Build a PostgreSQL Interface for IBM Informix Data using the CData JDBC Driver

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.

  👁 Using the built-in connection string designer to generate a JDBC URL (Salesforce is shown.)
  

  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).

1. 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
   

2. 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:

1. Log into your database.
2. Load the extension for the database:

   CREATE EXTENSION jdbc2_fdw;
   

3. 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'); 
   

4. 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');
   

5. 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');
   

You can now execute read/write commands to IBM Informix:

postgres=# SELECT * FROM books;