Step by Step Informix Database Server Installation and Initialization instance

Here I have descried how to install Informix Dynamic Server Version 12.10.FC5TL Installation and Initialize instance.

Step 1. Preparing to Install Dynamic Server on Linux and UNIX Platforms

Always prepare your system before you start the installation process and ensure that you have sufficient authority to perform the installation and aslso always follow the IBM note  for the best practice.

You need root user to perform the installation-related tasks.

Complete the following tasks to prepare for installation:

• Preparing the Operating System for Installation
• Determining System Requirements
• Disk Space Requirements for IBM Informix
• Extracting JRE from the Installation Media Manually
• Download Product Files
• Creating the Group informix and User informix
• Choosing Installation Options

Determining System Requirements:

Before you install any products, make sure your system meets all the requirements.

Disk Space Requirements for IBM Informix:

The minimum size that the database server installation requires is about 400megabytes and for Client SDK requires approximately 150 MB. In addition to the Dynamic Server product space requirements listed above, ensure that you have 50 MB free space available in your temporary directory (/tmp by default) before installation if you are using the Java Runtime Environment (JRE) that is bundled with the installation application. The JRE is extracted from the installation media if your system does not have it, and it is removed after installing products and features.

Extracting JRE from the Installation Media Manually:

Extract Java Runtime Environment (JRE) from the installation media to a working

directory before performing uninstallation operations if necessary.The JRE is included in the root directory of the installation media. The JRE filename is .jvm.bin and it is platform specific. The directory where you extract JRE must have at least 50 MB of free disk space.

Download Product Files:

Before you install download the product files and transfer that file to your system.

Use tar command to extract the IDS software.

# tar -xvf filename

Creating the Group informix and User informix:

Log in as root user.

You need to create the objects before you run the installation application in the following situations:

• You want to specify a particular identifier (ID) number.
• The group informix exists on the system; however, the user informix does not.In this case, you need to create the user only.

1. Create the group informix by using the groupadd utility followed by the name

of the group, in this format:

• groupadd n informix

where n is an unused identifier (ID) greater than 100.

2. Create the user informix by using the useradd utility followed by the group

(informix) and user name (informix) in this format:

• useradd -u n -g informix informix

Important: Only add users to the group informix if the users need

administrative access to the database server.

3. Create a password for user informix by running the passwd utility.

• passwd informix

Choosing Installation Options:

There have several installation options to install Dynamic Server, its

features, and related products.When you install Dynamic Server or related products, you can use various installation options to install the products to suit your installation environment and goals:

• Typical and Custom Installation Options
• Deployment Wizard
• Installable Features of Dynamic Server
• Demonstration Database Server
• Role Separation
• Manifest File and Installed Files List
• Response File

Installation Methods:

There is a launchpad to help you install Dynamic Server and related products.

There are also installation applications that allow you to install products separately.

Choosing an Installation Directory: $INFORMIXDIR:

The directory for the Dynamic Server installation, referred to as $INFORMIXDIR,can be created before or during execution of the install application.The Dynamic Server install application and the documentation refer to the installation directory as $INFORMIXDIR.

• You need to log in as root user to create the directory.
• The directory must be local or an NFS-mounted file system using regular operating-system files.
• The directory should be empty before you install IDS there.
• To preserve product files of earlier versions, create separate directories for each version of your IBM Informix products.
• The $INFORMIXDIR path, including path separators, should not exceed 200 characters.

Find below some steps I have install IDS in RHEL system:

After RHEL server is ready for use:

***********************************

. login as root (or) switch to root as below:

 su  - root

# cd  /mnt

# mkdir informix

# chmod 777 informix

# mkdir storage

I have to add informix user and informix group in this linux box as below:

# groupadd -g 999 informix

# useradd -u 999 -g informix informix 

#passwd informix

Password I have given was "password"

#chown informix:informix storage

# Add below port details in /etc/services. 

ids12port       34551/tcp               # Port for IDS121 instance

Note: /mnt/informix is a folder in which I am going to copy .tar file

Note: Ip address of your rhel1 linux box is: 192.168.0.0  (or you can find ipaddress using "ifconfig" command )

Note: Transfer files from source  to linux Syetem.

Once transfer completes:

# cd /mnt/informix

# ls -l

# tar -xvf  iif.12.10.*.tar

Note: "tar -xvf" is a linux command to extract files within .tar extension.

#ls -ltr

# xhost +

# export DISPLAY=:0.0

#mkdir /mnt/informix/IDS121                  <== THis is your INFORMIXDIR 

The above folder/directory will hold Informix product installation binaries

Note: ids_install is the command to start installation(IDS: Informix Dynamic Server)

#./ids_install(Follow the step asked for installation and input as per your requirement and it will take 20 to 30 minutes to complete the installation).

Initialize instance:

su - informix

cd /mnt/storage

touch rootdbs.1 online.log

Give permission to the above file

chmod 660 rootdbs.1 online.log

Edit Informix environment file:

$ vi env.ids12

$cat env.ids12

export INFORMIXDIR=/mnt/db2/IDS121

export INFORMIXSERVER=ids121

export ONCONFIG=onconfig.ids121

export INFORMIXSQLHOSTS=$INFORMIXDIR/etc/sqlhosts

export PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/bin:$PATH

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$INFORMIXDIR/lib:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

export TERM=vt100

export TERMCAP=$INFORMIXDIR/etc/termcap

$. ./env.ids12

$ onstat -

$ cd $INFORMIXDIR

$cd etc

$cp onconfig.std onconfig.ids121

$vi onconfig.ids121    (and modify below configuration parameters)

ROOTPATH    /mnt/storage/rootdbs.1

MSGPATH /mnt/storage/online.log

TAPEDEV     /dev/null

LTAPEDEV    /dev/null

DBSERVERNAME  ids121

$ cp sqlhosts.std sqlhosts

vi sqlhosts   and add below line at the bottom of file

ids121  onsoctcp        rhel1           ids121port

$cd /mnt/storage

$ onstat -

$ oninit -iyv

Note: Before you can start a database server, you must initialize it once.Only user informix or root user can initialize a database server.To initialize a new server for the first time:

Run the oninit -i command.

Important: This command overwrites any existing data, so use caution when you

run this command on an existing setup.

$$ onstat -

IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 12.10.FC5TL -- On-Line 

After intializaton it will show On-Line.

===================Happy Learning=================