mac os x snow leopard & informix ids 11.5 + php5

Copyright © 2009 – Antonio Musarra – http://musarra.wordpress.com

Mac OS X Snow Leopard: IBM Informix IDS 11.5 + PHP 5.3

1.1 Introduction

Since IBM has extended support for Informix Dynamic Server (IDS) also Mac OS X by defining a winning combination of the two, IBM has made the happiness of thousands of developers and DBAs no longer have to work on a remote server IDS.

In this article we will see how to install and configure IBM Informix IDS simple steps on our Mac OS X 11.5 Snow Leopard. The special shows at the end of the article is the installation of the informix module on PHP 5.3, note that PHP 5.3 is part of Mac OS X Snow Leopard.

1.2 Installing Informix IDS 11.5 From the IBM website should download the version of IBM Informix IDS

11.5 For Mac OS X, including the Developer version of Informix (To download registration is required at the portal IBM). This software is distributed as a DMG file (iif.11.50.FC5DE.macosx64.dmg) the size of about 138MByte, within it is available the package installer. The installation process is very simple, there are no special instructions to follow except for the installation directory is advisable to choose the directory /opt/IBM/informix directory instead of /Application proposed by the installer.

Through the aid of the figures shown below, we will see how is the installation process.

Figura 1 Installer IDS Informix 11.5


Figura 2 Running the installation script

Figura 3 Request the administrator password.

Figura 4 Installer IDS Informix 11.50


Figura 5 Installation directory to be changed in /opt/IBM/informix

Figura 6 IDS components that will be installed

Figura 7 Separation of roles. Leave the default


Figura 8 Creating a demo IDS instance. Leave the default

Figura 9 IDS Installation Summary

Figura 10 Completed installation notes


Figura 11 Finish Installation

The installation process, in addition to one copy of the software in the directory listed, is responsible for building on our Mac OS X user informix, it will be used to perform operations normally assigned to the role of DBA.

In the next section we will see the configuration of the operating environment and initialization of Informix.

1.2 Configure The configuration process could be divided into two phases:

• Configuration execution environment; • Configuring Informix.

The preparation of the operating environment requires setting some environment variables listed below:

• INFORMIXDIR => Directory Installation Informix; • INFORMIXSERVER => The name given to the instance Informix; • INFORMIXSQLHOSTS => File di configurazione SQL HOSTS; • ONCONFIG => Configuration file SQL HOSTS; • DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH => Path Informix Libs; • TERMCAP => Configuration terminals files; • DB_LOCALE => Set the Locale for DB; • CLIENT_LOCALE => Set the locale for the client.

You can set the Informix environment variables directly within the informix user profile file (see Listing 1).

To configure Informix we should make changes to the standard configuration, there are two configuration files on which to act, both defined by two environment variables: ONCONFIG and INFORMIXSQLHOSTS.


For the file defined by ONCONFIG is advisable to amend sections that cover:

• Root Dbspace Configuration Parameters; • System Configuration Parameters; • Network Configuration Parameters

Proceeding with the order mentioned above is going to change and / or add the configurations listed below (see Listing 2).

Listato 2 Changing the standard configuration of Informix.

################################################################### # Root Dbspace Configuration Parameters ################################################################### ROOTPATH $INFORMIXDIR/dbs/amusarra_ifx.rootdbs MIRRORPATH $INFORMIXDIR/dbs/amusarra_ifx.root_mirror ################################################################### # System Configuration Parameters ################################################################### DBSERVERNAME amusarra_ifx DBSERVERALIASES shirus,amusarra_shm ################################################################### # Network Configuration Parameters ################################################################### NETTYPE soctcp,1,30,NET

I preferred to place the files in the root dbspace dbs instead of tmp and give them the name of Informix as a suffix.

In the standard configuration is the only protocol configured ipcshm, in our configuration was added to the protocol soctcp. I suggest the reading of official documentation on Informix NETTYPE Configuration Parameter.

Listato 3 Changing configuration SQL Hosts

# IANA (www.iana.org) assigned port number/service names for Informix: # sqlexec 9088/tcp # sqlexec-ssl 9089/tcp #demo_on onipcshm on_hostname on_servername #demo_se seipcpip se_hostname sqlexec amusarra_ifx onsoctcp amusarra-mobile.local sqlexec shirus onsoctcp amusarra-mobile.local sqlexec-admin amusarra_shm onipcshm amusarra-mobile.local amusarra-mobile

Listing 3 shows the configuration file sqlhosts appropriately modified according to our needs (for more information refer to the official documentation about The Informix IDS sqlhosts File). The IANA has defined TCP ports specific to the services Informix, these must be added to the configuration files of network services (see Listing 4).


Listato 4 Adding TCP ports for network services Informix (/etc/services).

sqlexec-admin 9087/tcp # IBM Informix SQL Interface - Admin Port sqlexec 9088/tcp # IBM Informix SQL Interface sqlexec-ssl 9089/tcp # IBM Informix SQL Interface - Encrypted

1.3 Preparation and Initializing Informix Before proceeding with the process of initializing Informix, you must create

the file "empty" of the root dbspace by giving them permission to read and write only for the user informix. As user informix, we proceed as shown in Listing 5.

Listato 5 Creating directory and file "empty" root dbspace

amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ mkdir $INFORMIXDIR/dbs amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ touch $INFORMIXDIR/dbs/amusarra_ifx.rootdbs amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ touch $INFORMIXDIR/dbs/amusarra_ifx.rootdbs_mirror amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ chmod 660 $INFORMIXDIR/dbs/amusarra_ifx.rootdbs amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ chmod 660 /opt/IBM/informix/dbs/amusarra_ifx.rootdbs_mirror

Remember that the INFORMIXDIR environment variable refers to the installation directory of IBM Informix IDS, in our case the variable INFORMIXDIR is: /opt/IBM/Informix. The conditions to initialize our instance we are all, then proceed with the initialization by running the command:

amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ oninit -y -i –v

OnInit is the command responsible for initializing the dbspaces and the shared memory while leaving online informix instance. The option (-‐v) command allows you to see OnInit output details of transactions executed during the initialization process (see Listing 6).


Listato 6 Part of the command output OnInit

Checking group membership to determine server run mode...succeeded Reading configuration file '/opt/IBM/informix/etc/onconfig.std'...succeeded Creating /INFORMIXTMP/.infxdirs...succeeded Checking config parameters...succeeded Allocating and attaching to shared memory...succeeded Creating resident pool 14708 kbytes...succeeded Allocating 200016 kbytes for buffer pool of 4K page size...succeeded Creating infos file "/opt/IBM/informix/etc/.infos.amusarra_ifx"...succeeded Linking conf file "/opt/IBM/informix/etc/.conf.amusarra_ifx"...succeeded Initializing rhead structure...succeeded Writing to infos file...succeeded Initialization of Encryption...succeeded Initializing ASF...succeeded Forking 1 'soctcp' listener threads...succeeded Forking 1 'soctcp' listener threads...succeeded Forking 1 'ipcshm' listener threads...succeeded Starting tracing...succeeded Initializing 8 flushers...succeeded Initializing log/checkpoint information...succeeded Initializing dbspaces...succeeded Opening primary chunks...succeeded Opening mirror chunks...succeeded Validating chunks...succeeded Creating database partition...succeeded

To verify that went the right way, with the database in an on-‐line, execute the command:

amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ onstat –

The output should be similar to:

IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.50.FC5DE -- On-Line -- Up 00:00:25 -- 250928 Kbytes

1.4 Creating Stores Demo database Our Informix instance is online, we will then create at least a data base on

which to perform all our tests. IBM Informix IDS includes a set of demo schemas complete data, we will use the db Stores Demo. To create the schema and load data (always as user informix) execute the command:

amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ dbaccessdemo

To verify that the schema and data have been created successfully executed a connection to the database stores_demo and a select query on the Customer table, we proceed by running the command: amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ echo "SELECT * FROM CUSTOMER;" | dbaccess stores_demo -

Output the command will return the records in the customer table in the database stores_demo (see Listing 7).


Listato 7 Output of the query on the Customer table

Database selected. …. customer_num 128 fname Frank lname Lessor company Phoenix University address1 Athletic Department address2 1817 N. Thomas Road city Phoenix state AZ zipcode 85008 phone 602-533-1817 28 row(s) retrieved. Database closed.

Now that we have the Informix instance on-‐line and the data base stores_demo, the next step is to install the Informix module for PHP 5.3, that way we can have access to Informix using the scripting language world's most popular .

1.5 PHP & Informix PHP and MySQL or PHP and PostgreSQL are common to many pairs of

opposite pairs PHP and Informix almost unknown, it might be the nature and scope of commercial use of Informix to make the couple less known.

Since version 5.2 of the PHP Informix module is no longer available because abandoned in favor of the Informix PDO Module. In the rest of the article we will see how to compile the "old" module for Informix makes working on version 5.3 of PHP.

1.5.1 Building and installing the module Informix Informix module is not available on version 5.3 of PHP installed on our

Mac OS X, you must then download the source code of the module directly from the site http://pecl.php.net/package/informix. The tar.gz archive of the module is not available, no matter, checks out the source of the module directly from the SVN repository using the command: amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ svn co http://svn.php.net/repository/pecl/informix/trunk php_ext_informix

In this way we get the source Informix module into the directory ~/php_ext_informix. In Listing 8 shows the result obtained by the operation performed on the checkout SVN repository.


Listato 8 Operating checkout form Informix.

amusarra-mobile:~ informix$ svn co http://svn.php.net/repository/pecl/informix/trunk php_ext_informix A php_ext_informix/config.w32 A php_ext_informix/config.m4 A php_ext_informix/php_informix.h A php_ext_informix/Makefile.frag A php_ext_informix/ifx.dsp A php_ext_informix/ifx.ec A php_ext_informix/CREDITS A php_ext_informix/php_informix_includes.h U php_ext_informix Checked out revision 290780.

We move into the directory ~/php_ext_informix and proceed with the build of the module.

amusarra-mobile:php_ext_informix informix$ phpize amusarra-mobile:php_ext_informix informix$ ./configure

Before continuing with the make of the Informix Module, you must edit the Makefile to ensure that the module is linked with Informix library checkapi.o, otherwise the use of the module will produce the error:

undefined symbol: ifx_checkAPI.

Inside the Makefile must add the directive INFORMIX_SHARED_LIBADD use the library Informix checkapi.o:

/opt/IBM/informix/lib/esql/checkapi.o

Then proceed with compiling and installing the module Informix. The user informix must be defined as sudores or you must run the installation as root.

amusarra-mobile:php_ext_informix informix$ make amusarra-mobile:php_ext_informix informix$ sudo make install

The module will be installed in / usr/lib/php/extensions/no-‐debug-‐non-‐zts-‐20090626 /. To verify the correct link to the library Informix checkapi.o just use the command nm coupled with the command grep. The output should return the entry point ifx_chekAPI.

amusarra-mobile:php_ext_informix informix$ nm /usr/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/informix.so | grep checkAPI

000000000000a0a0 T _ifx_checkAPI


1.5.2 Activating and test module Informix To activate the module just installed, you must edit (as root) the

configuration file php.ini (located in /etc) and add the extensions section directive:

extension=informix.so

You can verify that the module Informix is active by running the command: amusarra-mobile:php_ext_informix informix$ php -i|grep Informix Informix support => enabled

The command responded by confirming the activation of the module Informix, you can still use the php-‐m command to verify that the module is active.

At this time the Informix module is operational only when used from PHP CLI is not available under Apache because he does not see the Informix environment variables needed for the proper functioning of the module. The log file of Apache (see Listing 9) is evident as the Informix module is not loaded because of the failure to load Informix libraries required by the module. Variable DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH (which indicates the location of libraries Informix) must be visible to the Apache process.

Listato 9 Extract from the log files of Apache, Informix obvious error loading module

PHP Warning: PHP Startup: Unable to load dynamic library '/usr/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/informix.so' - dlopen(/usr/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/informix.so, 9): Library not loaded: isqls09b.dylib\n Referenced from: /usr/lib/php/extensions/no-debug-non-zts-20090626/informix.so\n Reason: image not found in Unknown on line 0

In Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) Apple introduced a new system that controls basic services this system is called launchd. The Apache service is therefore governed by launchd for security reasons reset the environment variables to the bare minimum, which is why the module failed to load Informix, Informix environment variables are not visible to the Apache process. Launchd configuration, or rather of the process to be managed is by means of a plist file type, while the file / etc / launchd.conf contains directives (eg commands to set environment variables) for launchd. Our goal is therefore to make visible the Informix environment variables serving Apache, the configuration file /etc/launchd.conf add the directives shown in Listing 10.


Listato 10 Launchd config file for the set of environment variables Informix

setenv INFORMIXDIR /opt/IBM/informix setenv ONCONFIG onconfig.std setenv INFORMIXSERVER amusarra_ifx setenv INFORMIXSQLHOSTS /opt/IBM/informix/etc/sqlhosts setenv DYLD_LIBRARY_PATH /opt/IBM/informix/lib:/opt/IBM/informix/lib/esql:/opt/IBM/informix/lib:/opt/IBM/informix/lib/cli setenv CLIENT_LOCALE en_US.819

We have ensured that the processes controlled by launchd can access the Informix environment variables.

At this point, you need to restart the Apache service with the usual command apachectl (or System Preferences) and make sure the Informix module is properly loaded, you can verify this with a simple PHP script that has inside a call to phpinfo (), in Figure 1, the extract of section Informix.

Figura 1 Sample phpinfo with evidence of the configuration module Informix.

In one of the previous sections we have loaded the database on our Stores_Demo Informix instance, at the conclusion of this article we will make a simple PHP script (see Listing 11) that shows in tabular form, records that exist on the Orders table.


Listato 11 PHP script for the selection of records from the Orders table

<?php $conn_id = ifx_connect ("stores_demo@amusarra_ifx", "informix", "password"); $res_id = ifx_query("select * from orders", $conn_id); if (! $res_id) { printf("Can't select orders : %s\n<br />%s<br />\n", ifx_error(),ifx_errormsg()); ifx_close($conn_id); die; } ifx_htmltbl_result($res_id, "border=\"1\""); ifx_free_result($res_id); ifx_close($conn_id); ?>

Figura 2 Result script PHP Listing 11

mac os x snow leopard & informix ids 11.5 + php5

Technology

library informix checkapi

simple php script

informix svn

initializing informix

succeeded forking 1

configuration files

standard configuration

net repository pecl informix trunk php ext informix