Readme File for OpenAdmin Tool for IDS

2.27, December 2009

Contents

OpenAdmin Tool
Download Packages
Automated Install
Prerequisites for the Automated Install
Installation Instructions
Uninstall
Manual Installation
Prerequisites for Installation
Installation Instructions
Manual Uninstall
Configuring Connectivity for High Availability Clusters (MACH)
Upgrading from a Previous Version of OpenAdmin Tool for IDS
Adding a Plug-in to OpenAdmin Tool for IDS
Notes
Avoiding Page Timeout Errors
XAMPP
Informix PDO Driver
Minimum Version Requirements
OpenAdmin Tool Support Forum
Notices
Trademarks

OpenAdmin Tool

The OpenAdmin Tool (OAT) for IDS is a PHP-based console used to administer one or more instances of IBM® Informix® Dynamic Server Version 11.10 or later.

Download Packages

These files are available to download:

Table 1. OAT Download Packages
Download Description
OAT_2.27_install_windows.exe OpenAdmin Tool for IDS automated installer for Windows®. Includes OAT, the ER plug-in, the Schema Manager plug-in, and all necessary software to run OAT, including pre-configured Apache, PHP, PDO_informix, and Informix I-Connect.
OAT_2.27_install_linux.bin OpenAdmin Tool for IDS automated installer for Linux®. Includes OAT, the ER plug-in, the Schema Manager plug-in, and all necessary software to run OAT, including pre-configured Apache, PHP, PDO_informix, and Informix I-Connect.
OAT_2.27_install_macOSX64.zip OpenAdmin Tool for IDS automated installer for Mac OS X 64-bit. Includes OAT, the ER plug-in, the Schema Manager plug-in, and all necessary software to run OAT including pre-configured Apache, PHP, PDO_informix, and Informix I-Connect.
oatidsV2.27.tar OpenAdmin Tool for IDS packaged as a tar file. Includes the ER plug-in and the Schema Manager plug-in. Does not include Apache, PHP, PDO_informix, or Informix I-Connect.
oatidsV2.27.zip OpenAdmin Tool for IDS packaged as a compressed file. Includes the ER plug-in and the Schema Manager plug-in. Does not include Apache, PHP, PDO_informix, or Informix I-Connect.
README.html Instructions on how to install. (This document.)
RELEASENOTES.html New features and fixed defects for the release.

Automated Install

The automated install for OpenAdmin Tool is available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X (64-bit only).

The following products are installed on your machine during the automated installation:

The automated install extracts a copy of the JRE into your installation directory. The JRE is used only for the automated install and uninstall of OpenAdmin Tool and can be deleted when the installation is complete. The JRE has no impact on the function of OpenAdmin Tool or any of the applications it relies on. However, to use the automated uninstall program, you must reinstall the JRE (minimum JRE 1.4.2).

The PHP and Apache that come with OpenAdmin Tool automated installer have only a limited set of modules. If you want to do other development work with OpenAdmin Tool PHP, you might have to download the other extensions. The available modules for PHP and Apache are described in table Table 2.

Table 2. Modules for PHP and Apache that are installed with the automated installer.
Operating System PHP Modules Apache Modules
Windows and Linux
  • date
  • gd
  • libxml
  • openssl
  • pcre
  • PDO
  • pdo_sqlite
  • pdo_informix
  • Reflection
  • session
  • SimpleXML
  • soap
  • sockets
  • standard
  • xml
  • xmlreader
  • xmlwriter
  • zip
  • core
  • http_core
  • mod_alias
  • mod_asis
  • mod_auth_basic
  • mod_authn_default
  • mod_authn_file
  • mod_authz_default
  • mod_authz_groupfile
  • mod_authz_host
  • mod_authz_user
  • mod_autoindex
  • mod_cgi
  • mod_dir
  • mod_actions
  • mod_env
  • mod_filter
  • mod_include
  • mod_isapi
  • mod_log_config
  • mod_mime
  • mod_negotiation
  • mod_php5
  • mod_setenvif
  • mod_so
  • mod_status
  • mod_userdir
  • prefork
Windows only
  • SPL
  • zlib
  • mod_win32
  • mpm_winnt
  • http_mod_imagemap

Prerequisites for the Automated Install

On Windows, the following prerequisites must be met for the automated install:

On Linux and Mac OS X, the following libraries must be installed in /lib/ or /usr/lib/ for the automated install:

Installation Instructions

  1. Start the installation with one of the following methods:
  2. Accept the license agreement to continue.
  3. Select the installation directory. The default is:
  4. Click Next.
  5. Choose an available port number for the Web server.
  6. Windows users: Provide an Apache service name.
  7. Specify the Host Name, the name of the computer where the database server is located.
  8. Click Next. The Security Features page is displayed.
  9. To enable password-protection for the OpenAdmin Tool administration pages, select the check box and click Next. The OpenAdmin Tool Administrator login setup page is displayed.
  10. Enter a user name and password and click Next. The Plug-in page is displayed.
  11. Ensure that the plug-ins that you want to install are selected and click Next. License information for each selected plug-in is displayed.
  12. Click I accept the terms of the License Agreement for each plug–in and then click Next. The Pre-Installation Summary page is displayed.
  13. Review your selections and click Install. When the installation is complete, the following message is displayed: "OpenAdmin Tool has been installed successfully. Visit http://servername:portnumber/openadmin/ to use the OpenAdmin Tool." Where:
  14. Click Done.

Uninstall

Use this procedure only if you used the automated installation procedure.

To uninstall OpenAdmin Tool:

  1. Navigate to the Uninstall OpenAdmin directory.
  2. Launch the program with one of the following methods:
  3. Specify whether to preserve the existing connection information. If you select this option and install the next version of OAT in the same installation location, the connection information is preserved.

Manual Installation

Prerequisite: To manually install OpenAdmin Tool for IDS, you must have working knowledge of Web servers and PHP. If you do not have this knowledge, you might need assistance from a Web server administrator in your organization.

Prerequisites for Installation

The OpenAdmin Tool is platform independent. You can install and run the OpenAdmin Tool on any operating system for which you can set up and run the prerequisites listed in this section.

The OpenAdmin Tool requires the following products to be installed. The versions in parenthesis indicate the versions with which the OpenAdmin Tool has been tested.

Important: The PHP and the PDO must come from the same PHP version.

Installation Instructions

  1. Install and set up a working Web server that has been configured to serve PHP pages. For more information, see the Notes section following the installation instructions.

    For further help, consult the Web server product documentation for installation instructions, or contact the product customer service representatives for assistance.

  2. Update the PHP configuration file (php.ini).
    1. Open the php.ini file for editing.

      If you are using XAMPP:

      • Windows: Edit the php.ini file in the apache/bin folder, not in the php folder.
      • Linux: Edit the php.ini file in the /etc folder.
      • Mac OS X: Edit the php.ini file in the /Applications/xampp/etc folder.

      If you are not sure about the location of the correct php.ini configuration file, run the phpinfo() command within a PHP script on your Web server to determine the location of the correct php.ini file.

    2. Add the following two lines after the extension=php_pdo.dll line to the "extension" section of the configuration file:

      extension=php_pdo_informix.dll
      extension=php_pdo_sqlite.dll

      If these lines are already present, remove any comment indicators from in front of them.

      Important: These lines must follow the extension=php_pdo.dll.

    3. Modify the memory_limit parameter to be at least 256 MB.
  3. Install IBM Informix I-Connect or IBM Informix Client SDK.
  4. Extract the OpenAdmin Tool for IDS package into your Web server document root directory rootdir/OATINSTALL. For example:

    Important: For security reasons, set password protection for the OpenAdmin Tool administration Web pages. For more information and an example, see "Providing password protection for the Admin configuration pages: Apache example" in the OpenAdmin Tool for IDS Help.

  5. UNIX, Linux, or Mac OS X users: Change user or group ownership and permissions on the OpenAdmin Tool directories.
    1. Determine which user and group run the Apache (httpd) server from the httpd.conf file.
    2. Change ownership for each OpenAdmin Tool subdirectory to the user and group that run the Apache (httpd) server.
    3. Grant write permissions to all OpenAdmin Tool subdirectories and files.

      The syntax for changing the ownership and permissions is:

      chown <user>:<OATINSTALL>; chmod +w <OATINSTALL>;

      Where <OATINSTALL> is the root directory for OpenAdmin Tool, the same directory that you used in step 4.

  6. Set the INFORMIXDIR environment variable in the Web server environment. INFORMIXDIR should point to the Client SDK or I-Connect install location.
  7. Start the Web server.

    If you started the Web server before modifying the php.ini file or setting INFORMIXDIR in the environment, restart the Web server for the changes to take effect.

  8. To launch the OpenAdmin Tool installer, go to the following Web page: http:// SERVERNAME/OATINSTALL/install

    Where:

    For example: http://localhost/oat/install

  9. Follow the instructions in the OpenAdmin Tool installation screens:
    1. Read and accept the license agreement.
    2. Verify that all the required PHP modules are installed. If so, click Next; if not, check your PHP installation.
    3. Modify and verify the following configuration parameters:
      • LANG: Specify the default language for the application screens: en only
      • CONNDBDIR: Set the directory for the connections database.

        Important: For security purposes, specify a secure directory for the connections.db file. Do not use the Web server document root directory. Additionally, ensure that the directory in which the connections.db file is located is accessible by the user who runs Apache.

      • BASEURL: Specify the root URL used to start OpenAdmin Tool: http://SERVERNAME/OATINSTALL

        For example: http://localhost:8080/OAT

      • HOMEDIR: The directory into which you extracted the installation package.
      • USEREDIRECT: The number of seconds to wait between each OAT screen. If this value is 0, no redirect page is shown. The value can be 0 or higher.
      • GOOGLEREDIRECT: (Optional) If you have applied for a Google Maps API key, enter it in this field.
      • PINGINTERVAL: Specify, in seconds, how often to ping the IDS servers that are configured in OpenAdmin Tool.
    4. To create the connections database, click Next. The connections database is created. Click Next to continue.
  10. When the installation is complete, go to the OpenAdmin Tool root URL: http://SERVERNAME/OATINSTALL.
  11. On the login page, select Admin and then expand Manage Connections to add a new IDS 11.10 (or later) connection to the default group, or to create a new group.

    If you are using an I-Connect or Client SDK version before V3.0, for each new connection that you add, ensure that there is a corresponding SQLHOSTS entry for that connection on the Web server machine.

    To connect to a server, after a connection is created, click Login. Click Get Servers to retrieve the list of connections that you have created, and then select the server.

Manual Uninstall

To manually uninstall OpenAdmin Tool, delete the OATINSTALL directory.

Configuring Connectivity for High Availability Clusters (MACH)

If you are using the high availability clusters (MACH) features from OpenAdmin Tool to start and stop secondary servers or to add SD secondary servers, you must configure the following daemons on the IDS server:

Upgrading from a Previous Version of OpenAdmin Tool for IDS

To upgrade to OpenAdmin Tool 2.27 from a previous version:

Adding a Plug-in to OpenAdmin Tool for IDS

You can add plug-ins created by IBM or by other organizations to the OpenAdmin Tool. Plug-ins created by IBM are included in the automated and manual installations for OAT. For instructions on adding a plug-in from another organization, see the OpenAdmin Tool for IDS Help.

Notes

The following section provides additional information about configuring the OpenAdmin Tool and other support resources.

Avoiding Page Timeout Errors

Set the CSDK/I-Connect variables INFORMIXCONRETRY and INFORMIXCONTIME to avoid page timeout errors for invalid connection information. The recommended settings are:

XAMPP

For manual installation, XAMPP is an easy-to-install Apache distribution containing MySQL, PHP, and Perl. You can download XAMPP from the following Web site: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html.

For more detailed instructions on how to install OpenAdmin Tool for IDS by using XAMPP, refer to the following articles:

Informix PDO Driver

The following developerWorks® article contains useful information to assist with building an Informix PDO driver: A step-by-step how-to guide to install, configure, and test a Linux, Apache, Informix, and PHP server.

Minimum Version Requirements

Table 3 describes the minimum version requirements for products that the OpenAdmin Tool uses:

Table 3. Minimum Version Requirements
Product Version
Mozilla Firefox Web browser (Recommended) 2.0
Microsoft® Internet Explorer Web browser 7.0
Apple Safari Web browser 3.0.2
IBM Informix Database Server 11.10
PHP 5.2.4
Adobe Flash Player 9.0.115.0

OpenAdmin Tool Support Forum

Forums are the only support mechanism for OpenAdmin Tool for IDS. To ask questions, exchange ideas, and share solutions with your peers in the Informix Dynamic Server community, visit the following forums:

Notices

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