Informix DBA Survival Guide, Second Edition

Informix DBA Survival Guide, Second Edition

by Joe Lumbley
Released December 1998
Publisher(s): Pearson
ISBN: 9780130796233

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Book description


7962C-5

If Informix is your database engine, this is your engine manual!

There's practically no Informix problem you can't solve if you're willing to get "under the hood" and get dirty! That's the philosophy behind Informix Database Administrator's Survival Guide-and it's why the first edition became a worldwide Informix best-seller!

Now, there's an all-new Second Edition, completely updated to reflect the new Informix 7 database engine. Better than ever, it contains over 150 pages of totally new debugging help-covering the Informix-Dynamic Server and Informix-Online database engines, utilities, SQL, ESQL/C code, and Informix's Windows NT products. With the guidance of expert Informix DBA Joe Lumbley, you'll master all this and more:

  • How to perform Informix database tune-ups-step-by-step

  • Making the most of logging, archiving, and client utilities

  • Practical answers to dozens of the questions Informix DBAs ask most

  • Leveraging the information stored in SMI tables

  • Comprehensive coverage of the onstat-g commands

  • Fundamental principles of Informix debugging

    • Informix Database Administrator's Survival Guide, Second Edition brings together crucial information from thousands of pages of manuals-and make-or-break techniques that aren't in any manual. You'll discover all you need to know to successfully manage Informix-Dynamic Server on Windows NT and UNIX. You'll find exclusive coverage of Informix DBA tools and resources. You'll even learn how to manage the tough political and organizational issues that go with today's enterprise environments-all the "soft" skills you need to stay sane. Ask thousands of Informix DBAs: this is the one Informix book you simply don't want to be without!

    CD-Rom Included

    Bonus! Included free on the CD-ROM is a computer-based training course chosen especially for this book! CBT Systems is the leading provider of interactive training sotfware for IT professionals.

    Table of contents

    1. Copyright
    2. Foreword to the Second Edition
    3. The Database Administrator: Doing the Job
      1. Toward a Client/Server Model
      2. Typical DBA Job Functions
    4. Inside the Black Box: Engine Architecture
      1. How to Read This Chapter
      2. Understanding the Data Flow
      3. Tracking the Flow of Data
      4. Understanding OnLine 's Physical Architecture
      5. How OnLine Manages Shared Memory
      6. Understanding IDS's Physical Architecture
      7. Components of the Informix Dynamic Server
      8. How UNIX Manages Memory
      9. Contents of OnLine Shared Memory and IDS Resident Shared Memory
    5. Understanding Logging
      1. Physical and Logical Logs
      2. Logging Modes
      3. Saving the Log Files
      4. Long Transactions
      5. Size, Number, and Location of Logical Logs
    6. Understanding Archives
      1. Limitations of the tb/ontape Program
      2. General Archive Concepts
      3. Archive Devices
      4. Archive Schedules
    7. Principles of Debugging
      1. Obstacles to Debugging
      2. Gathering the Evidence
      3. A Scientific Approach to Debugging
      4. What is Debugging?
      5. Objectives of Debugging
      6. Define the Problem
      7. Isolate the Problem
      8. Look at the History
      9. Formulate a Plan for Fixing the Problem
      10. Test the Solution
      11. Implement and Propagate the Fix
    8. Informix Dynamic Server on Windows NT
      1. Informix SE
      2. Informix Dynamic Server, Personal Edition
      3. Informix Dynamic Server-Workgroup Edition
      4. Informix Dynamic Server For Windows NT
    9. The Graphical Client Utilities on Windows
      1. Relational Object Manager
      2. Missing tools
      3. Informix Enterprise Command Center
      4. Space Explorer
      5. Database Explorer
      6. Table Editor
      7. SQL Editor
    10. Informix Connectivity Products
      1. Client and Server on the Same System
      2. Clients and Servers on Separate Hosts
      3. Remote Connections over TCP/IP
      4. Managing Sqlhosts with Setnet
      5. Network Security and Trust Relationships
      6. Registry Use with Windows NT Clients
      7. Connection Options
      8. Testing Connectivity with Ilogin
      9. Common Informix-Connect Errors
      10. Informix-CLI: ODBC for Informix
    11. Understanding the OnLine Utilities
      1. The Tbstat Utility
      2. The Tbcheck Utility
      3. Data Movement Utilities
    12. The Onstat Utility in IDS
      1. Additional Credits
      2. Options to Onstat
      3. Onstat -g Options
      4. Monitoring Threads
      5. Monitoring Virtual Processors
      6. Monitoring Memory Usage
      7. Monitoring Disk I/O
      8. Monitoring Network Operations
      9. Monitoring SQL Statements
    13. Exploring the Sysmaster Database
      1. Exploring the SMI Database
      2. A Practical Example: Who is Using What Database
      3. How the Sysmaster Database is Created
      4. Supported SMI Tables
      5. Differences from Other Databases
      6. Server Information
      7. Dbspace and Chunk Information
      8. Database and Table Information
      9. User Session Information
      10. Some Unsupported Extras
      11. Conclusion
      12. The HTML Version of the Sysmaster Documentation
    14. How Do I? Tips and Tricks for OnLine Engines
      1. Can I Use these Scripts with IDS?
      2. OnLine-Specific Scripts
      3. Run SQL from the Command Line
      4. Find out how much Space is Being Used by Tables
      5. Find Duplicate Values in a Table
      6. Clean out Tables
      7. Re-create a Table with the Same Parameters as the Original
      8. Clean Selected Data out of a Table
      9. Know if OnLine is Running
      10. Convert Table Numbers to Table Names
      11. Find Database Names from a Script
      12. Find Database Names from an ESQL/C Program
      13. Maintain a Current UPDATE STATISTICS
      14. Get Table Information
      15. Make a Fast Recovery go Faster
      16. Know What a Certain User is Doing
      17. Translate a UNIX User ID to a Real Name
      18. Run an Archive in the Background and Monitor it
      19. Locate Areas of High Disk Activity
      20. Tell if Continuous Backup of Logfiles is Running
      21. Kill a Backend
      22. Identify Temporary Tables
      23. Know When System is in a Checkpoint
      24. Monitor and Report on Table Sizes
      25. Fight Table Proliferation
      26. The Status Script
    15. Common DBA Tasks
      1. Installing and Setting up OnLine
      2. Designing the database
      3. Table Management
      4. Avoiding and Curing Unplanned Table Fragmentation
      5. Index Management
      6. Meeting Users' Needs
      7. Design Considerations in Database Systems
      8. Avoiding Mistakes in the Development Process
      9. Monitoring and Troubleshooting
    16. The Database Tuneup
      1. Production versus Development Systems
      2. Doing it Right the First Time
      3. Informix Versions
      4. Getting Your Marching Orders
      5. Before You Start
      6. Read the Online.log
      7. The Operating System
      8. System Configuration
      9. OLTP versus DSS Systems
      10. Table Fragmentation
      11. Understand the Application
    17. Problem Fixes for Informix Dynamic Server
      1. Bufwaits
      2. Disk Devices
      3. Tables
      4. Determining Locales
      5. DBSPACETEMP and Temporary Spaces
      6. Archiving And Temporary Spaces
      7. Update Statistics
      8. Multiprocessors
      9. Tuning
      10. Network Performance
      11. Using The Violations Tables
      12. Varchars Versus Char Data Types
      13. Connections
      14. Set Explain
      15. Stored Procedures
      16. ESQL/C
      17. Triggers
      18. Archives and Logs
      19. Time Calculations
    18. Building Manageable Client/Server Projects
      1. Client/Server Application Design

    Product information

    • Title: Informix DBA Survival Guide, Second Edition
    • Author(s): Joe Lumbley
    • Release date: December 1998
    • Publisher(s): Pearson
    • ISBN: 9780130796233