Release Notes for Server Studio™ & Sentinel™ R.10 Bundle

Contents

1.0 About this release

This is the Release 10 of the Server Studio™ with Sentinel™ bundle. IBM ships this premier multi-platform suite of integrated, state-of-the-art system management tools with IBM Informix® data servers to help database professionals support vital databases — from initial design, development and testing, to production deployment and successful operational service. Power and flexibility Server Studio™ together with Sentinel™ provide helps ensure that critical database applications remain up and perform at peak levels, manage change and assure continuing availability of vital business information.

Server Studio™
Developed by AGS in close cooperation with IBM, Server Studio™ provides a comprehensive collection of modern, easy-to-use, proven tools for DBAs and developers that improve efficiency of performing common database tasks such as: SQL development and debugging, schema management, configuration auditing and change management, performance tuning, data storage management and reorganization, security administration and more — all from a highly intuitive, integrated graphical console that unites all development, administration and maintenance activities for your entire IBM Informix® DBMS servers infrastructure at a centralized point of control. Additional information about Server Studio™ is available at: http://www.serverstudio.com/products/serverstudio/.
Sentinel™
Sentinel™ automates proactive 24×7 operational monitoring of IBM Informix® data servers, provides an extensive array of sophisticated diagnostics tools to optimize critical performance parameters, executes regular database maintenance tasks, enables setting of highly flexible multi-level alerts to flag availability and performance degradation problems, manages autonomic responses to server events in real time and provides robust change management facilities. Additional information about Sentinel™ is available at: http://www.serverstudio.com/products/sentinel/.

This distribution package bundles together Suite Editions of Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ Server, which are are provided for your free 30-day evaluation on "Try before Buy" basis. During the evaluation period, all of the premium functionality is enabled without any limitations. Complements of IBM, the Core Edition of Server Studio™ is provided to you at no additional cost. Its basic functionality can be extended by purchasing various premium Editions of Server Studio™, or the required number of the Sentinel™ Server concurrent IDS connections licenses. Permanent licenses are available for purchase directly from AGS at: http://www.serverstudio.com/shop/.

Note: Premium Editions of Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ application server are not IBM products and IBM is not responsible for their licensing, performance or support.

2.0 What's New

In this section, the features and functions that are specific to the Releases 7, 8, 9, 10 are designated by the following symbols —  R 7 ,  R 8  R 9  R 10 .

Support for the latest IBM Informix® DBMS server
 R 8  Both Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ provide full support for the IBM Informix® Dynamic Server — Version 11.70.x
 R 9  Current release of both Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ provide full support for the IBM Informix® Dynamic Server — Version 12.10.x
Operating Systems
Support for the following host operating systems has been added to the current release of both Server Studio™ and Sentinel™:
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows XP SP3 (64-bit)
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows Vista SP2 (64-bit)
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows Server 2003 R2 (64-bit)
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (32-bit)
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 (64-bit)
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit)
  •  R 7  Microsoft Windows 7 (64-bit)
  •  R 7  Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) — J2SE 1.6 Update 16
  •  R 7.5  IBM Java6 (J9 2.4, JRE 1.6.0) Runtime Environment (32-bit and 64-bit)
  •  R 9  Microsoft Windows 8 (32-bit)
  •  R 9  Microsoft Windows 8 (64-bit)
  • R 10  Oracle' Java 2 Platform Standard Edition (J2SE) — J2SE 1.7 - provides enhanced security and performance

2.1 Server Studio™

Database Schema Development and Management
 R 9  The new User Projects feature allows creating user defined project folders, which can organize database objects, SQL scripts, ER diagrams and other Server Studio files into logically meaningful groups. Projects can significantly speed up access to groups of logically related objects because there is no need to scroll long lists in the main Object Explorer in order to find a specific object. It is more convenient to have a single access point that contains links only to the required objects of interest.
 R 9  Support for IDS 11.7 External Tables. External tables can be created and edited using the new Server Studio external table graphical editors.
 R 7  Brand new SQL Tuner is an easy-to-use tool that allows database professionals to create and tune database code to optimize the efficiency and speed of the database. It increases database performance by not only helping to find and fix poorly-written code, but also aids in building fast and accurate SQL code the first time around. SQL Tuner offers powerful but easy-to-use facilities with an intuitive graphical interface that guide database professionals through the complex process of tuning the code by helping locate bottlenecks and automatically suggesting more optimal SQL cases to correct performance deficiencies.
  • Automatically checks the code for "rules-of-thumb" violations defined by Informix experts and generates alternative SQL code to correct them.
  • Ability to execute multiple variants of a given SQL code and concurrently present graphical Explain Plan, along with execution statistics and results sets of each code variation.
  • Easy side-by-side graphical scenario comparison allows to immediately visualize the performance impact of changes to the SQL statement.
  • Helps write SQL code that runs as fast as queries written by experts.
  • Full integration with Sentinel's SQL Capture facilities enables extensive analysis and optimization of the SQL code executed by the Informix data server.

 R 7  New Index Adviser performs a thorough examination of SQL statements and presents index recommendations based on tables which are used by these statements, which helps to optimize database performance in situations when the SQL statements being issued cannot be changed, but the database indexing schema can be altered.
 R 7  New SQL Formatter improves formatting and beautifies individual Informix SQL statements, SQL scripts and SPL stored procedures and triggers with many formatting options. SQL code is much easier and faster to read and understand when it is formatted, especially when it is a long and complicated SQL statement or long SPL stored procedure written by other developers. Programmers spend 50% of their time just looking at source code. Formatting source code can make them more productive in this task, saving a significant amount of an IT department's time and budget.
 R 7  Redesigned SQL Manager improves performance and user convenience.
  • Related Data Links in query result sets. When this feature is activated, the editor performs analysis for retrieved query data sets based on identifiable primary/foreign keys in SELECT column list and displays navigation links to view related data for cells that have primary/foreign keys relations.
  • Describe Object function provides an ability to get ‘in-place’ syntax for selected object in SQL editor (table, view or stored procedure syntax).
  • New integrated Query Result Difference Analyzer enables fast and efficient comparison result data sets produced by SQL SELECT statements executed either from the same or multiple SQL Editors.
  • New SQL Template generator allows to auto create INSERT/UPDATE/SELECT/DELETE/CREATE templates for tables, views and synonyms' names selected in SQL Editor.
  • New SQL INSERT script generator allows to generate SQL script with INSERT statements based on query result sets.
  • Charting function provides an ability to graph query results in SQL Editor using multiple chart types, such as: pie, bar, XY, etc.
  • Enhanced Code Completion function.
  • New option to display multiple query results sets within the same Output tab.
  • Enhanced editor displays line numbers and highlights the current line. Message Log shows time statistics for each statement executed in the editor.
 R 7.2  Redesigned Code Auto-Completion function helps to look up and finalize table, views, columns and stored procedure names during code development by popping up the available database objects, their attributes and context-dependent SQL keywords lists in any SQL Editor component. You can also create your own SQL templates for frequently used SQL statements and scripts and utilize them using code completion function.  R 8.0  SQL Execution Plan Analyzer for IDS 11.5 and 11.7 servers utilizes standard JDBC connection to access query optimizer plan information and does not require telnet/SSH connections or file access to server host.  R 10  Substitution variables provide an easy way to execute scripts in situations when you need to run the same SQL queries multiple times or periodically using a different set of parameters for each script execution, for example during application tests or when running system reports. Using variables in these situations eliminates a task of modifying SQL syntax every time you need to provide a new parameter value, such as report dates or customer code. This feature is especially valuable when the same parameter is used in SQL script in multiple places and the value of this parameter must be edited every time in all places. Without usage of script variables, there is a high probability of error – not only a syntax error but also an error of getting incorrect SQL query result. Substitution variables can be used in SQL scripts in place of constant values, names of columns or tables. If a SQL script contains substitution variables, the dialog box prompting to enter their values opens automatically when a user attempts to execute this script.
Configuration Auditing and Change Management
 R 9  New Schema Audit jobs allow monitoring for schema changes on multiple Informix servers and issue email notifications when differences are found. Email alerts can optionally contain an HTML difference report along with a synchronization script which allows to rollback the changes. Schema audit jobs can automatically take schema snapshots of the monitored Informix servers for record keeping or for manual reviewing.
Schema audit jobs give you the following advantages:
  • Schema audit jobs can be scheduled to run on a particular time or run periodically, acting as a schema audit tool.
  • In a single job you can choose to compare multiple databases or compare the same source database schema against multiple target databases located on multiple Informix instances.
  • Schema comparison reports can be automatically emailed to you or to several DBAs when differences are found. These reports include detailed difference analysis in HTML format as well as pre-generated synchronization script required to rollback all or a subset of changes.
  • Schema audit jobs can create a version snapshot of the database state at the time when differences are found so that you can review them after the changes in the live database are rolled back.
Schema audit jobs require the Sentinel Server Change Management Option.
 R 7  Redesigned DB Difference Analyzer substantially improves performance and provides new user convenience.
  • Compare database versions with a current database state as well as between the schema snapshots stored in the repository provided by the Sentinel's Change Management Option.
  • New option is provided for taking into account or ignoring index and constraint names during schema compare operation.
 R 7.5  Added ability to schedule "Create Version Snapshot" jobs to capture schema and/or ONCONFIG state in the repository provided by the Sentinel's Change Management Option.
Data and Storage Management
 R 10  New Data Masking feature was added. The most common use of data masking is to create test data for non-production environments, such as application development and QA, while protecting personally identifiable, personally sensitive or commercially sensitive data. Development and QA department personnel usually do not have required security clearance to access actual production data. However, in order to create and test robust business applications, they need to work with data sets that closely resemble real-world data. Server Studio provides a number of data masking methods, such as Random Substitution, Substitution from Database objects and Files, Shuffling, Number and Date Variance, Masking Out of text data, and more. There are two options for creating test data sets based on production data. The first option is to export production data to text files while performing data masking for the selected table columns in memory during the export operation. The exported text files, which contain obfuscated data, can be imported into development and QA databases that have corresponding database schema. The second option is to mask data directly in database tables, which represent a copy of production data created in some secure environment accessible only to cleared personnel. Subsequently, modified tables can be exported and then imported (or backed up and then restored) into development or QA environment using other tools or utilities.
 R 9  A new script generator creates OS script, which replicates all existing storage dbspaces and chunks (with correct sizes and parameters). It can be used to replicate Informix server storage on a new server instance.
 R 9  New Space Optimization feature allows to Compress, Repack, Shrink and De-Fragment tables or indexes using the Informix (Requires 11.5 FC4 or newer version)
 R 7  Data and storage management facilities have undergone a substantial redesign to improve ease and efficiency of handling large quantities of data and managing storage resources.
  • New Heatmaps component allows performing graphical two-dimensional analysis of storage, table activities and user session activities.
  • Enhanced Table Reorganization wizard provides new algorithm that allows to significantly improve performance of reorg operations.
  • Enhanced Update Statistics wizard provides advanced algorithm that takes into account table structure and indexes allowing faster Update Statistics operations and improved access to tables' data.
  • New DBSpace Data Fragmentation Viewer visualizes data distribution in dbspaces.
 R 7.5  Enhanced storage view provides storage summary information for entire server instance.
 R 7.5  Added ability to schedule Sentinel's "Update Statistics" jobs based on SQL scripts generated by Server Studio Update Statistics Wizard.
 R 7.5  Added ability to schedule Sentinel's "Table Reorganization" jobs based on SQL scripts generated by Table Reorganization Wizard.  R 8.0  Support for Automatic Storage Provisioning function in IDS 11.7 servers.  R 8.0  New Recovery Logs folder in the Object Explorer tree allows viewing and managing logical and physical logs, checkpoints and recovery policies.  R 8.0  Enhanced support for character’s data encoding for LOAD/UNLOAD SQL commands and Data Import/Export wizards.
Server Administration
 R 9  Ability to set user credentials for a group of Informix connections. This new feature allows to specify user names and passwords for a selected group of connections, thus making it easier to manage installations with multiple Informix servers where passwords are changed on a regular basis for security reasons.
 R 9  Support for Mapped Users security option. Mapped Users can be created and edited using the new Server Studio graphical editors.(Requires Informix 11.7 or newer version)
 R 8.0  New SQL Trace Explorer allows configuring and analyzing SQL Trace cache of IDS 11.x servers.
 R 8.0  New SQL Reports provide information about SQL statements captured in SQL Trace cache of IDS 11.x servers.
 R 8.0  User session’s properties view for IDS 11 servers provides a list of historical SQL statements executed by the session as well as the last executed SQL statement.
 R 8.0  Enhanced IDS Logs Viewer for IDS 11 servers displays Online Message Log, Administrative Commands Log and Onbar logs.
 R 8.0  Views of server properties were extended to include additional information, such as total and available OS memory, number of host CPUs, last backup date and expandable status for dbspaces and chunks, etc.
Interface and Workflow Enhancements
 R 9  Enhanced document navigation significantly improves the ability to navigate between open documents in Server Studio by presenting tabs in a single row with a drop down list. The placement of tabs stays consistent and the drop down list allows reviewing of all open documents in a list form. Users can enter a specific text into any tab to make its header more meaningful. The new feature applies to both Server Studio document area and the result sets in the SQL Editor.
 R 9  Color-coding of document tabs in the application frame window allows to visually differentiate multiple documents, such as SQL Editors or Data Editors, when they are connected to different Informix servers.
 R 9  New Command-line SQL Runner. You can execute SQL scripts by invoking Server Studio in a command line mode. This feature allows using Server Studio with an external scheduler and in automated application deployment tasks. SQL scripts can include special LOAD and UNLOAD SQL statements to import and export data files as part of script's logic. Another advantage of Command-line SQL Runner is an ability to execute very large SQL scripts without opening them in graphical SQL editors, which might save significant amount of system memory used by Server Studio application's process.
 R 9  Enhanced UI for MAC OS
 R 7  Redesigned graphical user interface of the application improves conformance to Windows standards, supports multiple workspace operations, provides additional analytics of database structure and activity, enables more efficient responses to issues that need attention and facilitates a more intuitive workflow.
  • Added ability to close document tabs using “X” icon on tab components.
  • Extended language support for non-English data stored in databases with default US/English encoding.
 R 7.5  Added ability to select and kill multiple user sessions with a single operation in the User Session Manager .
 R 8.0  Create and delete space, chunk and kill user sessions operations for IDS 11.5 servers does not require telnet/SSH connections. They operate via standard JDBC connection.
 R 10  The new Columns folder was added under a database node in the Object Explorer. It provides an integrated view of all columns for all tables in a database. This view is very useful when analyzing database structure and table dependencies. It also can be used to help to identify columns that require data masking during creation of test data sets based on production data. You can use the new Server Studio’s Data Masking wizard to obfuscate identified data and create required test data sets. The Columns view provides table, column name and datatype filtering capabilities for easy object searches. Indexing, nulling, datatypes, default column data information is displayed in a single grid for all database columns. There are navigations to underlying table structure and data viewers and editors.

2.2 Sentinel™

Significant memory consumption reduction enables Sentinel™ to better handle large performance parameters monitoring matrixes and reduce overall system response times.

— Performance Management Option
 R 9  Ability to assign actions to Sentinel jobs that were successfully executed. This new feature allows creating email alerts and optionally execute a different job when Sentinel jobs succeed. Previously this feature was only available for job failures.
 R 7  Support for collection of additional IDS performance metrics, such as: DBSPACE IS OFFLINE, CHUNK IS OFFLINE, ACTIVE THREADS, RATIO of THREADS IN READY QUEUE to ACTIVE THREADS, etc. has been added.
 R 7  Significant memory consumption reduction enables Sentinel to better handle large performance parameters monitoring matrixes and reduce overall system response times.
 R 7.5  Added ability to schedule Update Statistics jobs based on SQL scripts generated by Server Studio Update Statistics Wizard.
 R 7.5  Added ability to schedule Table Reorganization jobs based on SQL scripts generated by Table Reorganization Wizard.
 R 7.5  New monitor parameter TABLE ROWS NUMBER was added.
R 10  New Maintenance Blackout Periods feature was added. You can schedule alert blackout periods for planned Informix server down time to avoid receiving false alerts from Sentinel monitors and jobs. This is useful when you know in advance that you are going to take Informix server down for maintenance or an upgrade. When an alert blackout period is activated, Sentinel will not send out any alerts for the specified servers. Sentinel administrators will be notified whenever a blackout period starts and ends via Server Studio alerts and email messages sent to administrator's email address.
— Change Management Option
 R 9  New Schema Audit jobs allow monitoring for schema changes on multiple Informix servers and issue email notifications when differences are found. Email alerts can optionally contain an HTML difference report along with a synchronization script which allows to rollback the changes. Schema audit jobs can automatically take schema snapshots of the monitored Informix servers for record keeping or for manual reviewing.
Schema audit jobs give you the following advantages:
  • Schema audit jobs can be scheduled to run on a particular time or run periodically, acting as a schema audit tool.
  • In a single job you can choose to compare multiple databases or compare the same source database schema against multiple target databases located on multiple Informix instances.
  • Schema comparison reports can be automatically emailed to you or to several DBAs when differences are found. These reports include detailed difference analysis in HTML format as well as pre-generated synchronization script required to rollback all or a subset of changes.
  • Schema audit jobs can create a version snapshot of the database state at the time when differences are found so that you can review them after the changes in the live database are rolled back.

 R 7  Brand new facilities provided by Sentinel — Change Management Option streamlines database configuration change management by simplifying the tedious and error-prone task of maintaining traceable records of the system states.
  • Capture periodic database schema version control snapshots ("VCS") and retain them in the built-in repository.
  • Create state-in-time snapshots of individual objects, such as: stored procedures, tables, views, etc.
  • Maintain traceable record of database security states, such as user’s and role’s permissions and track security changes for audit purposes.
  • Preview versions of database schema objects using graphical tools and recover selected objects’ schema
  • Use robust differential analysis facilities to detect changes from a baseline, between any two snapshots; or between the state of any currently active database and a given system snapshots stored in the in the built-in repository.
  • Easy roll-out, roll-back and recover lost or damaged database objects.
 R 7.5  Added ability to schedule Create Version Snapshot jobs.

3.0 System requirements

The minimum system requirements for installing Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ bundle on a workstation are:
  • Memory: 128 MB RAM, 256 MB recommended
  • Disk space: 125 MB
Note: Installations employing Sentinel™ continuous collection of IBM Informix® DBMS servers' performance matrix may require larger disk space to accommodate the historical time-series data repository.

3.1 Platform support

Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ require, at a minimum, Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) Version 1.6.0 or a compatible runtime environment to operate and provide support for the host platforms with the following operating systems:

3.2 DBMS servers support

IBM Informix® Dynamic Server (IDS)
IBM Informix® Extended Parallel Server (XPS)
IBM Informix® On-Line Server

4.0 Installation Guide

The method of installing the Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ depends on the operating system of the host platform and whether you are installing from a distribution archive or from a CD-ROM. If you have downloaded the software distribution archive, first you will need to unpack its content into a temporary installation directory — for example, "system_drive:\temp" which will create the following directory structure: "system_drive:\temp\AGS_Install". From this point forward, these instructions will uniformly refer to both the CD-ROM and the temporary installation directory as "Setup_Home". Similarly, the home directory where you chose to install Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ will be uniformly referred to as "AGS_Home".

Note: Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ server can be installed on the same host computer (default installation); however they do not need to be. In production environments, where Sentinel™ server's operational loads are expected to be significant and its services must be available continuously, it is recommended to install Sentinel™ server on a different host computer from the one where Server Studio™ is installed.
Note: Sun Microsystems' Java 2 Platform, Standard Edition (J2SE) Version 1.6.0 or a compatible runtime environment must be present on your host system and you need have appropriate operating system permissions to install the software.

4.1 Installing Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ on a Windows host platform

  1. Change to the "Setup_Home\Windows\" directory and verify that the "install.exe" file is present.
  2. Double-click the "install.exe" file to start installation.
  3. The installation wizard will launch and guide you through the software installation. You can abort an installation at any step of the process by clicking Cancel.
  4. Wait for the welcome screen to appear. Click Next to continue.
  5. Read the software license agreement (SLA), and select an option:
    • I accept the terms of the License Agreement - If you accept the agreement, the Setup program continues.
    • I do NOT accept the terms of the License Agreement - If you do not accept the agreement, the Setup program ends.
  6. Click Next.
  7. Select a location where you want to install the software. You can use the default location ("C:\Program Files\AGS") or browse to another location of your choice by clicking Change.
  8. After you make your selection, click Next.
  9. The Setup program displays a message confirming your selection. Click Install to proceed.
  10. The summary screen lets you know that the installation was successful, or it displays any errors that may have occurred during the installation.
  11. Click Done.

4.2 Installing Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ on UNIX-type and MAC OS X host platforms

MAC OS X Installation: Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ server are installed on the MAC OS X host platform via the Terminal command line prompt. To perform the installation, first start Finder, then under the "Go" menu select "Utilities", then click on the "Terminal" icon. To open new instance of the Terminal, press “Apple+N”. Once the Terminal instance is open, follow the installation instructions for UNIX-type host platforms provided below.

4.2.1 Interactive Graphical Mode

  1. From the command line, change to the "Setup_Home\unix" directory and verify that the "install.jar" file is present.
  2. Run the following command at the command prompt:
    java -jar install.jar
  3. The installation wizard will launch and guide you through the software installation. You can abort an installation at any step of the process by clicking Cancel.
  4. Wait for the welcome screen to appear. Click Next to continue.
  5. Read the software license agreement (SLA), and select an option:
    • I accept the terms of the License Agreement - If you accept the agreement, the Setup program continues.
    • I do NOT accept the terms of the License Agreement - If you do not accept the agreement, the Setup program ends.
  6. Click Next.
  7. The Setup program will search your host system for the compatible Java 2 runtime environment and will either:
    • display the full path of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) location; or
    • prompt you to manually enter the full path to the location of the "java" executable file.
  8. Click Next to continue.
  9. Select a location where you want to install the software. You can use the default location or browse to another location of your choice by clicking Change.
  10. After you make your selection, click Next.
  11. The Setup program displays a message confirming your selection. Click Install to proceed.
  12. The summary screen lets you know that the installation was successful, or it displays any errors that may have occurred during the installation.
  13. Click Done.

4.2.2 Interactive Console Mode

The interactive console mode is intended for installation of Server Studio and Sentinel on UNIX-type host platforms where graphical user interface is unavailable.

  1. From the command line, change to the "Setup_Home\unix" directory and verify that the "install.jar" file is present.
  2. Run the following shell command at the command prompt:
    unset DISPLAY
  3. Next, run the following command at the command prompt:
    java -jar install.jar -i console
  4. The installer will launch and guide you through the software installation. You can abort an installation at any step of the process by executing "Ctrl-C" or "Ctrl-Break" command.
  5. Follow the interactive prompts to select or manually enter the full path of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) location.
  6. When prompted, select the location where you want to install the software. You can use the default location ("/opt/AGS") or specify an alternate location.
  7. Read the software license agreement (SLA). Press "ENTER" several times to scroll through the license agreement.
  8. When the prompt "DO YOU ACCEPT THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT? (Y/N)" appears, select an option:
    • "Y" - If you accept the agreement, the Setup program continues.
    • "N" - If you do not accept the agreement, the Setup program ends.
  9. The installer will proceed with the software installation and on the completion of the process will return control to the command prompt, or it displays any errors that may have occurred during the installation.

4.2.3 Silent Command-line Mode

The silent command-line mode is intended for installation of Server Studio and Sentinel on UNIX-type host platforms without any user interaction and is useful in implementing unattended scriptable installations. Server Studio and Sentinel will be installed in the default location ("/opt/AGS").

  1. From the command line, change to the "Setup_Home\unix" directory and verify that the "install.jar" file is present.
  2. To initiate silent command-line mode installation, run the following command at the command prompt, or from a script:
    java -jar install.jar -i silent -DUSER_INSTALL_DIR=(full path to your installation directory)
  3. Example:
    java -jar install.jar -i silent -DUSER_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/ags

4.2.4 Interactive Console Mode - Sentinel Only

The interactive console mode is intended for installation of Sentinel on UNIX-type host platforms where graphical user interface is unavailable.

  1. From the command line, change to the "Setup_Home\unix" directory and verify that the "install.jar" file is present.
  2. Run the following shell command at the command prompt:
    unset DISPLAY
  3. Next, run the following command at the command prompt:
    java -jar install.jar -i console -DCHOSEN_INSTALL_FEATURE_LIST=sentinel 
  4. The installer will launch and guide you through the software installation. You can abort an installation at any step of the process by executing "Ctrl-C" or "Ctrl-Break" command.
  5. Follow the interactive prompts to select or manually enter the full path of the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) location.
  6. When prompted, select the location where you want to install the software. You can use the default location ("/opt/AGS") or specify an alternate location.
  7. Read the software license agreement (SLA). Press "ENTER" several times to scroll through the license agreement.
  8. When the prompt "DO YOU ACCEPT THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE AGREEMENT? (Y/N)" appears, select an option:
    • "Y" - If you accept the agreement, the Setup program continues.
    • "N" - If you do not accept the agreement, the Setup program ends.
  9. The installer will proceed with the software installation and on the completion of the process will return control to the command prompt, or it displays any errors that may have occurred during the installation.

4.2.5 Silent Command-line Mode - Sentinel Only

The silent command-line mode is intended for installation of Sentinel only on UNIX-type host platforms without any user interaction and is useful in implementing unattended scriptable installations. Sentinel will be installed in the default location ("/opt/AGS").

  1. From the command line, change to the "Setup_Home\unix" directory and verify that the "install.jar" file is present.
  2. To initiate silent command-line mode installation, run the following command at the command prompt, or from a script:
    java -jar install.jar -i silent -DCHOSEN_INSTALL_FEATURE_LIST=sentinel -DUSER_INSTALL_DIR=(full path to your installation directory)
  3. Example:
    java -jar install.jar -i silent -DCHOSEN_INSTALL_FEATURE_LIST=sentinel -DUSER_INSTALL_DIR=/opt/ags

4.3 Starting Server Studio™

  1. To start Server Studio™ under Windows operating system, go to Start menu and click Programs > AGS > Server Studio > Server Studio .
  2. To start Server Studio™ under UNIX-type operating systems, from the command line prompt, change to the "AGS_Home\SeverStudio\" directory and execute:
    ./ServerStudio

4.4 Starting Server Studio™ using Command-line SQL Runner

You can execute SQL scripts by invoking Server Studio in a command line mode. This feature allows using Server Studio with an external scheduler and in automated application deployment tasks. SQL scripts can include special LOAD and UNLOAD SQL statements to import and export data files as part of script's logic. Another advantage of Command-line SQL Runner is an ability to execute very large SQL scripts without opening them in graphical SQL editors, which might save significant amount of system memory used by Server Studio application's process.

  1. To start Server Studio™ under Windows operating system, go to Start menu and run "cmd.exe" to open Windows command console. From the command line prompt, change to the "AGS_Home\SeverStudio\" directory and execute:
    serverstudio [command line options - see Command Line Usage below]
  2. To start Server Studio™ under UNIX-type operating systems, from the command line prompt, change to the "AGS_Home\SeverStudio\" directory and execute:
    ./ServerStudio [command line options - see Command Line Usage below]
Server Studio command line usage:

-s server name -h host name[:port] (e.g. production:9088) -d database (by default sysmaster is used for initial connection) -u user -p password -f SQL script file to execute -prop connection property file (key=value pairs). Use it to set paremeters like DBDATE, CLIENT_LOCALE, etc. -out output directory for SQL statement result sets -l execution log file -a append results to existing log file -err specifies the maximum number of errors after which the tool should quit (by default all statements will be executed) -help Server Studio command line usage

Sample of a command-line invocation under Windows OS:
serverstudio -s ol_ids11_qa -h qahostgr2:9088 -d ecomdb -u dev5 -p dv5pswd -f c:\data\sql\myscript.sql -l c:\data\myscript.log -out c:\myscript


IMPORTANT NOTE: You need to have file write permissions in directories, which you specify in '–out' and '-l' parameters. Otherwise, Server Studio will not be able to save a log file or result set files that might be produced by SQL script’s SELECT statements.

See Tools -> SQL Manager -> Command-line SQL Runner menu in Server Studio for more information on command-line mode and options.

4.5 Starting Sentinel™

  1. To start Sentinel™ application server, you will need to:
    • start Server Studio™ and go to the "Sentinel — Automation" tab, located adjacent to the "Object Browser" and "DB Diff" tabs;
    • locate the Sentinel Server node in the object tree (typically it will be named "Sentinel Server [localhost]" in a default installation);
    • right-click on the Sentinel Server node and select from the shortcut menu Start Sentinel command.

4.6 Uninstalling Server Studio™ and Sentinel™

To uninstall Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ from the host computer:

  1. If Sentinel™ is running, you will need to shut down its operations:

    1. start Server Studio™ (if is is not running already) and go to the "Sentinel — Automation" tab, located adjacent to the "Object Browser" and "DB Diff" tabs
    2. locate the Sentinel™ node in the object tree (typically it will be named "Sentinel Server [localhost]" in a default installation)
    3. right-click on the Sentinel node and select from the shortcut menu Stop Sentinel command

  2. Exit Server Studio™ application.
  3. Stop Sentinel™ services:

    1. for Windows — by using Windows Service Manager (look for AGS Sentinel Server service)
    2. for UNIX-type — by executing the following Shell script:
      /opt/AGS/sentinel/sentinel stop

  4. To permanently remove Server Studio™ and Sentinel™ installation from the host computer:

    1. for Windows — open the Control Panel, then open the Add/Remove Programs window. Select AGS Server Studio™, then click Change/Remove to uninstall. Select AGS Sentinel™, then click Change/Remove to uninstall. Follow the instructions in the wizard to uninstall the products.
    2. for UNIX-type — delete AGS_Home installation directory.

5.0 Software Registration and Activation

For detailed instructions on how to register and activate Server Studio™ and Sentinel™, please see AGS' Software Registration and Activation Guide.

6.0 Technical Support

Refer to the Support section of the Server Studio™ online Help for information about how to contact AGS Technical Support. To report a problem, you will need to provide AGS Technical Support with the following information:

  1. The version and build numbers of your AGS product (to find this information, select Help >About from the application menu).
  2. The version numbers of the the operating system and of the Java 2 Platform runtime environment on the host platform that your AGS product is running on.
  3. The version number of the IBM Informix® DBMS server you are working with.
  4. The host platform and the version number of the operating system your IBM Informix® DBMS server is running on.
  5. Exact content of the error message, if available.
  6. Sequence of steps required to reproduce the problem.

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