Question:
I have an Informix database on a remote server and I’m trying to perform ODBC from my client machine. I have installed the client products on my Windows 98 machine and am trying to link through now using setnet32, but I keep getting various error messages. Why is that?
Answer:
You’re doing the right things. First, get the Informix native connection running properly. This is done with setnet32 and ilogin. Try to ping the target machine using an IP address: e.g., ping 128.225.8.3.
If you get a good ping, try to ping using the name of the machine: e.g., ping myserver.If this doesn’t work, you have a problem with your hosts file. Either fix it or just enter the IP address in the setnet32 (actually, this is a little faster, because Informix won’t have to look up an IP address). Once you can ping the machine, use setnet32 to set up the connection. Be sure to use both the SERVER and HOST tabs and fill out everything.
You can use the same number trick in entering the service. If you have a “turbo” or other-named service set up in your services file, you could either enter turbo as the service or XXXX (Xs being the number of the port for the service; it defaults to 1526). Also, go into the ENVIRONMENT tab and make sure that you’ve set the INFORMIXDIR parameter.
If you’re getting error messages that refer to trust problems, you may need to make entries in the target machine’s hosts.equiv file. This is usually in the same directory as the hosts file. If you just enter + +, it will make all systems in your network trusted.
When you’ve got the setnet32 set up, try using ilogin to connect. At first, just take the defaults and try to connect using the defaults that were set up by setnet32. If that doesn’t work, fill in all the items in the form and try to connect. If this works, but the defaults don’t, you’ve got a setnet32 problem. Use finderr –XXX, where XXX is the error statement that you’re getting. Finderr will give you an idea what the error messages mean.
If this doesn’t work, post back here on DevX with your specific error messages and I’ll try to walk you through it.
