This is not the product delivery model that Informix uses.

Informix fix packs are not just a replacement of a dll / library file
but new copy of the entire product bundle

Therefore Informix requires that to obtain fix packs you must have a
valid maintenance agreement.

Hi,

the normal, general  way to upgrade IDS versions is to
- do a level-0 backup (using ontape or onbar utility),
- shut down the running instance (old version),
- install the new version,
- start the new version,
- do a level-0 backup (using ontape or onbar utility).

If there's any change in any data structure, then the
new version will detect this and apply necessary
conversion automatically. After that the instance
will come to on-line mode and will be ready to use.
There is no need to copy, export or import the data.

[ The backup with old version is just for safety. It can
 be restored with the old version only. You keep it in
 case you need to go back to the old version for whatever
 reason. If you need to go back to the old version,
 there's a way to let the instance do reversion to the old
 version. Only in case something happens during forward
 conversion (like disk crash before you could do backup with
 new version) you would need the backup from old version. ]

You do a backup with new version as soon as possible,
because the backup from old version may not be restorable
with the new version. (You would have to re-install the old
version, do the restore of the old-version backup, do the
install of and conversion to the new version again.)

You can minimize the downtime for the upgrade by first
installing the new version into a different directory ($INFORMIXDIR),
and copying to this directory the necessary runtime files
from the old version (onconfig file, oncfg-file, sqlhosts file, ...).
But still before you start the new version you have to shutdown
the old version. Disadvantage of this method is that you have
a different $INFORMIXDIR for the new version.

With the minor release number not changing (only so called
fix pack update), there usually will not be any changes in the disk
structures. But nevertheless, it can happen that in specific cases
there are changes necessary in order to fix a particular problem.
Therefore the described method is the general method that will
always work.

Regards,
Martin
--
Martin Fuerderer
IBM Informix Development Munich, Germany
Information Management

Informix URLs list: http://home.arcor.de/mfu1/informix/urls.html
Informix in the news:
http://www.crn.com/sections/software/software.jhtml?articleId=193004835

IBM Information On Demand Global Conference
October 15-20, 2006, Anaheim, California
see http://www.ibm.com/events/informationondemand

informix-list-bounces@iiug.org wrote on 26.09.2006 00:08:39: