RE: IDS on Compaq/Digital Unix

Our specs are as follows: DEQ 4100 5/533 3-CPU server with a couple RAID sets Tru64 UNIX 4.0F (No patch kits installed... yet) IDS 7.31.FC2-1 4GL 7.20.UE1 RDS 7.20.UE1 ISQL 7.20.UE1 4GL ID 7.20.UE1 D4GL 3.00.UC1 ESQL/C 7.24.FC6 Client SDK 2.30 and 2.40 The software operates nicely but we have had some problems. We got CSDK 2.30 and 2.40 because it was required to develop D4GL applications. However, there is an incompatibility between D4GL 3.00 and CSDK 2.30 and 2.40 that causes it to fail to complie applications successfully. That's why we had to get ESQL/C 7.24.FC6; this works well with D4GL 3.00. There's an open case with Informix Tech Support (ITS) currently looking at it, but I don't expect a solution soon. Also, we exposed a bug with fglform. Within the ATTRIBUTES section of a .per file, we can specify formatting using the DISPLAY LIKE and/or FORMAT attributes. In our development environment, for fields of type DATE (whether they're FORMONLY fields or linked to a table.column that is datatype DATE), if the DISPLAY LIKE attribute occurs after the FORMAT attribute, the FORMAT attribute's value is not used. Instead, the field displays using the setting of the $DBDATE variable or, if it is not set, the format "mm/dd/yyyy". This is so even if there are values stored in the syscolatt table for the DISPLAY LIKE column (i.e. it doesn't even seem to be pulling formatting defaults from syscolatt). This is also the subject of an open case with ITS. Also, there's a problem with D4GL's handling of TEXT data placement in reports with the PRINT COLUMN xx, <TEXT_VAR> WRAP MARGIN YY statement. Our application vendor has an open case with ITS on this and also has posted messages on it within this list. We don't expect any solution soon but would really like to get one (hint! hint! Informix!). I also experienced two problems with IDS that I haven't reported to ITS yet. The first is that for some reason a cold restore of ontape -r doesn't work; it gave me a tape error and then hung. However, using the same tape, I was able to successfully complete a warm restore of two dbspaces and a blobspace. I have to re-test this on another server. The second problem is that if I issue an onstat -z conmmand to zero the onstat counters, the majority of the onstat -p (and some others) forever remain zero until I bounce the engine. So I've stopped zeroing my counters (used to do it everyday to get daily comparisons). I tried playing around with PDQ and twice I got engine panics that aborted the instance. I'm running a mixed OLTP/DSS environment (more OLTP, but at month-end many two departments need to run large reports). I tried allowing selected users to use PDQ and I ran into problems, so I turned it back off. I now operate with everyone having PDQPRIORITY=1 so they at least get parallel scans. I haven't looked at this any further since then (I'm also experimenting with the CPUVP:Pysical Processor ratio; rught now I have 3 Physical CPUs but 6 CPUVP's and the database normally works fine, but I don't know if this contributed to the PDQ panic). Other than that, we're fine. I'm now concentrating on developing proper database security and ODBC access for reporting and will look to get into VB client/server development within this quarter. I'm impressed with our platform, but to be honest I haven't had much experience with others to compare (played with SCO and HPUX but not to the depth of Tru64). I've also been playing with Informix for six years now, but again I have nothing to compare it with (I've just started to delve into SQL Server and ORACLE; gimme two more years). I've been told that our platform is one of the most secure platforms out-of-the-box and with each OS upgrade it becomes more user-friendly, but it's not perfect. Best regards, Edmund Nigel Gall Senior Information Systems Specialist Process Plant Services Limited Atlantic Avenue, Point Lisas Industrial Estate Point Lisas, Couva, Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. Tel: (868) 636 2906 x 274 Fax: (868) 679 3770 -----Original Message----- From: Dale Forrey [mailto:forrey@wsu.edu] Sent: 2000 January 25 3:05 PM To: informix-list@iiug.org Subject: IDS on Compaq/Digital Unix I may be in a position of bringing up IDS 7.31 on a Compaq/Digital UNIX machine. I rarely see posts from people running these machines. Is that because: 1) Informix runs so well under Compaq/Digital that no ever has any problems? 2) There are very few installations of Informix on these machines? 3) People who run Informix on these machines are naturally humble and don't like to draw attention to themselves? If anyone has some insight about running Informix on Compaq under True64 (I hope that is the correct UNIX) I would appreciate it. Are there any particular levels of operating system we should be at? Any patches that need to be applied? Any Informix bugs that show up under this operating system? Thanks for the information. Dale Forrey, DBA email: forrey@wsu.edu Information Technology FAX: (509) 335-0540 Washington State University Phone: (509) 335-7098 PO Box 641222 Pullman, WA 99164-1222 ADABAS 6.2.2 on OS/390 Natural 2.2.8 Predict 3.4.1 Informix 7.31 UC3 on AIX 4.3.2 Microsoft SQL Server 6.5