Adding a Connection to Informix

1. In the application console, navigate to the Connections page.
2. At the Add Connections panel, select the icon for the connection you want to add.
3. If the Informix icon is not available, click the Add More icon to download and install the Informix connector from the CData site.

For required properties, see the Settings tab.

For connection properties that are not typically required, see the Advanced tab.

Connecting to Informix

• Server: Set this to the name of the server running Informix.
• Port: Set this to the port the Informix server is listening on.
• Database: Set this to the name of the Informix database.
• User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
• Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

This section details a selection of advanced features of the Informix Sync App.

SSL Configuration

Use SSL Configuration to adjust how Sync App handles TLS/SSL certificate negotiations. You can choose from various certificate formats; see the SSLServerCert property under "Connection String Options" for more information.

Firewall and Proxy

Configure the Sync App for compliance with Firewall and Proxy, including Windows proxies. You can also set up tunnel connections.

Logging

See Logging for an overview of configuration settings that can be used to refine CData logging. For basic logging, you only need to set two connection properties, but there are numerous features that support more refined logging, where you can select subsets of information to be logged using the LogModules connection property.

Customizing the SSL Configuration

By default, the Sync App attempts to negotiate SSL/TLS by checking the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store.

To specify another certificate, see the SSLServerCert property for the available formats to do so.

Client SSL Certificates

The Informix Sync App also supports setting client certificates. Set the following to connect using a client certificate.

• SSLClientCert: The name of the certificate store for the client certificate.
• SSLClientCertType: The type of key store containing the TLS/SSL client certificate.
• SSLClientCertPassword: The password for the TLS/SSL client certificate.
• SSLClientCertSubject: The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate.

Connecting Through a Firewall or Proxy

Set the following properties:

• To use a proxy-based firewall, set FirewallType, FirewallServer, and FirewallPort.
• To tunnel the connection, set FirewallType to TUNNEL.
• To authenticate, specify FirewallUser and FirewallPassword.
• To authenticate to a SOCKS proxy, additionally set FirewallType to SOCKS5.

The connection string properties are the various options that can be used to establish a connection. This section provides a complete list of the options you can configure in the connection string for this provider. Click the links for further details.

Authentication

SSL

SSH

Firewall

Logging

Schema

Miscellaneous

This section provides a complete list of the Authentication properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The authentication mechanism that the provider will use to authenticate with Informix.

Remarks

• USRIDPWD: Set this to use user id and password to authenticate.
• EUSRIDPWD: Set this to use encrypted user id and encrypted password to authenticate.

The name of the Informix server.

Remarks

This property should be set to the name or network address of the server hosting the Informix database.

The port used to connect to the server hosting the database.

Remarks

The port used to connect to the server hosting the database.

A database user.

Remarks

The username of a user authorized to access the database.

The user's password.

Remarks

The password provided for authentication with the database.

The name of the Informix database.

Remarks

The name of the Informix database running on the specified Server. To connect to the database, you will also need to specify a User and Password for a user authorized to access the database.

This field sets whether SSL is enabled.

Remarks

This field sets whether the Sync App will attempt to negotiate TLS/SSL connections to the server. By default, the Sync App checks the server's certificate against the system's trusted certificate store. To specify another certificate, set SSLServerCert.

This property allows you to specify multiple servers in addition to the one configured in Server and Port . Specify both a server name and port; separate servers with a comma.

Remarks

This property allows you to specify the other servers in addition to the one configured in Server and Port. You must specify all servers using AlternateServers, Server, and Port.

Specify both a server name and port in AlternateServers; separate servers with a comma. For example:

Server=localhost;Port=27017;AlternateServers=localhost:27018,localhost:27019;

This section provides a complete list of the SSL properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The TLS/SSL client certificate store for SSL Client Authentication (2-way SSL).

Remarks

The name of the certificate store for the client certificate.

The SSLClientCertType field specifies the type of the certificate store specified by SSLClientCert. If the store is password protected, specify the password in SSLClientCertPassword.

SSLClientCert is used in conjunction with the SSLClientCertSubject field in order to specify client certificates. If SSLClientCert has a value, and SSLClientCertSubject is set, a search for a certificate is initiated. See SSLClientCertSubject for more information.

Designations of certificate stores are platform-dependent.

The following are designations of the most common User and Machine certificate stores in Windows:

In Java, the certificate store normally is a file containing certificates and optional private keys.

When the certificate store type is PFXFile, this property must be set to the name of the file. When the type is PFXBlob, the property must be set to the binary contents of a PFX file (for example, PKCS12 certificate store).

The type of key store containing the TLS/SSL client certificate.

Remarks

This property can take one of the following values:

The password for the TLS/SSL client certificate.

Remarks

If the certificate store is of a type that requires a password, this property is used to specify that password to open the certificate store.

The subject of the TLS/SSL client certificate.

Remarks

When loading a certificate the subject is used to locate the certificate in the store.

If an exact match is not found, the store is searched for subjects containing the value of the property. If a match is still not found, the property is set to an empty string, and no certificate is selected.

The special value "*" picks the first certificate in the certificate store.

The certificate subject is a comma separated list of distinguished name fields and values. For example, "CN=www.server.com, OU=test, C=US, [email protected]". The common fields and their meanings are shown below.

If a field value contains a comma, it must be quoted.

The certificate to be accepted from the server when connecting using TLS/SSL.

Remarks

If using a TLS/SSL connection, this property can be used to specify the TLS/SSL certificate to be accepted from the server. Any other certificate that is not trusted by the machine is rejected.

This property can take the following forms:

If not specified, any certificate trusted by the machine is accepted.

Use '*' to signify to accept all certificates. Note that this is not recommended due to security concerns.

This section provides a complete list of the SSH properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The authentication method used when establishing an SSH Tunnel to the service.

Remarks

• None: No authentication is performed. The current User value is ignored, and the connection is logged in as anonymous.
• Password: The Sync App uses the values of User and Password to authenticate the user.
• Public_Key: The Sync App uses the values of User and SSHClientCert to authenticate the user. SSHClientCert must have a private key available for this authentication method to succeed.

A certificate to be used for authenticating the SSHUser.

Remarks

SSHClientCert must contain a valid private key in order to use public key authentication. A public key is optional, if one is not included then the Sync App generates it from the private key. The Sync App sends the public key to the server and the connection is allowed if the user has authorized the public key.

The SSHClientCertType field specifies the type of the key store specified by SSHClientCert. If the store is password protected, specify the password in SSHClientCertPassword.

Some types of key stores are containers which may include multiple keys. By default the Sync App will select the first key in the store, but you can specify a specific key using SSHClientCertSubject.

The password of the SSHClientCert key if it has one.

Remarks

This property is only used when authenticating to SFTP servers with SSHAuthMode set to PublicKey and SSHClientCert set to a private key.

The subject of the SSH client certificate.

Remarks

When loading a certificate the subject is used to locate the certificate in the store.

If an exact match is not found, the store is searched for subjects containing the value of the property.

If a match is still not found, the property is set to an empty string, and no certificate is selected.

The special value "*" picks the first certificate in the certificate store.

The certificate subject is a comma separated list of distinguished name fields and values. For instance "CN=www.server.com, OU=test, C=US, [email protected]". Common fields and their meanings are displayed below.

If a field value contains a comma it must be quoted.

The type of SSHClientCert private key.

Remarks

This property can take one of the following values:

The SSH server.

Remarks

The SSH server.

The SSH port.

Remarks

The SSH port.

The SSH user.

Remarks

The SSH user.

The SSH password.

Remarks

The SSH password.

The SSH server fingerprint.

Remarks

The SSH server fingerprint.

Whether to tunnel the Informix connection over SSH. Use SSH.

Remarks

By default the Sync App will attempt to connect directly to Informix. When this option is enabled, the Sync App will instead establish an SSH connection with the SSHServer and tunnel the connection to Informix through it.

This section provides a complete list of the Firewall properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

The protocol used by a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

This property specifies the protocol that the Sync App will use to tunnel traffic through the FirewallServer proxy.

The name or IP address of a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

This property specifies the IP address, DNS name, or host name of a proxy allowing traversal of a firewall. The protocol is specified by FirewallType: Use FirewallServer with this property to connect through SOCKS or do tunneling.

The TCP port for a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

This specifies the TCP port for a proxy allowing traversal of a firewall. Use FirewallServer to specify the name or IP address. Specify the protocol with FirewallType.

The user name to use to authenticate with a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

The FirewallUser and FirewallPassword properties are used to authenticate against the proxy specified in FirewallServer and FirewallPort, following the authentication method specified in FirewallType.

A password used to authenticate to a proxy-based firewall.

Remarks

This property is passed to the proxy specified by FirewallServer and FirewallPort, following the authentication method specified by FirewallType.

This section provides a complete list of the Logging properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

Core modules to be included in the log file.

Remarks

Only the modules specified (separated by ';') will be included in the log file. By default all modules are included.

See the Logging page for an overview.

This section provides a complete list of the Schema properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

A path to the directory that contains the schema files defining tables, views, and stored procedures.

Remarks

The path to a directory which contains the schema files for the Sync App (.rsd files for tables and views, .rsb files for stored procedures). The folder location can be a relative path from the location of the executable. The Location property is only needed if you want to customize definitions (for example, change a column name, ignore a column, and so on) or extend the data model with new tables, views, or stored procedures.

If left unspecified, the default location is "%APPDATA%\\CData\\Informix Data Provider\\Schema" with %APPDATA% being set to the user's configuration directory:

This property restricts the schemas reported to a subset of the available schemas. For example, BrowsableSchemas=SchemaA,SchemaB,SchemaC.

Remarks

Listing the schemas from databases can be expensive. Providing a list of schemas in the connection string improves the performance.

This property restricts the tables reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Tables=TableA,TableB,TableC.

Remarks

Listing the tables from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of tables in the connection string improves the performance of the Sync App.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the tables you want in a comma-separated list. Each table should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Tables=TableA,[TableB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`TableC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

Restricts the views reported to a subset of the available tables. For example, Views=ViewA,ViewB,ViewC.

Remarks

Listing the views from some databases can be expensive. Providing a list of views in the connection string improves the performance of the Sync App.

This property can also be used as an alternative to automatically listing views if you already know which ones you want to work with and there would otherwise be too many to work with.

Specify the views you want in a comma-separated list. Each view should be a valid SQL identifier with any special characters escaped using square brackets, double-quotes or backticks. For example, Views=ViewA,[ViewB/WithSlash],WithCatalog.WithSchema.`ViewC With Space`.

Note that when connecting to a data source with multiple schemas or catalogs, you will need to provide the fully qualified name of the table in this property, as in the last example here, to avoid ambiguity between tables that exist in multiple catalogs or schemas.

This section provides a complete list of the Miscellaneous properties you can configure in the connection string for this provider.

This property specifies what Charset/Encoding will be used to parse table data.

Remarks

If set this property to NULL or empty, the driver will use the SQLDAGRP.SQLCCSID as default Charset/Encoding, you can visit the documentation for details: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/ims/15.1.0?topic=objects-sqldard-command-x2411.

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

Remarks

Limits the number of rows returned when no aggregation or GROUP BY is used in the query. This takes precedence over LIMIT clauses.

These hidden properties are used only in specific use cases.

Remarks

The properties listed below are available for specific use cases. Normal driver use cases and functionality should not require these properties.

Specify multiple properties in a semicolon-separated list.

Integration and Formatting

This option passes the query to the Informix server as is.

Remarks

When this is set, queries are passed through directly to Informix.

A semicolon-separated list of SET ENVIRONMENT commands to set on the current connection.

Remarks

A semicolon-separated list of SET ENVIRONMENT commands to set on the current connection. For example: 'sessionVariables="SET ENVIRONMENT DELIMIDENT ON;"'

This property allows you to specify a switching mode to select a server from AlternateServers as the active server.

Remarks

There are three switching modes available: None: Always use the default server. Failover: When the active server cannot be accessed, another server in AlternateServers will be used as the active server. LoadBalance: This option includes the feature of "Failover". In addition, the active server will also be changed after a transcation is committed.

Specify SwitchMode:

SwitchMode=Failover;

This property allows you to specify a switching strategy to select a server from AlternateServers as the active server.

Remarks

There are three switching strategies available: Sequence: Always use the next server in AlternateServers as the active server. Random: Use a random server in AlternateServers as the active server. BestResponse: Always use the server with the shortest response time.

Specify SwitchStrategy:

SwitchStrategy=Random;

A timeout for connections in seconds.

Remarks

Specify the timeout in seconds. If the Timeout property is set to 0, operations do not time out: they will run until they complete successfully or encounter an error condition.

An error condition will occur if Timeout expires and the operation is not yet complete.