Running an interactive installation

You can install the Informix® database server by running the interactive installation application. You can choose a typical or a custom setup.

Important: If you want to create a response file to use as a template for installing the database server on other computers, follow the procedure in Preparing a response file.

Before you install the database server, complete the following tasks:

Prepare your system for installation.
Log in as the appropriate user to be the owner of the database server.

You can include options to the installation command if you run the command from the command line. For example, you can change the name or location of the installation log file.

To install Informix:

Start the installation application from the media directory.
- UNIX, Linux:
  1. If necessary, extract the product files. For example, run the tar command:
```
tar xvf filename
```
    The filename is the name of the product tar file.
  2. Run the following command: ids_install
- Mac OS X:
  1. If you do not see the ids_install.app icon when you open the installation media, double-click the self-extracting .dmg icon.
  2. Double-click the ids_install.app icon.
  3. If you want a non-root installation, select the Private Installation option.
- Windows: Double-click the ids_install.exe file.
Select the setup method, for example, Typical or Custom, and follow the instructions in the installation application.
Complete the installation and exit the installation application.

Log files are created during the installation process. You can use the log files to troubleshoot installation errors.

If you created a database server during installation, the database server is configured, initialized, started, and ready for client connections. To see the connectivity information, look at the sqlhosts file. To see the configuration information, look at the onconfig file. Both files are in the $INFORMIXDIR/etc (UNIX, Linux, Mac OS X) or the %INFORMIXDIR%\etc (Windows) directory. You can customize the database server properties by setting configuration parameters in the onconfig file, setting environment variables in your environment, and adding connectivity information to the sqlhosts file. See Overview of database server configuration and administration.

If you did not create a database server during installation, you must configure and initialize the database server.