INFORMIXSERVER environment variable

The INFORMIXSERVER environment variable specifies the default database server to which an explicit or implicit connection is made by an SQL API client, the DB-Access utility, or other IBM® Informix® products.

This environment variable must be set before you can use IBM Informix client products. It has the following syntax.
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>>-setenv--INFORMIXSERVER--dbservername------------------------><

dbservername
is the name of the default database server.

The value of INFORMIXSERVER can be a local or remote server, but must correspond to a valid dbservername entry in the $INFORMIXDIR/etc/sqlhosts file on the computer running the application. The dbservername must begin with a lower-case letter and cannot exceed 128 bytes. It can include any printable characters except uppercase characters, field delimiters (blank space or tab), the newline character, and the hyphen (or minus) symbol.

For example, this command specifies the coral database server as the default:
setenv INFORMIXSERVER coral 
INFORMIXSERVER specifies the database server to which an application connects if the CONNECT DEFAULT statement is executed. It also defines the database server to which an initial implicit connection is established if the first statement in an application is not a CONNECT statement.
Important: You must set INFORMIXSERVER even if the application or DB-Access does not use implicit or explicit default connections.