September 6, 2015 Connecting Client Applications to Informix Databases using IBM Informix Connect and ODBC James Edmiston Database Consultant Quest Information Systems, Inc.

September 6, 2015 Purpose Identify Informix connectivity products and explain how to configure the related components for Microsoft Windows clients to enable client applications to access Informix databases through ODBC

September 6, 2015 Outline Overview of the latest IBM Informix Client SDK Informix client connectivity components Client configuration Testing connection Potential problems Documentation

September 6, 2015 Client SDK 2.81 Overview IBM Informix Client SDK provides a single packaging of several application programming interfaces (APIs) needed to develop applications for Informix servers as well as components for client/Informix database connectivity. Provides choice of programming environments Promotes easier development of applications for Informix servers Reduces application development costs Decreases application development time Reduces training needed for new programming language Provides APIs for Java™, C++, C, or ESQL, OLE/DB and ODBC

September 6, 2015 Client SDK 2.81 (cont) Improved performance with a newly re-architected OLE DB provider UniCode support to Microsoft Visual Basic or Visual C++ applications Supports JDBC V2.21 Type 4 driver Java Driver is Optimized to work with IBM WebSphere Application Server Support Unicode standard in OLE DB and ODBC

September 6, 2015 Client SDK 2.81 (cont) High performance OLE DB –Supports Microsoft Visual Basic –Supports Visual C++ UniCode Enabled ODBC Driver Robust, Feature rich ESQL/C module ODBC/ OLE DB Supports.NET applications via Visual Studio.NET bridge IBM Informix JDBC driver 2.21 and embedded SQL/J JDBC 2.0

September 6, 2015 Client SDK 2.81 Components IBM Informix ESQL/C V9.53 IBM Informix ODBC driver V3.82 IBM Informix OLEDB Provider V2.81 (Win32 only) IBM Informix Object Interface for C++ V2.8 IBM Informix JDBC driver V2.21 (Type 4) and IBM Informix Embedded SQLJ V1.01 IBM Informix Connect V2.81

September 6, 2015 Client SDK 2.81 Windows Windows NT V4.0 (Service Pack 5, or higher) Windows 98/ME/XP, Windows 2000 Professional, or Windows 2000 Server TCP/IP protocol that is Windows Sockets 1.1 compliant Microsoft Visual C++ Compiler V6.0 MTS 2.0 (to enable use of the MTS feature for ODBC and OLEDB)

September 6, 2015 Client SDK 2.81 Unix Sun Solaris 2.6, 7, 8, and 9 (32 bit) Sun Solaris 7, 8 and 9 (64 bit) HP-UX 11.0 and 11i Version 1 (also known at 11.1) (32 and 64 bit) AIX 4.3.3, 5.1, and 5.2 (32 bit) AIX (64 bit) AIX 5.1 and 5.2 (64 bit) Compaq Tru64 5.1, 5.1a, and 5.1b Linux 2.4 (kernel 2.4, glibc 2.2.x) (32 bit), Caldera SCO UnixWare LKP SGI IRIX 6.5 (32 bit) SCO OpenServer 5.05

September 6, 2015 Client Server Architecture Client Server IBM Informix Client SDK/Connect ODBC DSN Network Connection INFORMIXSERVER ODBC Enabled Client Application

September 6, 2015 Client Applications Examples of Different types of Client Applications Application development tools –PowerBuilder, Visual Basic Query and reporting tools –BrioQuery Other –Microsoft Access –Custom Applications

September 6, 2015 Using ODBC What is ODBC? Microsoft Open Database Connectivity Enforces standards that allow an application to access different database vendors Portable across platforms - may not be seamless because of individual features of the database products What Informix products need to be installed?

September 6, 2015 IBM Informix CSDK The IBM Informix Client Software Developer’s Kit (CSDK) database connectivity components ODBC driver ODBC Driver Manager Informix Connect

September 6, 2015 Informix Connect Consists of the runtime connection libraries Bundled with IBM Informix Client SDK Informix Connect allows distribution of runtime versions with completed applications Once Installed, know what to configure

September 6, 2015 Configure Client Components –Setnet32 Network service –ODBC data source (Data Source Name = DSN) –Client application referencing DSN

September 6, 2015 Setnet32 Configuration tool included in Informix products Sets INFORMIX environment variables on the client machine Creates a server entry with server identification and network parameters Setnet32 configures on the Windows client what the UNIX SQLHOSTS file and environment variables are to the Informix server

September 6, 2015 Setnet32 (cont) Records entries in the Windows registry Allows save/load of entries to/from a file Server entries used in other Informix admin client tools (ServerStudio, SQL Editor, etc.) Test Client/Server connection Using ILogin Demo Tool select * from customer

September 6, 2015 Network Services file Network ‘services’ file 9x - c:\windows\services NT/2K/XP - c:\winnt\system32\drivers\etc\services ASCII text –Service name –Port number –Protocol Service name corresponds to ‘Service’ value from the Setnet32 entry Example services file entry Demonstration of Setnet32 and Test Connection

September 6, 2015 ODBC Data Source Name (DSN) Consists of: –Database name –ODBC driver specification –Database server –Host name –Network protocol Configured using the ODBC administrator Test database connection Demonstration of ODBC DSN

September 6, 2015 Client Application Reference ODBC DSN –Brio Query demo –MS Access demo

September 6, 2015 Potential Problems May need to reboot the client machine after installing CSDK/Connect before creating the ODBC data source Informix error message text may reference the UNIX environment, while the problem really applies to the Windows environment Informix error -908 Verify the listening port number defined on the server matches the client

September 6, 2015 Potential Problems (cont) Informix error -931 Verify the service file entry matches the service name in the Setnet32 ‘Server Information’ tab Informix error -951 or -956 Enter client machine name in the /etc/hosts.equiv file and/or in the.rhosts file on the server

September 6, 2015 Potential Problems (cont) System error code 126 client environment problem –NT/2K/XP - Using the Control Panel, System properties, set system variables in the ‘Environment’ tab –95/98 - make entries in the autoexec.bat file –Variables to set (example): INFORMIXDIR=c:/informix PATH=c:/informix/bin;...

September 6, 2015 Documentation Embedded SQLJ User's Guide, Version 1.01 (G ) This manual contains information about using IBM Informix Embedded SQLJ. IBM Informix Embedded SQLJ enables you to embed SQL statements in your Java programs. It consists of the SQLJ translator, which translates SQLJ code into Java code, and a set of Java classes that provide runtime support for SQLJ programs. When you run a SQLJ program, it uses IBM Informix JDBC Driver to connect to an IBM Informix database.Embedded SQLJ User's Guide, Version 1.01 (G ) IBM Informix Client Products Installation Guide for UNIX, Linux, and Windows (G ) This manual explains how to install IBM Informix Client Software Developer's Kit (Client SDK), Version 2.5, and IBM Informix Connect, Version 2.5, on computers that use UNIX, Linux, and Windows.IBM Informix Client Products Installation Guide for UNIX, Linux, and Windows (G ) IBM Informix ESQL/C Programmer's Manual, Version 9.53 (G ) This manual describes the features that make up the IBM Informix implementation of embedded SQL for C.IBM Informix ESQL/C Programmer's Manual, Version 9.53 (G ) IBM Informix GLS User's Guide, Version 9.4/8.4 (G ) This manual describes the Global Language Support (GLS) feature, which allows IBM Informix application-programming interfaces (APIs) and database servers to handle different languages, cultural conventions, and code sets.IBM Informix GLS User's Guide, Version 9.4/8.4 (G )

September 6, 2015 Documentation (cont) IBM Informix OLE DB Provider Programmer's Guide, Version 2.81 This manual describes the software requirements for using IBM Informix OLE DB Provider, shows how to install and configure the provider for your use, and explains how to use IBM Informix OLE DB Provider to enable client applications, such as ActiveX Data Object (ADO) applications and Web pages, to access data on an IBM Informix server.IBM Informix OLE DB Provider Programmer's Guide, Version 2.81 IBM Informix Object Interface for C++ Programmer's Guide, Version 2.5 This guide describes the architecture of the C++ object interface and provides a complete class reference.IBM Informix Object Interface for C++ Programmer's Guide, Version 2.5 JDBC Driver Programmer's Guide, UNIX and Windows Environments, v2.21 This guide describes how to install, load, and use Informix JDBC Driver to connect to an Informix database from within a Java application or applet. You can also use Informix JDBC Driver for writing user-defined routines that are executed in the server.JDBC Driver Programmer's Guide, UNIX and Windows Environments, v2.21 ODBC Driver Programmer's Manual, Version 3.82 This manual is a user guide and reference manual for Informix ODBC Driver, which is the Informix implementation of the Microsoft Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) interface, Version3.0. This manual explains how to use the Informix ODBC Driver application programming interface (API) to access an Informix database and interact with an Informix database server.ODBC Driver Programmer's Manual, Version 3.82

September 6, 2015 Summary Latest IBM Informix CSDK 2.81 Client connection to Informix databases Install Informix client connectivity products Configure Setnet32, ODBC, service file Test connection Potential problems Documentation –For accompanying article:

September 6, 2015 Questions? James Edmiston Database Consultant Quest Information Systems, Inc.