Removal of 2Gb limits everywhere (ontape,dbexport,dbload/dbunload, onunload/onload, chunk sizes and offsets) EXCEPT (Unload/load statements and DataBlade
API mi_ functions)
Configurable page size (multiple of default page size i.e. multiple of 2K or 4K under Windows/AIX) up to 16K. Separate buffer pools are created for each page size that is used. These are configured using the new BUFFERPOOL onconfig paramter that replaces the BUFFERS, LRUS, LRU_MAX_DIRTY, and LRU_MIN_DIRTY configuration parameters. Multiple BUFFERPOOL lines (one per page size) can be specified in the onconfig file.
Shared memory segments can be more that 4Gb in size (if the Operating System allows it!)
Indexes can be created/dropped without locking the table using the new ONLINE keyword.
The new onconfig parameter DS_NONPDQ_QUERY_MEM (also available in 9.40.xC4) controls the amount of sort memory used for non-PDQ queries. The default of 128K in previous versions would causes sorts to overflow to disk and reduce performance).
A single dbspace can contain multiple fragments of a table or index
Point in time restores of table can be done via archecker
A single user mode (reached via onmode -j) where only user informix can access the server and administrators can perform all tasks that can be done in online mode!
Dbspaces can be renamed whilst in quiescent mode
HDR can be setup using External Backup and Restore)
Column level encryption
Two new configuration parameters (FAST_RESTART_PHYSLOG and FAST_RESTART_CKPT_FUZZYLOG) reduce the time required for database server recovery when using fuzzy checkpoints
LDAP authentication is supported under Windows
The IBM Informix Server Instance Manager can now rename instances on Windows
Enterprise Replication now includes Master Replicates that (a) ensure all participants in a replicate have the same table and column attributes (b) allows alter table operations to be replicated
Enterprise Replication now supports Templates that simplifiy the setup of ER.Templates used the new Master Replicates
Replication can perform an initial sync on data to be replicated as well as repair resyncs to handle failed replication. Repair resyncs can be optimized to just repair rows mentioned in the ATS or RIS file. If the row exists in the source in is re-replicated otherwise it is deleted.
Replication supports alter table commands (add/drop default values, add/drop
SQL checks, add/drop fragments,add/drop columns, alter serial columns,recluster indexes, alter non-replicated columns). For this to work the table must be placed into alter mode where only replication threads and the thread performing the alter table can access the table. No insert/update/deletes are allowed in this mode. You CANNOT alter a currently replicated column. Alter table and alter fragment statments are only allowed on master replicates.
Enterprise replication events can trigger the ALARMPROGRAM. The events that cause the ALARMPROGRAM to be triggered are user configurable.
Logical logs that can backed up by onbar can be viewed via onlog
The BAR_DEBUG onconfig parameter is now dynamic and changes whilst onbar is running are detected. Also onbar can be used to display recent activity from the onbar activity log similar to onstat -m
ontape can used standard I/O (e.g. via pipes)
ontape can be used for external backups/restores
High Performance Loader can used long identifiers
Various datablade routine enhancements
The supported windows platforms are windows 2000, windows 2003 and windows xp IDS 9.40 and above no longer send messages to the Windows Security Event Log. This is “due to security changes by Microsoft which prevent appplications from writing to the Security Event Log in operating systems from Windows XP onwards”. IDS log messages are now sent to the Windows Application Event Log instead. IDS messages are also sent to the %INFORMIXDIR%\%INFORMIXSERVER%.log log file, as with all previous versions of Dynamic Server
New onconfig parameters (TBLTBLFIRST and TBLTBLNEXT) and onspaces clauses that can be used to control the extents for the tblspace tblspace. The new onconfig paramters are used for the root dbspace and onspaces has additional clauses used when creating additional dbspaces).
Corrupt indexes on the secondary in an HDR pair can be re-replicated from the primary
The DRAUTO parameter is back to control failover in an HDR pair
New role EXTEND that controls who can register UDRS that include the EXTERNAL NAME clause
New onconfig parameter ALRM_ALL_EVENTS that controls which events fire the ALARMPROGRAM
All utilities support a new -version flag to display their version
The onpload database can be automatically up/down upgraded with the server via the new IFX_ONPLOAD_AUTO_UPGRADE environment variable
The new SET ENVIRONMENT OPTCOMPIND statement allows the OPTCOMPIND onconfig parameter to be changed dynamically within a session (this was first available in 9.40.UC3)