Re: Need help with a web solution for informix-unix platform

"Reiner Kunz" <Reiner.Kunz@pr-kunz2.M.eunet.de> wrote: :Nils Myklebust <Nils.Myklebust@idg.no> schrieb im Beitrag = :<33cdfad0.5435095@gate.idg.no>... :> amughal <amughal@ibm.net> wrote: :>=20 :> What have usually been called "native" :> drivers are realy proprietary drivers and they are sometimes faster :> but often slower than standard drivers and have the obvious :> disadvantage of beeing usable with one database only (or one companies :> databases). : :You're badly wrong. Delphi has several native drivers for several = :databases (including Informix) which *are* faster than ODBC. Delphi wasn't even mentioned in the original post, so I didn't mention it either. VB was mentioned, and you have no real alternative but ODBC when using VB. :Why do you = :tell such things without any benchmarks? Native drivers *have* to be = :proprietary because they are build by one thirdparty manufacturer. But = :when I'm using I-CLI, Openlink or Intersolv drivers they're also = :proprietary because I can't exchange them with each other. You can to the extent that you haven't used facilities available in one but not the other. :And when one = :company dies I have to buy another proprietary ODBC driver. so, where's = :the advantage of a "non-proprietary" JDBC ? Yes, of course you have to buy another driver, but the point is that you don't have to change your program. This is the case with most standards. The implementation is different, but the interface is the same. : Currently, they're also = :proprietary because you can't mix 'em with the products of another = :manufacturer! The JDBC standard doesn't spesify the communication protocol used or other internal things, so what you get with it is the same as for ODBC. If you for some reason have to change the JDBC driver you don't have to change your program. :> If you have Informix 7.2 or later i think Informix CLI, which is an :> ODBC driver from Informix, is included. This works, but is hard to :> install and have glaring security wholes - glaring. : :Where are the security holes? Please tell me at least *one* significant = :security hole of ODBC! This has been discussed to death in this newsgroup before, so I see no significant reason for repeating it now. However here is an excerpt from my post of 1996/10/13: "There is *no* mechanism built into ODBC to protect any data from free manipulation by any user *if* that user has access to some application that can do such updates. If i write a Visual Basic application using the Microsoft recomended way of updating data via ODBC, there is no standard mechanism in ODBC or anywhere else that can stop that user from staring MS Access, connecting to that same database via the same ODBC interface, giving the same username and password used for that application, and then manipulate the data in any way that user wants. As far as I know all this is completely independent of which database is used." You can of course claim that such security isn't part of the ODBC spesification, or it's job to implement, but that doesn't make the problem any smaller for the users. :> The best alternative is the OpenLink drivers. They are easy to install : :Easy? I didn't get at least one *real* handbook which explains in detail = :how to setup these drivers or if there are any character conversion = :problems (and things like that). Maybe as a one-year unix admin and = :informix admin you have no problems setting them up. But using I-CLI was = :really simple. I had no problems with the Openlink manuals and their explanation of the setup and configuration procedures. I do agree with you that Openlink should have supplied a simple paper explaining the basic setup procedure with references to the other manuals. However this is a minor problem. CLI is harder as there is much more you have to set up correctly in all kinds of setup files at the communication level. :> and have solved the security issues as far as it's possible within the :> sharp limitations set by Microsoft and their complete lack of :> understanding of security issues. : :Interesting opinion: What do you think about the security holes which = :are actually found in Unix systems from SGI, SUN, HP (HP-UX and the = :RLOGIN problem)? Where these an issue here? I didn't see any question relating to these, so I didn't offer any opinion. : I also was angry about the "ping-of-death" problem with = :the MS TCP/IP stack. But the problem was solved damned fast by = :microsoft. And absoulety free via the internet without any support = :contracts I need for my UNIX system. I also have to have support = :contracts just to have the right to buy teh next update for my UNIX OS. Well, but ODBC and JDBC was the question. : :cu Reiner : 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