IBM Informix® is a fast and scalable database server that manages traditional relational, object-relational and dimensional databases. Its small size and self-management capabilities are suitable for embedded data management solutions. The IBM Informix database server runs on UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows operating systems.
All editions of Informix include the following client tools in addition to the database server:
- IBM Informix Client Software Development Kit (Client SDK) contains an API for developing applications and providing client connectivity.
- IBM OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for Informix is a web application for managing and analyzing the performance of Informix database servers.
- Informix DataBlade Developers Kit (DBDK) contains tools for developing and packaging DataBlade modules, which are software packages that extend the functionality of the database server.
Later editions of Informix include additional features such as storage tools or cloud capabilities.
The following descriptions summarize Informix capabilities in various functional areas:
- Installation - Informix and client tools can be installed using a simple installer. After a typical installation, the server is created, configured and started. A silent or custom installation of Informix can also be performed.
- Virtual Image - An Informix database server image can be deployed with IBM PureApplication System or VMware ESX environments managed by IBM Workload Deployer. The hypervisor edition is optimized for cloud virtualization environments and comes with the operating system. Alternatively, a pre-configured virtual desktop environment can be downloaded. Informix virtual appliances run either locally on your host computer or remotely in the cloud or VMware Infrastructure environment.
- Database Design – Relational databases can be designed to support online transaction processing (OLTP) applications. Informix supports ANSI databases and conforms to industry standards for the SQL language.
- Management - the database server is configured by setting configuration parameters in the onconfig file and setting environment variables. Informix can be managed using OAT or using command-line utilities and SQL statements. Informix performance can be tuned by configuring memory management, fragmentation, parallelization or query optimization. Data can be backed up and restored. Many common management tasks are scheduled to run automatically through the Scheduler. Almost all other administrative tasks can be automated. Alarms can be configured to notify you of problems. Duplicate servers can be configured for continuous availability and load balancing by setting up high availability clusters.
- Data replication – functions are available for data replication between heterogeneous servers. It is also possible to send SQL statements and files between servers.
- Application development - Applications can be written using the ODBC, JDBC, .NET, ESQL/C, Object Interface for C++, or OLE/DB APIs that are part of the IBM Informix Client Software Development Kit (Client SDK). Language support includes SQL, SPL, C, C++, .NET, Java™ and PHP. It is possible to write applications using a JSON-oriented query language and MongoDB community drivers from MongoDB or the REST API. Multicultural data can be stored and processed. After purchasing IBM Informix Genero, applications can be written in the 4GL language.
- Built-in Informix – Informix can be easily embedded into an application. Command-line utilities and SQL statements can be used to configure all aspects of database server administration. A fully configured snapshot of the database server environment can be created and deployed to multiple computers.
- Informix Extensions - Built-in Informix extensions can be used to process specialized data types and perform additional functions not available in traditional relational databases. It is also possible to create user-defined data types, routines, access methods and other objects.
- Security – can encrypt data, secure connections, control user permissions and user access, and audit data security.
- Data warehouses - data marketplaces or dimensional databases that support system applications for decision support can be designed.