===== ULS-Agent for Informix Databases =====

Aka the INFORMIX_TOOLS, is the [[http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.txt|GPLv3]]-based ULS-agent for gathering runtime metrics 
and status information, logging configuration settings and 
executing regular administrative jobs on [[http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/informix/|Informix]] database instances 
running on Unix-like operating systems.


==== Overview ====

The [[informix_tools]] consists of several perl scripts and modules, bash scripts and configuration files to:

  * gather runtime metrics of an Informix database instance
  * do regular databse consistency checks, full database backups and backup of logical logs
  * collect database relevant information as a Informix instance information report
  * provide database start and stop scripts, used in [[:sccl]] packages
  * grant schema-to-schema access privileges

It requires [[http://www.perl.org/|Perl]] to run and 
the [[:uls:agents:linux]] for data transmission to the ULS-server.

The monitoring script does only read against the database or call Informix
built-in utilities. No extra schema is needed but for most SELECTs the
DBSA privileges are necessary.

All results and/or reports are generated as ULS value files in the [[uls:agents:value_file_format]]
which are sent to the ULS-server by using the [[:uls:agents:linux]].
-----

==== Features ====

The INFORMIX_TOOLS provide:

  * number of current sessions, data manipulations and sorting
  * buffer and disk reads and writes and their cache hit ratios
  * information about dbspace and sblobspace usage
  * figures of the memory consumption, logical log usage and flusher activity
  * filtered contents of the online.log (database instance message file)

-----

==== Download & Installation ====

The INFORMIX_TOOLS are only available as a zip archive which only has 
to be unzipped in a destination folder, no rpm, no deb.

:!: be sure to have the [[uls:agents:linux]] installed. Try: 

  $ whereis flush_test_values
  flush_test_values: /usr/local/bin/flush_test_values
to check.

Download the {{:uls:agents:informix_tools_2014-06-22.zip}} (sorry, in preparation) and copy it to a destination folder (<informix_tools_dir>).

Check the checksums:

  $ sha1sum informix_tools*.zip
  9999999999999999999999999999999999999999  informix_tools_2014-06-22.zip

Extract them:
  $ unzip informix_tools*.zip

Find or create a script to set the proper Informix environment 
for your Informix database instance, e.g. ~informix/informix_env.
Should be similar to:

<file bash informix_env>
TODO
</file>

Create a link to it (in the directory where the zip was unpacked):
  $ ln -s ~informix/informix_env informix_env

-----

==== What You Get ====

The scripts of the INFORMIX_TOOLS:
  * watch_informix: gather runtime performance and status information
  * ontape2file: does an "ontape -s -L 0" backup of the database
  * logs2file: does an "ontape -a" backup of the logical logs
  * onstat_all: collects status and inventory information from the database
  * set_database_privs: set database privileges and schema rights to database users

In conjunction with the [[:sccl]]:
  * sccl_startstop

Miscellaneous:
  * *.pm: the needed Perl modules to run the Perl scripts
  * cron_informix_tools: example for a crontab


-----

=== What Happens? ===

The //normal// usage:

  * A crontab is defined, the scripts "watch_informix", "hourly" and "nightly" are executed regularly
  * "watch_informix" gathers the performance and current state information every 10 minutes and generates a file in the [[uls:agents:value_file_format]] which is transferred to ULS by the [[:uls:agents:linux]]
  * "nightly" is executed at 22:00h and 
    * does a full backup of the database
    * generates an Informix Instance Information Report

The nightly backup is delayed by a random number of minutes 
to avoid starting all database backups of all servers in the whole 
IT environment at the same time.

TO BE CONTINUED