Informix tools admin

Does anyone know of a way to install the Informix tools, such as 4gl, ISQL, etc in a separate directory from the Dynamic Server software. Usually INFORMIXDIR points to a directory which contains everything, and the installation sequence is critical. It's relatively easy to install a server upgrade, since that is the last item in the installation sequence, but adding/upgrading a tool to an existing INFORMIXDIR can mean reinstalling the server and any tools with newer rev numbers. It would be nice to keep the server and tools software separate. I'm doing this with IDS 7.3x on Solaris. Thanks, -- Jay -----------== Posted via Deja News, The Discussion Network ==---------- http://www.dejanews.com/ Search, Read, Discuss, or Start Your Own

jshaley@my-dejanews.com wrote: > Does anyone know of a way to install the Informix tools, such as 4gl, > ISQL, > etc in a separate directory from the Dynamic Server software. Usually > INFORMIXDIR points to a directory which contains everything, and the > installation sequence is critical. It's relatively easy to install > a server upgrade, since that is the last item in the installation > sequence, but adding/upgrading a tool to an existing INFORMIXDIR can > mean reinstalling the server and any tools with newer rev numbers. > > It would be nice to keep the server and tools software separate. > I'm doing this with IDS 7.3x on Solaris. Hooray - someone thinking out of the box. (a) I do it all the time. (b) The IIUG web-site has the tools I use to do it (utils_jl unless my memory is failing worse than I already knew). The tools include ixcreate and ixremove to which I refer below. There are two different ways to achieve the required effect - at least. Method 1 (lazy, so it's the one I use): * Install IDS into /work4/informix/IDS-7.30.UC1 * Install CSDK into /work4/informix/CSDK-2.20.UC1 * Install I4GL, ISQL, etc into /work4/informix/I4GL-7.20.UC1 * Designate /usr/informix/7.30.UC1 as my working INFORMIXDIR. * Use ixcreate to create symlinks under /usr/informix/7.30.UC1 pointing to the files under each of the /work4/informix/... directories. Sequence? Ah...probably CSDK, IDS, Tools. Note: ixcreate does a non-destructive install unless you tell it to be destructive; it does not overwrite pre-existing files. * Setup sqlhosts and onconfig files in $INFORMIXDIR. * Off we go, happy as a lark. * When it comes to time to alter the configuration, either create a new directory to use and repopulate from scratch, a matter of a few minutes work, or use ixremove to remove the files used solely by the nominated products. * Note that the only critical files are sqlhosts and the onconfig file(s). I use a single sqlhosts file on the machine, kept in /usr/informix/etc, with symlinks from the working INFORMIXDIRs pointing to it. For ONCONFIG files, the symlinks are the other way round; they have to be because IDS will remove them. So my only liability when removing a working INFORMIXDIR is the onconfig file -- I can get rid of an INFORMIXDIR easily. Method 2 (the direct answer to your question): * Install IDS into /usr/informix/7.30.UC1. * Configure it with INFORMIXDIR=/usr/informix/7.30.UC1 * Install I4GL, ISQL, etc into /usr/informix/7.20.UC1 * Configure users with INFORMIXDIR=/usr/informix/7.20.UC1 * Configure sqlhosts to point to the sqlhosts file under /usr/informix/7.30.UC1. * Run programs, develop, etc. * This has the advantage that the users don't have the IDS tools available to them unless they switch to the 7.30 INFORMIXDIR. * The only conceivable disadvantage is that you might have problems with shared memory connections, but I don't know whether that is actually a problem. Note that if you use D4GL, you are strongly counselled to install it a completely separate directory from either your servers or your Classic 4GL tools. -- Jonathan Leffler (jleffler@informix.com, jleffler@earthlink.net) Guardian of DBD::Informix v0.60 -- see http://www.perl.com/CPAN #include <disclaimer.h>