New Features in IDS 11.50 Beta

Enhanced Connection Management for High-Availability Clusters
The new Connection Manager dynamically routes client application connection requests to the most appropriate server in a high-availability cluster. Connection Manager connects to each of the servers in the cluster and gathers statistics about the type of server, unused workload capacity, and the current state of the server. From this information, the Connection Manager redirects the connection to the appropriate server. In addition, Connection Manager Arbitrator provides automatic failover logic for high-availability clusters. Using a configuration file, you specify which secondary server takes over if the primary server fails.
Connection Manager is installed with CSDK.

Update Data Support on High-Availability Cluster Secondary Servers
Client applications can now update data on secondary servers by using redirected writes. Redirected writes give the appearance that updates are occurring directly on the secondary server; however, the transactions are transferred to the primary server and then the changes are propagated back to the secondary server. Redirected writes are not enabled by default. To enable redirected writes, set the REDIRECTED_WRITES configuration parameter to the number of SMX pipes between the primary and secondary servers. The maximum value of this parameter is two times the number of CPU virtual processors. Set REDIRECTED_WRITES to zero to disable redirected writes.

Determine Data Currency with a Version Column
You can now add a version column to a table to contain both a checksum and a version number. Use a version column to detect if a row has been updated since it was originally queried. Also, version numbers enable you to detect differences if a row is deleted and another row is re-inserted into a table. To add a version column, use the ALTER TABLE tablename ADD VERCOLS statement.

Web applications can use a version column to determine if information about a previously retrieved object is still current. For example, a Web application can display an item to a customer, and then when the customer decides to buy the item, the application checks the version column of the item's row to determine if the information about the item has changed.

A version column might also improve the performance of redirected writes in a high-availability cluster because during collision detection, the primary server only needs to compare the version of the updated row instead of the entire contents of the row.

Enhancements to the OpenAdmin Tool for IDS
The OpenAdmin Tool for IDS has the following enhancements:

Enhanced high availability cluster management
Read-only user group support
Dynamic update of configuration parameters support
Check system integrity support
Improved historical performance data tracking
Virtual processor administration
Menu restructuring
HOWTO.html task guide
MACH Connection Manager Wizard
MACH SD Secondary Disk Setup Wizard

Enhanced Data Server Client Session Information
You can use the new syssesappinfo table in the sysmaster database to view Data Server client session information. The table shows the client session ID, session application name, and a session value in the sesapp_sid, sesapp_name, and sesapp_value columns.
You can now also display client session information using the onstat -g ses command.

SQL Expressions with the IS [NOT] NULL Predicate
Now you can use SQL expressions as operands of the IS NULL and IS NOT NULL predicate. Previously, you could only use column name operands with IS NULL and IS NOT NULL, which return a TRUE or FALSE result.

The use of IS NULL or IS NOT NULL with expressions enables you to provide a value for entries that otherwise are not computable because NULL is not a valid numerical value. For more information on using IS NULL or IS NOT NULL with expressions, and for an example of a CASE expression that allows NULL values to be treated as 0 for the purpose of arithmetic computations, see the Guide to SQL: Syntax.

Dynamic Execution with SPL Routines
You can now include the EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement in UDRs written in the SPL language, where the IMMEDIATE keyword is followed by a quoted string that is the text of a valid SQL statement. (See the description of EXECUTE IMMEDIATE in Chapter 2 of Guide to SQL: Syntax for information about the SQL statements whose text can be specified by EXECUTE IMMEDIATE.)

Unlike in ESQL/C routines, statement text in the EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement within an SPL routine cannot include a semicolon-separated list of multiple SQL statements. To execute multiple SQL statements in the same SPL routine using this feature, you must issue a separate EXECUTE IMMEDIATE statement for the text of each SQL statement.

Enhanced Startup Script Customization
You can customize startup scripts and automate startup with the new -w option for the oninit utility. The -w option forces the server to wait until it successfully initializes before returning a shell prompt. The -w option provides a return code so that you can check if the system started without incident. If the server fails to initialize within a configurable timeout period, the utility returns a 1 and writes a message to the online.log file. A return code of 0 indicates a successful initialization.

The -w option works with both disk-space initialization and shared-memory initialization oninit options.

In a high-availability environment, you can only use the oninit -w command on primary servers; it is not valid on secondary servers.

Single Sign-on Support Added
With single sign-on, users authenticate themselves once and the authentication is carried securely over trusted and non-trusted networks. The users provide a valid user ID and password when they log in to a client computer, and they can access the database server and other SSO-enabled services without having to log in again. In the past, users had to log in multiple times.

IDS delivers support for SSO in the Generic Security Services Communications Support Module (GSSCSM). GSSCSM works with Kerberos, which is a network authentication protocol. You must deploy a Kerberos authentication protocol that supports the Generic Security Services Application Programming Interface (GSSAPI) before you can use SSO with IDS. After you enable SSO, you benefit from centralized management of authentication.

Improved Query Performance for Large Integers and Serial Data
The ISO standard data types BIGINT and BIGSERIAL are provided as alternatives to INT8 and SERIAL8. BIGINT and BIGSERIAL data types can provide better performance than the INT8 and SERIAL8 data types.

Distributed Relational Database Architecture (DRDA) Enhancements
DRDA enables communication between applications and database systems on disparate platforms and enables relational data to be distributed among multiple platforms. Enhancements to DRDA functionality include:

Support for retrieving ISAM errors
Support for connecting to a database that has a name that is longer than 18 bytes
Batching of multiple statements into one request
Support for displaying DRDA session information in the new syssesappinfo table in the sysmaster database and with the onstat -g ses command
Support for using IS NULL or IS NOT NULL with expressions
Support for using the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol for DRDA communications
Support for DRDA connections between primary and shared disk secondary servers in high availability clusters

Support for Encrypting Data by Using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Communications Added
You can now configure IDS to use the SSL protocol, which encrypts data in TCP/IP connections between two points over a network. The SSL protocol is an alternative to the IDS-specific encryption Communication Support Module (CSM) and simple password CSM for CSDK clients. You must use SSL to encrypt data in communications between IDS and DRDA clients.

Support for Obtaining Explain Output in XML Format Added
EXPLAIN_SQL() is a new built-in routine that the IBM Data Studio Administration Console can use to obtain query explain output in XML format. Vendors can use this routine to create Visual Explain information for IDS.

Install as the Local System Account support added
In past releases, the IDS Windows Service was only allowed to log on as the informix user.

Starting with version 11.50, you can install IDS on Windows as the local system account. Select the Local System User option in the installation program. That option provides the same privileges as the informix user account; however, it uses an internal account that does not require a password. The local system account is used by the operating system and services running under Windows during the installation of IDS.

You can choose not to create an informix user account at all, but if you do so, you will not be able to use Enterprise Replication between IDS on UNIX and Windows platforms.


Добавлены новые параметры в файл onconfig.std и изменены дефолтные значения большого ряда параметров в этом файле.

Enhanced Connection Management for High-Availability Clusters
Тоже не фигово. :)

А зеркалирование придумали не для нас?

Ну если действительно кто-то решит уберечь свой сервер от падения самолета, то сервер будет запрятан в бункер или что-то подобное.
Можно вот за подобного рода стеной - http://www.webpark.ru/comments.php?id=19106

P.S. Больше не оффтоплю.

Денис, по такому же принципу можно спросить.

А зачем нужен авторстендбай (секондари хадр) (по езернету) ?
Вопрос надежности меня не интересует.