About a month ago, I installed an Informix IDS 7.30 UC10 server for a client. I was quite surprised to see that after touting the value of the new graphic DBA tools, such as Informix Enterprise Command Center (IECC) and SqlEditor 3.0, Informix had changed the installation CD and no longer included any of these graphical tools. Even though IECC always is an intermittent performer because of ongoing problems with its server agents, it was still enough of a help that trying to maintain the customer's server without it would be a challenge.
I'm not sure whether Informix just gave me a defective disc or whether they really changed the distribution and dropped the graphical products. But it became a moot question, because I installed Informix's new Informix Server Administrator (ISA 1.10) package on the customer's machine, and I haven't used the old tools since.
ISA also is referred to as "onweb." It is a set of Web pages that performs DBA functions over an intranet or over the Internet. It has the same base functionality as IECC and provides much more in terms of monitoring and troubleshooting information than IECC does.
ISA is strictly a server-side install. All the work is done on the database server; all that the client machines require are Web browsers. This 10-Minute Solution shows you how to install and begin using ISA. In the next 10-Minute Solutions, I'll go deeper into how to use the ISA program and how to customize it for your installation.
ISA is a somewhat daunting installation for DBAs because it requires the installation of several third-party products. I'll do the installation on Windows NT 4.0 Workstation (Service Pack 3), but it can also be installed on NT Server, Linux, Solaris, HP/UX, AIX, and others. Because it's Web-based, the concepts are the same. The major differences lie in installing the third-party products.
Step 1: Install an Informix Database
Installing ISA essentially requires five steps. The process lasts several hours, with much of the time spent waiting for several rather large downloads that are necessary for the software components. In fact, ISA has several components, the first of which is an Informix database. So naturally the first step is to install one—ISA must be installed on the same machine as an existing Informix database. If you plan on administering multiple machines, then each machine needs the full ISA installation. ISA requires that this database be in place prior to beginning the ISA installation.
Step 2: Download the Components
The next two steps require a download from Informix's electronic software distribution partner, Intraware. Informix is offering ISA at no cost, so you can't beat the price. Download the correct version from here. If it's not there, just search for "Informix Server Administrator" using Intraware's search engine. You must register with Intraware and obtain a login and password before you can download any products. The download will include the ISA distribution and a full Apache Web server package.
The second component is a Web server on the database machine. Because ISA delivers its information via HTML pages, it requires a full-fledged Web server on the database machine. ISA comes with a version of the Apache Web server included in the distribution file, and it has also been certified for Microsoft IIS 4.0. If you're using either of these servers, the installation should be simple. If you are using other Web servers, you may have problems configuring the software. I know this because I tried to install on IIS 5.0 and never got the products configured properly. If you're using another Web server and want to try to move ISA onto it, be prepared for a lot of trial and error. I recommend that you install with Apache, because it will run on both NT 4.0 Workstation and Server and configure automatically for you. Apache will also install on a port other than the default port 80 that the Internet uses, so an Apache Web server should be able to coexist with other Web servers on the system.
The ISA documentation states that if you are using Windows NT 4.0 Server, you have the option of using either IIS 4.0 or Apache. If you're using Windows NT 4.0 Workstation, your only option is Apache. This is probably just a configuration issue. I actually managed to get ISA running on IIS 5.0, but it was such a patched-up job that I chose to go with Apache.
The third component of ISA is Perl. For Windows systems, Informix specifies ActivePerl, Build 517 or later. This can be downloaded for free at www.activestate.com/activeperl. The download will deliver an 8MB file with an ".msi" suffix. Installing it requires Version 1.1 or later of the Windows Installer. If you do not have it, you can download 1.1 from the ActiveState Tool Corp. Web site before you download the binary.
Step 3: Install ActivePerl Build 613
Now that you have all of the components in place, it's time to begin the install. First, install the ActivePerl. If you click on the downloaded *.msi file from ActiveState and the installation does not immediately begin, you need to install the correct version of the Windows Installer. Otherwise, you'll see the installation wizard (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: ActivePerl Build 613 setup wizard
ActivePerl requires about 80MB of hard drive space. If you have that much free space on your C drive, you can simply accept all the defaults and install ActivePerl in the default c:\perl directory. Otherwise, choose a directory that has enough space and install it there. Keep hitting the Next button until the installation is finished.
Step 4: Install Apache Web Server
Before you can install ISA, you need to install Apache Web server. When you unzip the ISA distribution files, you will find a subdirectory called Apache. Go into that directory and run the Apachesetup.exe program. Accept all the defaults until you get to the Choose Destination Location dialog box (see Figure 2).
Figure 2: Choose Destination Location dialog box
Remember where you put the Apache executables; the ISA install will ask you for them later. A screen will ask you what type of install you want to do. Choose the "typical" install option. You will then go through a standard install process of copying files onto your system and creating a program group. When it's finished, click on the Finished button. You've now successfully installed Apache. (Note that Apache is not yet configured. That will happen after the ISA installation.)
Step 5: Install Informix Server Administrator
Now you can begin the installation of ISA! Unzip the contents of the ISA distribution into a directory and run the Setup.exe program. You'll get the Welcome screen shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: ISA setup program's welcome screen
Accept the licensing and confirmation screens, and the following screen will offer choices for your Web server: Apache or Microsoft IIS 4.0. Choose Apache. (Choosing either Apache or IIS 4.0 automatically will configure the ISA program to work properly with your server.)
You'll next see a screen that wants you to locate the ActivePerl installation (see Figure 4). Since my space was limited on drive C, I installed ActivePerl on drive E.
Figure 4: Specfying the install location for ActivePerl
Click Next to continue. The ActivePerl installation program will tell you that it will install a graphic tool called Perl GD. Click OK to proceed. Continue clicking Next until you get to the Choose Destination screen (see Figure 5).
Figure 5: The Choose Destination screen
ISA defaults to creating a directory under your $INFORMIXDIR directory. For consistency, take the defaults if you have enough space under $INFORMIXDIR. Continue hitting Next until you get to the dialog box shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6: Install Perl GD Module confirmation dialog box
This is another notice of the GD Module installation process. Clicking OK pops up an MS-DOS window. Ignore anything that shows up in this window. It often displays several error messages that you can safely ignore—this module does not seem to cause any problems in ISA. A few charts don't show up properly, and that may be because of a failure to load the Perl GD module.
Configuring the Web Server
The ISA installation is now complete. The system will then display the dialog box shown in Figure 7 to allow you to configure your Web server.
Figure 7: Start of the Apache configuration process
Click Yes. If you have any previous Web sites on your sever that use Apache, this will reconfigure Apache and you probably will need to reconfigure it manually to see them. It's best for you to have no other Web sites running on the server anyway.
Now ISA wants to know where you have installed Apache (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: Selecting where to install Apache
Highlight the directory where Apache was installed and click OK. Click Next on the next screen. ISA now wants to know which port to use for the Apache Web server (see Figure 9). You'll need to choose an unused port in the range of 1025 to 65535. Note that it will not allow you to use the default port 80 that is most common on the Internet.
Figure 9: Specifying the port number for Apache
Click Next to proceed. It will then prompt you for an e-mail address for the Apache administrator and then begin to configure the Web server. The next step may take a while as the system configures the Perl scripts. Be patient. Eventually, you'll get to the completion screen (see Figure 10).
Figure 10: Web server installation completion screen
Creating Apache Users
Your next step is to create one or more Apache users. This is documented in the Readme file that accompanies ISA. The Web server will run as user Informix.
Note: This can have some serious security implications if your system is exposed to the Internet. As long as it is only on a local network or your intranet, you're probably pretty secure, but don't expose this system to the wider Internet until you understand the security implications fully. Basically, anybody who logs into your ISA system will have DBA privileges.
The first thing we need to do is create the Informix user in Apache. Change into the bin directory of the Apache installation. Run the following commands:
C:\Program Files\Apache Group\APACHE>bin\htpasswd -c conf\passwd Informix
Automatically using MD5 format on Windows.
New password: ********
Re-type new password: ********
Adding password for user Informix
Run this password program from the Apache directory, not from the bin directory, because "-c conf\passwd" is a relative directory that says that the password file is in Apache\conf. Run the program and confirm the Informix password twice. To allow others to access ISA with read-only privileges, enter their names and login information by using the same command, but without the "-c conf\passwd" clause. These users will be able to read but not change the status of the server.
Before you reboot, go into the Apache startup folder and choose the option of installing Apache as a service. This automatically will start Apache whenever your machine reboots. Now, reboot your machine.
Check Control Panel > Services > Apache Service to be sure that it is running. You now should be ready to start up a Web browser and begin to look at ISA.
Using Informix Server Administrator
To get to ISA, point your browser to http://<servername>:<port>, where <servername> is the name of the machine (not the Informix instance) that Informix and ISA, and Apache and Perl are running on. The <port> is the port number that you told Apache to work with. You now should see the opening screen for ISA (see Figure 11).
Figure 11: ISA welcome screen
Click on the Use ISA link. ISA needs you to log in as "informix" with the Informix password (see Figure 12).
Figure 12: Entering your Informix username and password
Remember, ISA runs as user Informix, so be careful whom you give access to. Enter the login information and click OK. You'll be entered into the system (see Figure 13).
Figure 13: The ISA manager window
You're almost there. You just need to tell ISA how to find your server. In the ISA directory (by default, a subdirectory of the $INFORMIXDIR) is a further subdirectory named "etc" that contains a file called isacfg (ISA config). Open this file with a plain text editor and you'll see lines that look like this:
INFORMIXSERVER stores7
INFORMIXDIR d:\Informix
ONCONFIG onconfig.$INFORMIXSERVER
TEMP c:\temp
END
INFORMIXSERVER demo
INFORMIXDIR d:\Informix
ONCONFIG onconfig.$INFORMIXSERVER
TEMP c:\temp
END
This is where the sample servers—stores7 and demo—came from in the previous screen. Edit the file to reflect your servers (I'd save a copy of the file before editing it, just to be safe). Everything from "INFORMIXSERVER" to "END" constitutes one entry, so to delete the entry you must delete everything from INFORMIXERVER to END. In my case, I have only one server on the system, so my modifications looked like this:
INFORMIXSERVER ol_ntlinux
INFORMIXDIR d:\Informix
ONCONFIG onconfig.$INFORMIXSERVER
TEMP c:\temp
END
After making and saving these changes, refresh your browser and you will get a screen that looks like Figure 14.
Figure 14: A live view of your installed server
If your version information is correct, you now should have a functional ISA installation. Now when you click on the server name to the left, you should see relevant information about that server (see Figure 15).
Figure 15: A live view of the server information
In my next 10-Minute Solution, I'll go into the ISA product in more depth and demonstrate how you can use and customize ISA for your own purposes.
Have fun!
