Data Export Method Selection

Server Studio provides two methods to export data from database tables:

Regular Data Export

Regular Data Export method uses SQL SELECT statement issued from the Server Studio workstation to retrieve data from a database tables and store retrieved data as text files on a local Server Studio workstation.

This method offers additional benefit that you can apply data masking rules to specified table columns to obfuscate personally identifiable, personally sensitive or commercially sensitive data. Data Masking is usually applied when creating test data sets for non-production environments, such as application development and QA, based on actual production data. You can define your own column-level masking rules, such as data substitution, shuffling, variation, and others, using Data Masking/Export wizard. See Data Masking topic for additional information about data masking function in Server Studio.

This method is simple and does not require any additional configuration but it works well only when you need to retrieve relatively small amount of data (millions of rows) because it requires transferring retrieved data across the network using JDBC driver facilities.

Export using High Performance Loader (HPL Export)

HPL export is based on Informix server 's built-in High Performance Loader (HPL) facility. This method provides the highest data export speed and is suitable for exporting very large amounts of data. It also enables a better flexibility in defining data conversation and transformation rules for a data export operation. The exported data files are placed on the Informix server host or a network location visible from the Informix server host.

You have to configure SSH or Telnet remote host access in Server Studio’s Connection Manager for Informix server connection in order to execute HPL jobs created in HPL wizard directly from Server Studio. Otherwise, you can execute created HPL jobs using Informix 'onpload' utility from OS shell or OS script. See IBM Informix High Performance Loader manual for additional information. If you are not sure if SSH or Telnet access is configured, choose Tools -> Connection Manager menu to open the Connection Manager dialog box, select your connection and switch to Host Access tab. Check that INFORMIXDIR and ONCONFIG parameters are defined and Protocol, Port and Credentials fields have correct values. Press Test button in the Connection Manager dialog box to verify if remote access connectivity is enabled for the selected Informix server connection.

NOTE: Data masking function is not available for HPL export. You can use Server Studio’s Data Masking wizard to obfuscate data directly in database tables that represent a copy of production data and then use HPL export to export data that is already obfuscated. See Data Masking topic for additional information about data masking function in Server Studio.