The ifxdeploy.conf file

The ifxdeploy.conf file is a text-file template in which you can configure an instance snapshot before deploying it with the ifxdeploy command.

Purpose

The ifxdeploy.conf file is in $INFORMIXDIR/etc/.

The ifxdeploy.conf file allows for more dynamic customization than the command-line options because in the file you can specify any configuration parameter values, set key environment variables, and create multiple database server aliases. You can save and reuse the file to deploy instances to other locations. The file supports the same functionality as the ifxdeploy command options, but also additional functionality that is useful for embedding HCL Informix® when you are deploying a snapshot in multiple locations that require minimal or no modification in instance setup. See Planning for deploying Informix for a description of the major embeddability features of the ifxdeploy.conf file.

Guidelines for Usage

To apply configuration settings of the ifxdeploy.conf file to an instance you are deploying, enter the file name as an argument to the -config option when you run the ifxdeploy command.

If you set different values for the same instance in the ifxdeploy.conf file and as an option to the ifxdeploy command option, the deployment utility uses the value specified on the command line. For example, if you specify -p mypassword1 on the command line but set the INFORMIXPASSWORD parameter to mypassword2 in the ifxdeploy.conf file, the deployed instance requires mypassword1 for authentication.

Parameters

The ifxdeploy.conf file is value pair based. If there is a parameter with a default value that you want to change, provide the value in an uncommented line.

Attention: The values of parameters that are set on the ifxdeploy command line overwrite the values of the same parameters in the ifxdeploy.conf file.

The following table explains the parameters in the same order that they appear in the configuration template file.

Table 1. The ifxdeploy.conf file parameters
Parameter Description Example of value setting (uncommented line)
INFORMIXSERVER Primary database server name. Must be set either here or as environment variable before deployment (no default value is provided). INFORMIXSERVER deploy3
PROTOCOL1 Primary network protocol. This parameter is equivalent to the connection type in the sqlhosts information. PROTOCOL1 olscoctcp
SQLIPORT SQLHOSTS service port for the server instance (not required for onipcnmp). The range of permissible values is from 1 to 65536. SQLIPORT 9088
DRDAPORT The Distributed Relational Database Architecture™ (DRDA®) service port for use with the IBM® Common Clients. The range of permissible values is from 1 to 65536. DRDAPORT 9089
SERVERNUM The server number. Corresponds to the SERVERNUM configuration parameter. The range of permissible values is from 0 to 255. SERVERNUM 100
INFORMIXSQLHOSTS

Linux™ and UNIX™: Full path to sqlhosts file for the instance to use.

Windows: Pointer to remote computer containing SQLHOSTS registry settings that the deployed instance is to use.
BEGIN ALIAS . . . END ALIAS Specifies new database server aliases and related SQLHOSTS connectivity settings for the deployed instance. The optional OPTIONS line sets an SQLHOSTS parameter value. In the example, b=32767 sets buffers. 
BEGIN ALIAS
SERVERNAME alias1
PROTOCOL drsoctcp
PORT 9091
OPTIONS b=32767
END ALIAS
INFORMIXDIR Path for the deployed instance. Must be set here or as environment variable (no default path is provided).
Windows: C:\tmp\informix

UNIX andLinux: /tmp/informix
ONCONFIG The onconfig file name. If none is specified here and no ONCONFIG environment variable is set, a new file is created from onconfig.std. onconfig.sample
START Set this to the number of seconds for the deployed Informix instance to wait for database server initialization to complete before returning to the command line. Use this parameter in an embeddability environment that requires noninteractive startup of Informix. The setting of 0 directs the deployed Informix instance to not attempt automatic startup. If you do not specify a value with the -start option, the target computer waits the default time of 600 seconds before returning to the command line. START 90
SNAPSHOT This parameter can only be used if you are deploying an instance from a snapshot compressed as a .tgz file on UNIX or Linux or a .zip file on Windows™.

Indicates the location of a supported, compressed archive type containing the snapshot. This parameter is equivalent to the -file command-line option.

RELOCATE Set chunk paths for the deployed instance. You can indicate a parent directory for all chunk path names or map them individually to separate parent directories. You can also deploy the chunks with specific offset values. Offset values are in KB. You must have the appropriate ownership and permissions to update the directories.

Example 1: Relocate all chunk paths to one directory:

Windows: C:\example1

UNIX and Linux: /example1

Example 2: Select individual chunk paths and specify the directories where the paths are relocated:

Windows: C:\ex2=C:\ex3; C:\ex4=C:\ex5

UNIX and Linux: /ex2=/ex3;/ex4=C:ex5

Example 3: Change multiple chunk paths and offsets:

Windows: C:\ex6,10=C:\ex7,100; C:\ex8,20=C:\ex9,200

UNIX and Linux: /ex6,10=/ex7,100; /ex8,20=/ex9,200
INFORMIXPASSWORD Password for user informix on the target computer. Sets password to what you enter as a value if no user informix exists on the computer. If you do not supply a password, you are prompted to enter a password by the ifxdeploy utility. INFORMIXPASSWORD password
SYSTEM Specifies whether the deployed instance logs on to Windows as a local system user or as user informix.

This parameter is for Windows only.
  • 0 (default). Informix logs on as user informix.
  • 1. Informix logs on as the Local System user and adds the current user to the Informix-Admin group.
LOGFILE Sets the full path name for the log file of the deployment utility's errors and messages.

Windows: LOGFILE c:\my_log.txt

UNIX andLinux: LOGFILE /tmp/mylog
LOGLEVEL Sets amount of information to write to log. See the ifxdeploy.conf file for permissible values. LOGLEVEL 5
SILENT Sets whether the utility displays console output while it is running.

SILENT 1 (no console output)

SILENT 0 (displays console output)
FORCE Overwrites existing environment variable and onconfig file settings of the target computer.

FORCE 0 (Does not overwrite)

FORCE 1 (Overwrites existing settings)
INSTALLDRIVE

This parameter is for Windows only.

 Specifies the directory in which the deployed instance's dbspaces will be created on Windows. INSTALLDRIVE C
ROOTPATH Sets the location of the root dbspace.
Windows: Default path: drive:\ifmxdata\server_name\rootdbs_dat.000

UNIX and Linux Default path: $INFORMIXDIR/server_name/rootdbs
WIN6432

This parameter is for Windows only.

 Set this to 1 if installing 32-bit Informix on 64-bit Windows. WIN6432 1
BEGIN ONCONFIG . . . END ONCONFIG

Specify values for any configuration file parameters. Enter each parameter and value exactly as they would be entered in the onconfig file.

Can be used to overwrite specific onconfig file parameter values or instead of providing an onconfig file.

 
BEGIN ONCONFIG
LOCKS 10000
END ONCONFIG
BEGIN AUTORECOMMEND . . . END AUTORECOMMEND Specifies the following parameters that are used to generate recommended values in the onconfig file:
MAXCPUS
Maximum number of processors and cores that the database server can use.
Default: 1
Minimum value: 1
Maximum value: none
MAXDISK
Maximum amount of disk space that the database server can use.
Default: 2048 MB
Minimum value: 256 MB
Maximum value: none
MAXMEM
Maximum amount of memory that the database server can use.
Default: 512 MB
MAXUSERS
Maximum number of expected online transaction processing (OLTP) application users.
Default: 32
MAXDSUSERS
Maximum number of expected decision-support system (DSS) application users.
Default: 4
RTO_SERVER_RESTART
Recovery time objective for a server restart.
Default: 60 seconds
Minimum value: 60 seconds
Maximum value: 1800 seconds
 
BEGIN AUTORECOMMEND
MAXCPUS 1
MAXDISK 2048
MAXMEM 512
MAXUSERS 32
MAXDSUSERS 4
RTO_SERVER_RESTART 60
END AUTORECOMMEND
CLONE Set this to 1 to deploy a clone of a source server. Specify the information for the source server in the parameters nested between the BEGIN CLONE and END CLONE statements of the ifxdeploy.conf file. 1
SOURCESERVER Specifies the name of the source server. SOURCESERVER clone 3
SOURCEIPADDR Specifies the IP address of the source server.
SOURCEPORT Specifies the port number of the source server's listener thread.
CLONEIPADDR Specifies the IP address of the clone server.
DISPOSITION Specifies the final disposition of the clone server. DISPOSITION RSS
TARGETSIZE Specifies the size of clone server. TARGETSIZE medium
USELOCAL Indicates to use local configuration after merging with source configuration. USELOCAL 1
TRUSTED Specifies that the user is trusted and that it is not necessary to obtain a user ID and password to access the server. TRUSTED 1
USERNAME Specifies the name of user for connecting to source server USERNAME informix
PASSWORD Specifies the password of the name specified in the USERNAME parameter. PASSWORD password