Support for Informix 7.24

We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade all of our applications for at least another year or two. I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty quickly. Thanks Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

Well, a decent chunk of what you get for your maintenance dollar is free upgrades, so you haven't been spending money for nothing. It's a pretty short hop from 7.24 to 7.31 (which will be supported indefinitely). Is that upgrade not possible?? jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > quickly. > > Thanks > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

Informix still support 7.24, they are just not making any more upgrades to it. It does not go to 'pay only' support for bug fixes for another year except on some platforms (like mine 8-(). Art S. Kagel jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > quickly. > > Thanks > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

Not true for our platform. For us 7.24 became a Category 4 (Obsolete) the end of last June. If we want to continue support we have to pay 50% more for maintenance, which my company will not approve. In addition - we are planning to begin migrating in about a year. At that time we would go to Informix 2000 or later. This is NOT a free upgrade so the maintenance we have been paying almost $100,000 a year for has been basically for nothing. In answer to the previous post: No, we cannot upgrade at all because the application software that we use was ported specifically for us and for ver 7.24. They will not port to a newer version and will not support us if we do upgrade and encounter problems. We need to migrate to a new platform and rewrite our applications with another tool. That will take us a minimum of one to two years. In article <39D116C9.487EFDB8@bloomberg.net>, kagel@bloomberg.net wrote: > Informix still support 7.24, they are just not making any more upgrades to > it. It does not go to 'pay only' support for bug fixes for another year > except on some platforms (like mine 8-(). > > Art S. Kagel > > jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > > > > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > > quickly. > > > > Thanks > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > > Before you buy. > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

>> At that time we would go to Informix 2000 or later. This is NOT a free upgrade ... Depends how honed are your negotiating skills! Good deals are available.

I appreciate the replies and emails that I received on this. I got lots of advice on upgrading now and lectures on why we shouldn't be using obsolete software and hardware. Believe me this is not my decision or under my control. I wasn't really asking for lectures but for help. So once again - does anyone know of a consulting firm that would provide tech support for Informix products? For the record - we upgraded to 7.24 less than two years ago when Informix told us that this was the most current Y2K compliant version for our platform. They never for a moment implied that it was not the latest version or that it would be unsupported within the next year and a half. Also, they never notified us that it was going to become obsolete. When we payed our $100,000 last year for support they happily accepted it without a word of warning. In article <8qqu24$agk$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > quickly. > > Thanks > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy. > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

No, I don't for a number of reasons. It doesn't make economic sense, and they would have to have access to a lot of knowledge and tools and code that isn't available outside Informix. That said, wave enough money around, and I'm sure somebody will claim to be able to do it. Two years ago, 7.24 probably was current. Today it isn't. It's a fast moving industry. Nigel's recommendations seemed pretty sound to me. In all probability, 7.31 should work fine. greg jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > I appreciate the replies and emails that I received on this. I got lots > of advice on upgrading now and lectures on why we shouldn't be using > obsolete software and hardware. > > Believe me this is not my decision or under my control. I wasn't really > asking for lectures but for help. > > So once again - does anyone know of a consulting firm that would provide > tech support for Informix products? > > For the record - we upgraded to 7.24 less than two years ago when > Informix told us that this was the most current Y2K compliant version > for our platform. They never for a moment implied that it was not the > latest version or that it would be unsupported within the next year and > a half. Also, they never notified us that it was going to become > obsolete. When we payed our $100,000 last year for support they happily > accepted it without a word of warning. > > In article <8qqu24$agk$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, > jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to > upgrade > > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found > it > > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline > support? > > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, > but > > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees > pretty > > quickly. > > > > Thanks > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > > Before you buy. > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

Thank you all again for your well meaning and, occassionally helpful advice. I wish you all worked for a huge insurance company like mine that has to budget 6 months ahead of time for large expenses and then has to request approval from a committee that can take 6-12 months to approve expedentures of over $75,000. Since we are talking more like over $1,000,000 (software and hardware) there is no way for me to speed up this process no matter what kind of a case I would make. I was simply trying to help my company avoid possible serious down time by finding a temporary solution (and yes I agree 2 years is much too long to be considered temporary). Again I didn't appreciate some of the insults that I received - some by private email, but I do appreciate the well intended advice. Wish I could take it. Maybe I should find a job somewhere with less red tape. In article <8qqu24$agk$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > quickly. > > Thanks > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy. > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.

I agree, the situation is truly unfortunate, but your company seems to think it operates in a vacuum exactly as it pleases, and that won't always be the case. In a recent past life, I worked briefly with a company that simply would not lift a finger or spend a penny on their systems until/after they were absolutely forced to. I warned them over and over how close to the edge they were living, and the smallest burp could put them down for days, perhaps weeks. Two months later, it happened. A disk broke, and the best they could do on restore was a recovery to two weeks prior. They were down for 9 days total. They then spent the next month reentering transactions of all sorts to catch up. Still being a bit slow on the uptake, they diddled around and the same thing happened again a month later. Down 4 days this time (they were getting better at getting out of the ditch). They spent $>$600,000 the next week to set things straight. The CIO was fired a couple of weeks later, even though he wasn't the real villain. But owners don't fire themselves. Moral: Few things are as motivational as a lengthy downtime that really hurts. (If the system does anything important). And I still think Chuck's and the other advice is pretty good. It's just not what you wanted to hear. In the interim, 7.24 has apparently been working well for some time now. Keep ALL of your disks mirrored and a rock solid archive/recovery plan in place (including onbar so you can do point in time recovery), and chances are you'll be OK for a while longer. Don't change anything else you don't absolutely have to. greg jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > Thank you all again for your well meaning and, occassionally helpful advice. > > I wish you all worked for a huge insurance company like mine that has to > budget 6 months ahead of time for large expenses and then has to request > approval from a committee that can take 6-12 months to approve expedentures > of over $75,000. Since we are talking more like over $1,000,000 (software > and hardware) there is no way for me to speed up this process no matter what > kind of a case I would make. > > I was simply trying to help my company avoid possible serious down time by > finding a temporary solution (and yes I agree 2 years is much too long to be > considered temporary). > > Again I didn't appreciate some of the insults that I received - some by > private email, but I do appreciate the well intended advice. Wish I could > take it. > > Maybe I should find a job somewhere with less red tape. > > In article <8qqu24$agk$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, > jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > > quickly. > > > > Thanks > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > > Before you buy. > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > Before you buy.

Thanks Greg. Luckily I'm already doing what you suggested. I'm sufficiently paranoid to be sure we have our recovery options pretty well covered. In article <80DFBBCF1EDE2ED5.4D9058CBA1FDCE86.87A5BC4AC05A4B81@lp.airnews.net>, Greg <greg@fastlane.net> wrote: > I agree, the situation is truly unfortunate, but your company seems to think it > operates in a vacuum exactly as it pleases, and that won't always be the case. > > In a recent past life, I worked briefly with a company that simply would not > lift a finger or spend a penny on their systems until/after they were absolutely > forced to. I warned them over and over how close to the edge they were living, > and the smallest burp could put them down for days, perhaps weeks. > > Two months later, it happened. A disk broke, and the best they could do on > restore was a recovery to two weeks prior. They were down for 9 days total. > They then spent the next month reentering transactions of all sorts to catch up. > > Still being a bit slow on the uptake, they diddled around and the same thing > happened again a month later. Down 4 days this time (they were getting better > at getting out of the ditch). They spent $>$600,000 the next week to set things > straight. The CIO was fired a couple of weeks later, even though he wasn't the > real villain. But owners don't fire themselves. > > Moral: Few things are as motivational as a lengthy downtime that really hurts. > (If the system does anything important). > > And I still think Chuck's and the other advice is pretty good. It's just not > what you wanted to hear. In the interim, 7.24 has apparently been working well > for some time now. Keep ALL of your disks mirrored and a rock solid > archive/recovery plan in place (including onbar so you can do point in time > recovery), and chances are you'll be OK for a while longer. Don't change > anything else you don't absolutely have to. > > greg > > jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > > > Thank you all again for your well meaning and, occassionally helpful advice. > > > > I wish you all worked for a huge insurance company like mine that has to > > budget 6 months ahead of time for large expenses and then has to request > > approval from a committee that can take 6-12 months to approve expedentures > > of over $75,000. Since we are talking more like over $1,000,000 (software > > and hardware) there is no way for me to speed up this process no matter what > > kind of a case I would make. > > > > I was simply trying to help my company avoid possible serious down time by > > finding a temporary solution (and yes I agree 2 years is much too long to be > > considered temporary). > > > > Again I didn't appreciate some of the insults that I received - some by > > private email, but I do appreciate the well intended advice. Wish I could > > take it. > > > > Maybe I should find a job somewhere with less red tape. > > > > In article <8qqu24$agk$1@nnrp1.deja.com>, > > jblatz2@my-deja.com wrote: > > > We have Online Dynamic Server 7.24. We are not in a position to upgrade > > > all of our applications for at least another year or two. > > > > > > I just found out that Informix no longer supports ver 7.24. I found it > > > out by accident, Informix never notified us even though we have been > > > paying them a fortune in yearly maintenance. > > > > > > Does anyone know of a third party company that provides hotline support? > > > We have been pretty lucky and have not needed support for some time, but > > > even one database corruption problem could bring us to our knees pretty > > > quickly. > > > > > > Thanks > > > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > > > Before you buy. > > > > > > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ > > Before you buy. > > Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.