Informix 15 | Advanced Administration, Migration & Cloud Course

Description

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Course Details

Course Description

This course is designed for administrators and technical teams who already manage Informix environments and need to master the new features of Informix 15, plan migrations from earlier versions and deploy Informix in cloud-native environments. Over 24 hours, it covers the new massive scalability architecture (up to half a yottabyte per instance), the migration process with compatibility mode and native mode, Kubernetes deployment via Helm Charts, advanced monitoring with InformixHQ, the redesigned Wire Listener architecture with separate APIs (Mongo and REST), integration with watsonx.data and cloud backup strategies with ON-Bar/PSM. This course complements the Informix System Administration course (SIFMX89G), diving deeper into features exclusive to version 15 and modern deployment scenarios.

Target Audience

This course is aimed at Informix Database Administrators, System Administrators, Infrastructure Architects and DevOps teams who need to migrate to Informix 15, deploy in cloud environments or take advantage of the new scalability and monitoring capabilities.

Desired Prerequisites:

• Prior experience administering Informix 12.10 or 14.10 (completion of SIFMX89G or equivalent is recommended)
• Knowledge of SQL and the dbaccess tool
• Experience using basic Linux functionality
• Basic knowledge of Docker containers (recommended)

Upon completion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Plan and execute a migration from Informix 14.10 to Informix 15 with minimal downtime
• Understand and manage the new massive scalability architecture and 8-byte rowids
• Deploy and manage Informix 15 instances on Kubernetes via Helm Charts
• Monitor Informix 15 environments using InformixHQ
• Configure the separate Wire Listener APIs (Mongo Listener and REST Listener)
• Implement cloud backup strategies with ON-Bar and Primary Storage Manager
• Integrate Informix 15 with watsonx.data for real-time governed data access
• Leverage the new storage limits and SQL debugging enhancements

Instructors

The vast majority of our IBM courses are taught directly by our engineers. This is the only way we can guarantee the highest quality of instruction. We supplement all training with proprietary materials and hands-on labs developed from our extensive experience in deployments, migrations and courses over the years.

Added Value

Our courses are deeply role-oriented. The technical needs of a development team differ significantly from those responsible for deploying and managing infrastructure. That is why, beyond commands and tasks, we focus on solving the problems that arise in the day-to-day work of each team, providing them with the knowledge, competencies and skills required for each project. Furthermore, our documentation is based on the latest version of each product.

Course Agenda and Syllabus

Unit 1 – What’s New in Informix 15: Overview

• Evolution of Informix: from version 14.10 to 15.
• Massive scalability: storage of up to half a yottabyte per instance.
• New PageHeader format and Infrastructure Levels.
• 8-byte rowids for large tables.
• Relaxed limits: data per partition, data per page and table sizes.
• Removal and replacement of deprecated features.
• Edition map: Workgroup, Enterprise, Advanced Enterprise and Developer.

Unit 2 – Planning the Migration to Informix 15

• Pre-migration requirements: verification with oncheck, resolving pending ALTER operations.
• Level-0 backup prior to migration.
• Preparing BSON columns with DATE fields from 12.10.
• Managing configuration files: onconfig, sqlhosts, sm_versions.
• Java 11 requirements (JRE no longer bundled with the product).
• Impact on Enterprise Replication and high-availability clusters.

Unit 3 – In-Place Migration: Compatibility Mode and Native Mode

• Step-by-step in-place migration process.
• Compatibility mode: which features are available and which are not.
• Testing and validation in compatibility mode.
• Transition to native mode: irreversible conversion.
• Running UPDATE STATISTICS and UPDATE STATISTICS FOR PROCEDURE post-migration.
• Data integrity verification with oncheck after migration.
• Rollback planning: when and how to revert before native mode.

Unit 4 – Cross-Server and Cross-Platform Migration

• Non-in-place migration: installation on a new server and data movement.
• Migration tools: dbexport, dbimport, dbload, onunload/onload.
• Migration between operating systems and different page sizes.
• Migration to cloud environments (AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud).
• Index rebuilding and DataBlade module registration after migration.

Unit 5 – New Storage Architecture in Informix 15

• New PageHeader format and its impact on performance.
• 8-byte rowids: when and how they are activated.
• CSDK compatibility: 4-byte vs 8-byte rowids and application recompilation.
• External smartblobs: storing large binary objects in an external file system.
• New maximum storage limits per table, partition and instance.
• Implications for capacity planning and environment sizing.

Unit 6 – Deploying Informix 15 on Containers and Kubernetes

• Informix on Docker: official images, configuration and data persistence.
• Kubernetes deployment via Helm Charts.
• Configuring persistent volumes for chunks and logs.
• Managing environment variables and ConfigMaps for onconfig.
• Horizontal scaling and high-availability strategies on Kubernetes.
• Deployment on AWS Marketplace and other cloud platforms.
• Best practices for production containerised environments.

Unit 7 – Advanced Monitoring with InformixHQ

• InformixHQ architecture: agents, server and web console.
• Installation, configuration and deployment of InformixHQ.
• Monitoring instances, clusters and replication.
• Agent management: consolidated view, status and per-instance permissions.
• Schema Manager and integrated SQL Editor for debugging.
• Viewing query execution plans.
• InformixHQ vs OpenAdmin Tool (OAT): differences and migration path.

Unit 8 – Wire Listener: New Split API Architecture

• Wire Listener evolution from Informix 14 to Informix 15.
• Mongo Listener API: configuring and managing MongoDB connections.
• REST Listener API: configuring REST endpoints.
• MQTT configuration for IoT scenarios.
• Security and authentication for Wire Listener APIs.
• Monitoring and troubleshooting the Wire Listener in v15.

Unit 9 – Cloud Backup and Restore

• Backup changes in Informix 15: removal of S3 support in ontape.
• ON-Bar and Primary Storage Manager (PSM) for cloud backup.
• Configuring ON-Bar with cloud storage (S3, Azure Blob, IBM COS).
• Backup strategies for containerised environments.
• Cloud restore and disaster recovery.
• Automating backups with the Informix Scheduler.

Unit 10 – Advanced Security in Informix 15

• Encryption at rest and in transit: updated configuration.
• Changes in GSKit configuration in v15.
• Authentication and authorisation: new features and improvements.
• Auditing and traceability: advanced ADTCFG configuration.
• Security in cloud and Kubernetes environments: secrets, network policies and TLS.

Unit 11 – Integration with watsonx.data and the IBM Ecosystem

• Informix connector for watsonx.data: governed data access without ETL.
• Integration architecture: data lakehouse with Informix as a source.
• Use cases: real-time analytics and AI processing.
• Informix and IBM Cloud Pak for Data.

Unit 12 – High Availability and Enterprise Replication in Informix 15

• High-availability enhancements in v15.
• Configuring HDR, RSS and SDS in Informix 15.
• Enterprise Replication: configuration improvements with InformixHQ.
• Replication in cloud and containerised environments.
• Licensing for secondary and replication nodes.

Unit 13 – SQL and Development Enhancements in Informix 15

• SQL statement debugging improvements.
• .NET Entity Framework Core Provider: configuration and usage.
• CSDK and connectivity driver improvements.
• Updated GLS support: new language libraries and character sets.
• Changes in Informix 4GL and ISQL.

Unit 14 – Performance and Optimisation in Informix 15

• Impact of the new PageHeader format on I/O performance.
• Capacity planning with the new storage limits.
• Buffer pool and shared memory tuning for large-scale environments.
• Statement Cache and PDQ optimisation in v15.
• Benchmarking and performance comparison: v14 vs v15.

Unit 15 – Hands-on Case Study: Full Migration and Deployment (optional)

• In-place migration of an Informix 14.10 server to Informix 15.
• Transition from compatibility mode to native mode.
• Deployment of the migrated instance on a Kubernetes cluster.
• Configuring InformixHQ to monitor the new environment.
• Setting up automated backup with ON-Bar on cloud storage.
• Integrity verification and post-migration performance tuning.

Do you need to adapt this syllabus to your needs? Are you interested in other courses? Contact us with no obligation.

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