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Nachfolgend finden Sie den Jahresrückblick 2009 der Deutschen Informix User Group. Dort finden Sie einen Überblick zu den von der IUG in 2009 organisierten Workshops und Veranstaltungen sowie einen Ausblick auf das laufende Jahr.

A brand new IDS fixpack has been released by IBM. The fixpack is named 11.50.xC6 and contains several new functionalities. The IDS 11.5 Information Center has currently (2009-01-04) not been updated. So it doesn't contain information about the new functionality or updated Releasenotes.

“With IDS’s zero maintenance HDR solution I can rest easy at night 
knowing that each critical database engine has a hot standby that 
can be quickly brought into service in the event of a hardware or 
operating system failure,” says Andrew Ford, senior DBA, 
NetworkIP Integration

• Read the complete success story here...

Reminder: HDR Webcast

• Date: Wednesday, Jan the 20th
• Time: 1.5 hour, 8:30 AM Pacific, 10:30 AM Central, 11:30 AM Eastern, 4:30 PM London, 5:30 PM Berlin/Paris
• Title: HDR Best Practices and Performance Tuning
• Speaker: Ronald Privett (IBM)

You can register for the webcast here...