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Get the Report →A PostgreSQL Interface for IBM Informix Data
Use the Remoting features of the IBM Informix JDBC Driver to create a PostgreSQL entry-point for data access.
There are a vast number of PostgreSQL clients available on the Internet. From standard Drivers to BI and Analytics tools, PostgreSQL is a popular interface for data access. Using our JDBC Drivers, you can now create PostgreSQL entry-points that you can connect to from any standard client.
To access IBM Informix data as a PostgreSQL database, use the CData JDBC Driver for IBM Informix and a JDBC foreign data wrapper (FDW). In this article, we compile the FDW, install it, and query IBM Informix data from PostgreSQL Server.
Connect to IBM Informix Data as a JDBC Data Source
To connect to IBM Informix as a JDBC data source, you will need the following:
- Driver JAR path: The JAR is located in the lib subfolder of the installation directory.
Driver class:
cdata.jdbc.informix.InformixDriver
- JDBC URL:
The URL must start with "jdbc:informix:" and can include any of the connection properties in name-value pairs separated with semicolons.
Set the following properties to connect to IBM Informix
- Server: Set this to the name of the server running IBM Informix.
- Port: Set this to the port the IBM Informix server is listening on.
- Database: Set this to the name of the IBM 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.
Built-in Connection String Designer
For assistance in constructing the JDBC URL, use the connection string designer built into the IBM Informix JDBC Driver. Either double-click the JAR file or execute the jar file from the command-line.
java -jar cdata.jdbc.informix.jar
Fill in the connection properties and copy the connection string to the clipboard.
A typical JDBC URL is below:
jdbc:informix:Server=10.0.1.2;Port=50000;User=admin;Password=admin;Database=test;
Build the JDBC Foreign Data Wrapper
The Foreign Data Wrapper can be installed as an extension to PostgreSQL, without recompiling PostgreSQL. The jdbc2_fdw extension is used as an example (downloadable here).
- Add a symlink from the shared object for your version of the JRE to /usr/lib/libjvm.so. For example:
ln -s /usr/lib/jvm/java-6-openjdk/jre/lib/amd64/server/libjvm.so /usr/lib/libjvm.so
- Start the build:
make install USE_PGXS=1
Query IBM Informix Data as a PostgreSQL Database
After you have installed the extension, follow the steps below to start executing queries to IBM Informix data:
- Log into your database.
-
Load the extension for the database:
CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
-
Create a server object for IBM Informix:
CREATE SERVER Informix FOREIGN DATA WRAPPER jdbc2_fdw OPTIONS ( drivername 'cdata.jdbc.informix.InformixDriver', url 'jdbc:informix:Server=10.0.1.2;Port=50000;User=admin;Password=admin;Database=test;', querytimeout '15', jarfile '/home/MyUser/CData/CData\ JDBC\ Driver\ for\ Salesforce MyDriverEdition/lib/cdata.jdbc.informix.jar');
-
Create a user mapping for the username and password of a user known to the MySQL daemon.
CREATE USER MAPPING for postgres SERVER Informix OPTIONS ( username 'admin', password 'test');
-
Create a foreign table in your local database:
postgres=# CREATE FOREIGN TABLE books ( books_id text, books_Id text, books_Price numeric) SERVER Informix OPTIONS ( table_name 'books');
postgres=# SELECT * FROM books;