You have been promoted. You were a knowledgeable developer of applications using INFORMIX. But you complained too much about the INFORMIX database administration, so now it is your job. When the developers and users complain that their applications are too slow, use too much disk space, or are unreliable, they complain to you. It is your job to make the company’s databases and INFORMIX applications work better. You have read the manuals and know INFORMIX provides a wealth of diagnostic tools. Now what?

This book was created to answer that question and questions such as how to create a well-designed database from scratch, how to analyze the existing database, how INFORMIX engines work, and, of course, how to optimize INFORMIX-based applications. The author assumes you understand how to use the various tools available in INFORMIX and focuses on explaining why and when to use them. In addition, the author attempts to inculcate wisdom into the reader, as shown in this quote from the section on formal assessment: “If you enlisted the support of other people during the optimization process, it’s only fair that you provide them with the results of your examination.” Practical situations, such as the database system implications of the operator going to lunch just after pulling up a record but before changing it, are also addressed.

The many examples in each chapter are concise and clear. The examples in one chapter do not depend on the examples in other chapters, so you can browse the book as well as reading it from start to finish. The final chapter is a set of five complete case studies. In reading the book, I felt as if I had a wise INFORMIX database administrator teaching me the lessons he or she had learned about managing INFORMIX systems.