Best way to synchronize tables via HTTPS

Hello, we have a process requirements where we can´t directly reach customers informix DB via direct connection, so we need a process via HTTPS to synchronize some tables to our "master DB" on our side. What is the best way you can recommend? We would build a webservice for that. Can you recommend REST API for that? ------------------------------ Marc Demhartner ------------------------------

Hi Marc, I'd say that's at least part of the REST API's purpose: translate REST calls into SQL towards the Informix server, and the result into JSON for the HTTP(S) client's consumption. Depending on what that synchronization involves, standard REST syntax might do; if not, there's also special REST syntax to allow direct infusion of arbitrary SQL. BR, Andreas ------------------------------ Andreas Legner ------------------------------

Marc: Andreas's point is that Informix is delivered with a REST protocol listener, you just have to start it up and you can interface with the instance directly using the REST API! You do not need any other REST product. Art ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

Yes, thanks a lot - we will try it. Its included in all versions of Informix since 12.10FC3 ? ------------------------------ Marc Demhartner ------------------------------

Don't actually remember when this got introduced. But I also wouldn't know of any wire (Mongo/REST) listener vs. IDS backend version dependencies, so you might well be able to pick the jsonListener.jar from a recent version and run it against an older server. It's only JDBC, after all. ------------------------------ Andreas Legner ------------------------------

Marc: I'm fairly certain that the REST listener feature extends back to 11.70, so, yes, it's in there. FWIW, 12.01.FC3 is a VERY old release. You really should upgrade to v14.10. It is likely that 12.10 will be going out-of-support in 2024 and you are missing many many bug fixes and performance improvements. Art ------------------------------ Art S. Kagel, President and Principal Consultant ASK Database Management Corp. www.askdbmgt.com ------------------------------

You used to have to start multiple listeners depending on what you want to do. Now it is just a single Jar file AFAIK so there might be some IDS version inter-dependencies. For most complex REST calls then the OneDB version is by far the better optiion, it should work happily against V14.x but is unlikely to be 'officially' supported. Whether it is free or not .... No idea. As of the last time of asking, the Informix and OneDB wire listener/connector are not functional equivalent. Cheers Paul

Hi Marc, as you are explicitly asking about such an old version, I digged in my notes (which once existed as "The NoSQL Blog" in IBM's developerWorks - until IBM decided to demolish developerWorks). I found the following description. Therefore, I'm not very sure about 12.10.xC3, as I had used 12.10.xC4 for all my testing and examples ... Still, this probably gives you some ideas to get you started. ----------- excerpt from "The NoSQL Blog" ------------------ As for the MongoDB API, the access via the REST API is also provided by a JSON Wire listener. The binary program is the same, ${INFORMIXDIR}/bin/jsonListener.jar , but the prerequisites and configuration for the REST API are different: Prerequisites: Java Runtime Environment (JRE): For the REST API the JSON Wire listener needs a JRE version 1.7 or newer. Unfortunately, this is not yet contained in version 12.10.xC4 of the Informix server. (It is present in version 12.10.xC5.) JRE version 1.6 that is present in Informix server 12.10.xC4 does not meet the requirements for the REST API. More information on the IBM JRE 1.7 and its download can be found for example on the following developerWorks page: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/java/jdk/index.html . Tomcat: The JSON Wire listener needs Tomcat version 8 or newer for the REST API. Tomcat version 8 is contained in the file ${INFORMIXDIR}/bin/nosql_sdk.zip that gets installed with the Informix server. Configuration: The only difference in the configuration of the JSON Wire listener for the REST API as opposed for the MongoDB API is with the parameter "type": instead of "mongo" we supply the value "rest". In case it is not yet available on the system, a JRE version 1.7 (or newer) must be installed first. Depending on the platform and the JRE, the corresponding instructions are to be followed. For Tomcat we unpack the file ${INFORMIXDIR}/bin/nosql_sdk.zip so that its content gets stored in the directory ${INFORMIXDIR}/nosql_sdk . For the configuration we create a file named ${INFORMIXDIR}/etc/restListener.properties with the following content. Because we want to be able to use the MongoDB API and the REST API concurrently and independently from each other, we use a new port number, 26352 : listener.type= rest listener.port= 26352 security.sql.passthrough=true url=jdbc:informix-sqli://localhost:24731/sysmaster:INFORMIXSERVER=mfu1;USER=informix;PASSWORD=informix As before for the JSON Wire listener of the MongoDB API we create a start and a stop script. In these scripts we specify in the class path additional paths for the use of Tomcat. The complete files look as follows: Start script rest_listener_start.sh : #!/bin/sh ${INFORMIXDIR}/extend/krakatoa/jre/bin/java \\ -cp ${INFORMIXDIR}/bin/jsonListener.jar:${INFORMIXDIR}/nosql_sdk/tomcat-embed-core.jar \\ com.ibm.nosql.informix.server.ListenerCLI \\ -config ${INFORMIXDIR}/etc/restListener.properties \\ -logfile /work/martinfu/731/restListener.log \\ -start & exit Stop script rest_listener_stop.sh : #!/bin/sh ${INFORMIXDIR}/extend/krakatoa/jre/bin/java \\ -cp ${INFORMIXDIR}/bin/jsonListener.jar:${INFORMIXDIR}/nosql_sdk/tomcat-embed-core.jar \\ com.ibm.nosql.informix.server.ListenerCLI \\ -config ${INFORMIXDIR}/etc/restListener.properties \\ -stop exit Finally, we start the JSON Wire listener for the REST API by running the start script as user informix . With that the service is ready and we can try to access the database via the REST API. As the protocol is HTTP we could use an internet browser, e.g. Firefox, and formulate the query as URL (better: as URI - Unified Resource Identifier) and send that to the JSON Wire listener. But to better see and understand what is happening, we use the Linux utility "cURL" instead of a browser. With this utility we send a URI to the addressed service, and the utility receives the answer and displays it as primitive text - all of this on the command line. ------------------------------ Regards, Martin -- Ma rtin Fuerderer Software Engineer hcltechsw.com ::DISCLAIMER:: The contents of this e-mail and any attachment(s) are confidential and intended for the named recipient(s) only. E-mail transmission is not guaranteed to be secure or error-free as information could be intercepted, corrupted, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or may contain viruses in transmission. 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