Re: Informix ODBC drivers
KENDRICKS.CHERYL@heb.com wrote: :Please respond to the list! I know some of these questions have been answered :separately at some point and time (matter of fact one yesterday). Yet cost :has never been mentioned that I can remember. I don't realy know the cost differences as I have found that the quality of the software, it's ease of installation, management and functionality makes the price of the product itself less interesting. I could easily spend more than this price on all the work required if I used the wrong product. For small (1 - 2 users) installation the price is still a problem though. :Also: It their an ODBC other then Informix CLI that does not require you :to install software on the server? I downloaded SCO Vision and Openlink and :both of these have server software. OpenLink also have a "Lite" driver that works with Informix I-Net/I-Connect and therefore require no additional software on the server. : Is this server software required with :Informix 7.X? I always here download, install and go for Openlink, yet I have :to install server software too (hum!!!!, not for 200> servers.. I do not :think so!!!). I might however. You obviously are in a somewhat special situation in having this large number of servers. How many clients do you have? If you can spend 5 extra minutes on each server and save 10 minutes on each client you would need 1/2 client for each server to make it worthwile :-) Realy, the OpenLink server side installation is realy simple as it is. With this number of servers you could make it automatic. All you would have to do then is install the neccessary files in an appropriate directory, run a command with no questions asked (assuming standard user names are used - otherwise you will have to enter one such) and the installation is done. There is one file - the registration file - that would normally have to be unique for each server as supplied from OpenLink. If you dislike even this little extra burden I am sure you could make a deal to have one common registration file for all of them. You can configure OpenLink for security and other features. This is extra functionallity compared to other alternatives (those with no server side installation), so you can't count that as extra work. Also with similar enough setups on each of your servers this could at least to a large extent be done on only the first server and be automatically installed on the rest. I would estimate a few days work for the first server and 2 to 5 minutes work on the rest for a working installation of OpenLink server side drivers. The few days on the first server is only needed for you to create the automatic install scripts for the rest of the servers. A regular first time install for someone who haven't seen the OpenLink drivers before should be finished within hours after the download of the software. For many within minutes for the first working setup. Utilization of the security options and other features will of course require more time, but again this is added features that other alternatives don't have at all. : Shouldn't these ODBC converse with I-Star? These products could theoretically communicate with I-Star (or it's equivalent built in function in 7.x severs). As far as I know this is however an unpublished protocol. It's the one I-Net/I-Connect use. If you try to avoide server side installations by using I-Net/I-Connect from Informix you will of course be in for a rude awakening as you probably allready know. Although there is no extra software that must be installed on the server, there is a pletora of setups that have to be done that is much more complex than the above installation of the OpenLink server side software. Additionally you will have a much more complex setup of each client using the Informix tools. You could make these more automatic by creating your own installation rutine, but it wouldn't be easy. There is realy no way to fix the Informix ODBC drivers at any level without a complete rewrite of the entire software along the lines OpenLink has allready done. It would be a quite stupid undertaking when it's allready available in a very high quality version. The OpenLink client side installation routine is allready quite simple and takes a minute or two at the max to perform. I haven't seen any ODBC install that is simpler. Even this is however to complex for large number of clients. It is however relatively simple to make it allmost completely automatic if you want to, and have the inclination and resources to do it. To mee the selection of an ODBC driver is a no brainer after just a little study of the issues. :Just Asking! :C.L. Kendricks :vnibs2@heb.com :Mark Fisher <fisherm@britannic.co.uk> wrote: : :What available Informix ODBC drivers are there for connecting :to Informix 7.12/7.20 via ODBC for Win 3.11/95/NT? Additionally to the above mentioned drivers from OpenLink, SCO also have ok drivers. There are also others mentioned in the FAQ, but few of these are server based which normaly are what you want. Make sure you read the white paper on ODBC available on the OpenLink web site before you select your driver. It explains a lot of the issues involved. :Are there any trial versions (e.g. 30 days limited)? :If so, where can I grab the download from? OpenLink http://www.openlinksw.com SCO http://www.vision.sco.com :How is their usage costed? Per client/developer? Same price for runtime and developer. The client side driver (the one you install on each PC) is free. You pay for the server side software for the number of simultaneous users. You can with other words install for free on 1000 client PCs if you want, but only as many as you have bought licenses for on the server can connect simultaneously. As soon as one disconnects another can connect. I don't remember the prices off hand. Check with OpenLink. I believe SCO have a similar system for usage and pricing. Nils.Myklebust@idg.no NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org