Informix Updates

Content

Announcements

The product announcement letters are available at http://www.ibm.com/common/ssi/index.wss. Search for Informix 12.10 and select Announcement letters. See the announcement for the following information:

• Detailed product description
• Product-positioning statement
• Packaging and ordering details
• International compatibility information

IMPORTANT:

• HP-UX Itanium End of Support

HP is ending support for the Itanium processor and the HP-UX operating system. The fix-pack 12.10.xC15W1 is the last fix-pack update for Informix on the HP-UX platform across all releases.
This End of Support includes Client SDK 4.10.xC15 on HP-UX.

• End of Support for IBM Java 7

IBM Informix 12.10, Client SDK 4.10 and Informix Warehouse Accelerator 12.10 versions prior to xC16 included IBM Java 7 with the installation mechanism. IBM Java 7 reached end of service in 2022 and, as a result, there are no more maintenance releases for Java 7 (https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/java-sdk-lifecycle-dates). Because of this, and the open vulnerabilities which will not be addressed (https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/java-sdk-security-vulnerabilities) we are moving to IBM Java 8, which is the version included in IBM Informix 14.10.

• Minimum OS Levels for Java 8

Java 8 minimum OS Levels are newer than the original 12.10 OS minimums. The 12.10.16 OS Level minimum will now match that of Java 8, where IBM Java 8 is available. Please refer to Informix system requirement document at https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/informix-server-system-requirements.

• Beyond Java 8

IBM Java 8 will continue to be supported with maintenance releases at least until April of 2025 (see java-sdk-lifecycle-dates above). On or before that EOS date we plan to stop shipping Java with Informix 14.10 and allow customers to provide their own Java. We will announce changes to the required Java level in future releases.

Since IBM can no longer provide security fixes for JAVA 7, and Java 8 will reach end of support date in 2025, IBM will no longer bundle Java with future release of Informix.  Customers will have to download and install a supported Java version from their own vendor:

• Informix 12.10.xC16 will have Java 8 bundled; any later fix packs on Version 12 will not have JAVA bundled, but will support Java 8.
• Informix 14.10.xC10 has Java 8 bundled presently, later fix packs on Version 14 will not have JAVA bundled, but will support at least Java 11.
• Informix Vnext will not bundle Java or a JRE. Customers must supply Java 17 or later.

PLATFORMS WITHDRAWN FROM SERVICE:

The following platforms are being discontinued because they are out of support in addition to a lack of support for Java 8:

Platform: Linux Intel

Platform: Linux - IBM POWER (Big Endian)

Hardware: IBM POWER (System p, System i, POWER Blades)
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
F = 64-bit
RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Platform: Linux - IBM Z

Hardware: IBM eServer z Systems
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
F = 64-bit
RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Platform: Windows

Hardware: Intel x86, x64 (AMD AMD64, Intel EM64T)
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
T = 32-bit on Windows platforms
F = 64 bit on x64 (AMD AMD64, Intel EM64T)

Platform: Mac OS X

Hardware: Intel EM64T
Note: The following code is used in this table:
F = 64-bit

While Informix is available on this version of the O/S, the O/S version itself is unsupported by Apple. Informix 12.10.FC15 is the last Informix version available for any MAC OS version. We may at a future date withdraw all binaries available on this platform. With Apple’s turn to purely consumer devices, there are no plans for further development on MAC OS.

PLATFORMS WITH JAVA SUPPORT LEVEL CHANGES:

Other platforms below, support level changes in yellow indicating a minimum of a Java 8 support level and other requirements unless otherwise noted:

Supporting Java 8 and its O/S requirements required increasing many of the Informix O/S baseline support levels. These are the minimum required. Customers are responsible for ensuring these versions are still supported by the O/S vendor. Otherwise a more current O/S level is required.

https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/sdk-java-technology/8?topic=installing-supported-environments

https://www.ibm.com/support/pages/informix-server-system-requirements

The following platforms highlighted in yellow have upgraded minimum versions for JAVA 8.

Platform: IBM AIX

Platform: Linux Intel

Platform: Linux - IBM POWER (Big Endian)

Hardware: IBM POWER (System p, System i, POWER Blades)
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
F = 64-bit
RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Platform: Linux - IBM POWER (Little Endian)

Hardware: IBM POWER8® for ppc64le
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
F = 64-bit
RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux for PPCle64 Linux, the P7 hardware/OS is not supported by Java 8.  You must be on Power 8 or above.

Platform: Linux - IBM Z

Hardware: IBM eServer z Systems
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
F = 64-bit
RHEL: Red Hat Enterprise Linux

Platform: Solaris SPARC

Hardware: SPARC
Informix is supported with or without Zones.

Note: The following codes are used in this table:
F = 64-bit
U = 32-bit (Customer must provide their own Java)

Prerequisite: IBM is not supplying 32-bit  Java 8. 

Customers must supply their own Java 8 to install the 32-bit product.

Platform: Solaris x64

Hardware: AMD, AMD64, Intel EM64T
Informix is supported with or without Zones.

Note: The following code is used in this table:
F = 64-bit

U = 32-bit (Clients, Customer must provide their own Java)

Prerequisite: IBM is not supplying 32-bit  Java 8. 

Customers must supply their own Java 8 to install the 32-bit product.

Platform: Windows

Hardware: Intel x86, x64 (AMD AMD64, Intel EM64T)
Note: The following codes are used in this table:
T = 32-bit on Windows platforms
F = 64 bit on x64 (AMD AMD64, Intel EM64T)