Informix in "comatose" mode?

Hi, Occasionally, our Informix Server (7.22 UC2 on AIX 4.1.4) goes into what I would call "comatose" mode, ie, technically alive but practically dead. All "onstat" commands work but after an abnormal delay and with the initial message of "No response from server process". The log file does not indicate anything out of the ordinary. No connections can be made to any db on the server. "onmode -k" does not work. The only way to handle this seems to be to kill shared memory (or the master daemon) and do "oninit". And when the server comes back, everything seems normal. Some of you probably may have had the same experience. Any thoughts on what is causing this and whether it is possible to revive the server without first killing it? Alanoly J. Andrews

What programs are executing while this is going on? John Carlson Informix DBA WHSmith USA Alanoly Andrews wrote: > > Hi, > > Occasionally, our Informix Server (7.22 UC2 on AIX 4.1.4) goes into > what I would call "comatose" mode, ie, technically alive but practically > > dead. All "onstat" commands work but after an abnormal delay and > with the initial message of "No response from server process". The > log file does not indicate anything out of the ordinary. > No connections can be made to any db on the server. "onmode -k" > does not work. The only way to handle this seems to be to kill > shared memory (or the master daemon) and do "oninit". > And when the server comes back, everything seems normal. > > Some of you probably may have had the same experience. Any > thoughts on what is causing this and whether it is possible to revive > the server without first killing it? > > Alanoly J. Andrews

Hi Alanoly . I have this exerience on NT IDS 7.22.TC2 and HP IDS 7.30.UC2. The only thing to improve situation - upgrade to higher UC or new version. Regards, Yuri Dovgart. In article <7i179v$sfh$1@news.xmission.com>, Alanoly Andrews <AlanolyA@planmatics.com> wrote: > > > Hi, > > Occasionally, our Informix Server (7.22 UC2 on AIX 4.1.4) goes into > what I would call "comatose" mode, ie, technically alive but practically > > dead. All "onstat" commands work but after an abnormal delay and > with the initial message of "No response from server process". The > log file does not indicate anything out of the ordinary. > No connections can be made to any db on the server. "onmode -k" > does not work. The only way to handle this seems to be to kill > shared memory (or the master daemon) and do "oninit". > And when the server comes back, everything seems normal. > > Some of you probably may have had the same experience. Any > thoughts on what is causing this and whether it is possible to revive > the server without first killing it? > > Alanoly J. Andrews > > -- With best regards, Yuri Dovgart, --== Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ ==-- ---Share what you know. Learn what you don't.---

What you are experiencing sounds more like an AIX problem than an Informix problem. AIX 4.2.1 had problems with releasing shared memory segments, and a real problem for us with XPS. Your situation sounds strikingly familiar and more of an OS problem than an Informix one. Solution: Contact your IBM service rep and let them know you are having this problem. They have patches that probably will fix part or maybe all the problem. They key will be after talking to IBM is to get an Informix SE on the phone and let them know about these IBM patches, so they can tell you what the impact will be. DO NOT patch IBM AIX without talking to Informix people first to make sure you can know as much as possible up front. In many cases you can back out the IBM patch, however, you do not want the downtime to be more than it needs to be. You will probably be recommended to upgrade your version of IFMX as well, so this will have to be a scheduled event. Best of success to you... Tim Alanoly Andrews wrote: > > Hi, > > Occasionally, our Informix Server (7.22 UC2 on AIX 4.1.4) goes into > what I would call "comatose" mode, ie, technically alive but practically > > dead. All "onstat" commands work but after an abnormal delay and > with the initial message of "No response from server process". The > log file does not indicate anything out of the ordinary. > No connections can be made to any db on the server. "onmode -k" > does not work. The only way to handle this seems to be to kill > shared memory (or the master daemon) and do "oninit". > And when the server comes back, everything seems normal. > > Some of you probably may have had the same experience. Any > thoughts on what is causing this and whether it is possible to revive > the server without first killing it? > > Alanoly J. Andrews -- - -- --- Tim Schaefer ---- tschaefe@mindspring.com --- http://www.inxutil.com -- -