HCL Informix & Docker

                                                                                                            Updated: 8/30/18

Are you a developer looking for a free database to develop your application? May be you are an HCL Informix user who is looking to try out some of the cool new features in the latest releases? May be your organization is looking for an easy way to incrementally develop and test a solution stack with a free hybrid SQL/NoSQL database offering? May be you are looking for a quick start, sandbox environment for the database newbies in your department? We’ve got you all covered!

 
By far, Docker is the most popular containerization technology today. A Docker container provides an abstraction of the Linux kernel and an isolated environment to run your applications, without any of the overhead associated with hardware virtualization unlike a VM. Docker Hub is a public registry offered by Docker Inc., for sharing your application stack with other users.
 
What did we do?
Recognizing the popularity and the growth of Docker technology, two years ago we released our first Docker image with HCL Informix Innovator-C Edition on Docker Hub. Towards the end of 2016, we also released a Docker image with HCL Informix Developer Edition on Docker Hub. Since then we have also made it our goal to regularly refresh the Docker images with the latest version of HCL Informix.
 
Getting started with HCL Informix on Docker for free
This is the fun part! The power of HCL Informix + Docker becomes apparent when you start playing with it. In just 3 simple steps you will have a fully configured, ready to use HCL Informix instance up and running with all the data access APIs exposed!
Step #1 – Download and install the Docker community edition for your platform.
Step #2 – Download the HCL Informix Docker image from the Docker command window.
docker pull ibmcom/informix-developer-database
Step #3 – Start the HCL Informix Docker container
docker run -it --name iif_developer_edition --privileged -p 9088:9088 -p 9089:9089 -p 27017:27017 -p 27018:27018 -p 27883:27883 –p 8881:8881 -e LICENSE=accept ibmcom/informix-developer-database:latest
 
You’re ready to build your application or the solution stack with HCL Informix. That’s it! Once you develop your application, you can even create a new Docker image with your changes and pass it on to the next team in the DevOps chain for further development/testing/staging.
 
At the recently concluded HCL Informix User Group Conference 2017, there was a lot of interest in HCL Informix + Docker and this topic was well received. I have developed a hands-on lab exercise to help the users get familiarized with the HCL Informix Docker container and create a small sample application. You can follow the instructions and try the lab exercise on your own as well.
 
Don’t wait, get started now… today, nearly half of all the IT organizations have adopted Docker in some capacity. Some even run their production applications in Docker containers!!
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Thanks for reading, share your feedback below.
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Pradeep Natarajan, Ph.D.
Manager - HCL Informix Engineering, Support, & IoT Solutions
​Connect with me:
​Twitter @pradeepnatara
LinkedIn

Informix is a trademark of IBM Corporation in at least one jurisdiction and is used under license.
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