Informix 14.10 System Administration

Description

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Course details

Target audience

This course is designed for Informix System Administrators, Informix Database Administrators, and Informix Applications Developers.

Desired Prerequisites:

Students in this course should satisfy the following prerequisites:

• Knowledge of Structured Query Language (SQL)

• Knowledge of dbaccess

• Experience using basic Linux functionality

• Experience using the vi editor

Instructors

The great majority of the IBM courses we offer are taught directly by our engineers. This is the only way we can guarantee the highest quality. We complement all the training with our own materials and laboratories, based on our experience during the deployments, migrations and courses that we have carried out during all these years.

Added value

Our courses are deeply role oriented. To give an example, the needs for technology mastery are different for developer teams and for the people in charge of deploying and managing the underlying infrastructure. The level of previous experience is also important and we take it very seriously. That is why beyond (boring) commands and tasks, we focus on solving the problems that arise in the day to day of each team. Providing them with the knowledge, competencies and skills required for each project. In addition, our documentation is based on the latest version of each product.

Agenda and course syllabus

Unit 1 – Overview of the Informix Database Server

• Description of the major components of the Informix database server.
• Definition of key database server terms.
• Description of major database server events.

Unit 2 – Preparing for Configuration

• Review of the contents of the release notes.
• Identification of the kernel parameters that need to be configured.
• Determination of the operating system patches that need to be applied.

Unit 3 – Configuring Client-Server Connectivity

• Listing the methods to connect to the database server.
• Making the appropriate entries in the sqlhosts file.
• Configuring the environment variables necessary for a client application to connect to the database server.

Unit 4 – Configuring a Database Server

• Creating cooked files or preparing raw devices for server disk storage.
• Configuring the environment variables necessary to administer a database server.
• Explanation of the purpose of the configuration file.
• Identification of the basic configuration parameter settings required to bring up a simple database server.
• Using a text editor to modify the configuration file.
• Bringing the database server online.

Unit 5 – Monitoring the Database Server

• Description of the use of the System Monitoring Interface (SMI).
• Connecting to the sysmaster database and running simple SQL queries.
• Using the onstat command to monitor information about the database server.
• Using the oncheck command to gather information about space usage and the status of indexes and tblspaces.

Unit 6 – Managing Shared Memory

• Listing and describing the operating modes of the database server.
• Using the onmode and oninit commands to change the operating mode.
• Description of the shared memory segments used by the database server.
• Description of the configuration parameters that affect the size of shared memory.
• Configuring the RESIDENT parameter to control shared memory residency.
• Monitoring the major components of shared memory.

Unit 7 – Virtual Processors and Threads

• Definition of a thread.
• Description of the multithreaded architecture.
• Description of how virtual processors are implemented in Unix.
• Using the onstat command to monitor virtual processors (VPs) and threads.
• Listing and explaining the virtual processor classes.
• Description of how the server handles network connections.
• Configuring server parameters related to VPs and threads.
• Dynamically adding and removing virtual processors.

Unit 8 – Disk Architecture

• Description of the page and chunk structure in Informix.
• Explanation of how pages are allocated within extents.
• Differentiation between table and index extents.
• Description of the relationship between chunks and dbspaces.
• Description of overhead pages in various types of chunks.
• Description of the structure of a dbspace, blobspace, and sbspace.
• Using the oncheck command to display reports about space allocation, tblspace usage, and index usage.
• Using the onstat command to display information about dbspaces and chunks.

Unit 9 – Managing and Monitoring Disk Space

• Creating and dropping dbspaces, blobspaces, and sbspaces.
• Changing the status of a mirrored dbspace.
• Monitoring dbspaces, blobspaces, and sbspaces.
• Using the storage pool and APIs to administer storage spaces.

Unit 10 – Physical and Logical Logging

• Moving the physical log to a plogspace.
• Adding, dropping, and modifying logical logs.
• Changing the logging mode of a database.
• Defining a long transaction.
• Listing and describing configuration parameters related to physical and logical logging.
• Monitoring the physical and logical logs.

Unit 11 – Shared Memory Buffer Pool

• Listing the steps performed by the server to update a row on disk.
• Description of the checkpoint process.
• Differences between a blocking and a non-blocking checkpoint.
• Properly setting the configuration parameters related to checkpoints.
• Description of the events that cause a checkpoint.
• Monitoring checkpoints and buffer writes performed by the server.

Unit 12 – Fault Tolerance

• Description of the types of failures that could occur on the server system.
• Description of the fast recovery process.
• Examining the status of chunks and dbspaces.
• Identification of the configuration parameters associated with recovery.

Unit 13 – Introduction to Backup and Restore

• Identification of Informix backup and restore utilities.
• Explanation of the backup and restore process.
• Explanation of the incremental backup levels.
• Explanation of the two different methods to back up logical logs.
• Differences between a warm and cold restart.

Unit 14 – Backup and Restore using ontape

• Configuring the server to use ontape for backup and restore.
• Performing a server backup using ontape.
• Backing up logical log files using ontape.
• Performing a warm restore using ontape.

Unit 15 – Temporary Files and Tables

• Description of the temporary objects created by the database server.
• Description of the configuration parameters and environment variables related to temporary objects.
• Explanation of the importance of using multiple temporary dbspaces.
• Explanation of the purpose of the WITH NO LOG clause when creating temporary tables.
• Using the onstat command and SMI to monitor the space used to create temporary objects.

Unit 16 – Performance Features

• Configuring the server to perform read-aheads.
• Configuring the server to use recovery threads.
• Configuring the server to enable or disable the use of OS time.
• Description of the PDQ operations available in the database server.
• Description of configuration parameters that control PDQ resources.
• Configuring the server to use the SQL statement cache.

Unit 17 – Monitoring User Activity

• Using the onstat command and the sysmaster database to monitor user activity on the database server.
• Identification of the resources held by a user session.
• Displaying the last SQL command run by a user session.
• Identification of user sessions that have created temporary tables.
• Description of how to identify the type of locks held by user sessions.
• Identification and termination of a specific user session.
• Explanation of the purpose of the dynamic lock manager.

Unit 18 – Event Alarms

• Explanation of how to use the event alarm feature.
• Listing the event security codes.
• Listing the classes of alarm events in the server environment.
• Explanation of the purpose of the system alarm program.

Unit 19 – SQL Administrative Functions and Task Scheduler

• Using SQL commands to perform system administrative tasks.
• Using the built-in scheduler to automatically perform routine tasks.

Unit 20 – Troubleshooting

• Identification and response to common server problems.
• Running commands to check for consistency of the disk subsystem.
• Identification of the version and serial number of the database server.
• Identification of permission problems with devices and server files.
• Description of the information required by Technical Support.
• Description of the parts of a database version number.
• Recovering from a simple permission or data storage location problem in the server.

Unit 21 – A Configuration Case Study (optional)

• Setting required server environment variables.
• Creating an sqlhosts file entry to enable a connection.
• Initializing and configuring a server.
• Using command line utilities or SQL administrative routines to reinitialize the server and to:
  • Create dbspaces.
  • Create and delete logical logs.
  • Move the physical log.

Appendix A – Installing Informix on Linux / UNIX

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