Adding chunks ISAM error 137
A user on IDS 11.50.UC1W1 couldn't add a chunk to a nearly full dbspace, getting ISAM error -137 (chunk table overflow); adding a CHUNKS entry to onconfig (an obsolete parameter) changed nothing. Art Kagel noted the chunk limit isn't configurable (32,767) and questioned the cause; Mark Jalkiewicz suspected reserved-page corruption and advised oncheck -cr plus a call to tech support. The poster worked around it by creating a new dbspace and moving data. IBM support suggested the real cause was likely hitting the maximum pages a single dbspace can track (~2^31 pages), but no root cause was confirmed in the thread.
Auto-generated by DrWatson from the posts below — may be imperfect; read the full thread.
Hi! I have a dbspace that is almost full, and when I try to add a new chunk
the operation returns an error : ISAM error 137.
The explanation for this error is:
-137 ISAM error: chunk table overflow.
The database system administrator sees this error message. The database server
is configured to handle a certain number of disk chunks. The limit has been
reached, so a chunk could not be added. Increase the CHUNKS parameter of the
ONCONFIG file, and initialize shared memory.
I have never seen this parameter, but I have added a line in my onconfig,
CHUNKS 10000 and restarted the server, but it doesn´t fix the problem.
I´m using the following to add the chunk:
Execute function sysadmin:task('add chunk','dbs','/dbspaces/datdbs','2g');
The server is IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.50.UC1W1
I need some suggestions, please.
Thank you.
Umm, the maximum number of chunks is not configurable, but it is limited in
11.50 to 32,767 unless your rootdb space is full so that it cannot expand
the chunk table when it needs to. How many chunks do you have anyway?
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any
other organization with which I am associated either explicitly,
implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of
other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor
those of the entities themselves.
On Thu, Nov 29, 2012 at 2:44 PM, <> wrote:
> Hi! I have a dbspace that is almost full, and when I try to add a new chunk
> the operation returns an error : ISAM error 137.
> The explanation for this error is:
>
> -137 ISAM error: chunk table overflow.
> The database system administrator sees this error message. The database
> server
> is configured to handle a certain number of disk chunks. The limit has been
> reached, so a chunk could not be added. Increase the CHUNKS parameter of
> the
> ONCONFIG file, and initialize shared memory.
>
> I have never seen this parameter, but I have added a line in my onconfig,
> CHUNKS 10000 and restarted the server, but it doesn´t fix the problem.
>
> I´m using the following to add the chunk:
> Execute function sysadmin:task('add chunk','dbs','/dbspaces/datdbs','2g');>
> The server is IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.50.UC1W1
>
> I need some suggestions, please.
> Thank you.
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--047d7b2e136fb730a404cfa8bb77
Chunk table overflows are virtually impossible to occur in v11 unless you have
over 32k plus something chunks allocated. Sounds to me like there is some
corruption in the Informix reserved pages , run on oncheck -cr to see if all
your chunks are listed/any errors reported and check with tech support.
Mark
Hello Art, thanks for your response. I've solved the problem by creating a new DBSPACE and adding the chunks to it. I will move old data to the new dbspace and with that I´ll regain a lot of space. This is how my new structure looks now: dbspace___chunks_______size rootdbs_____1________4.000.000 logsdbs_____2________5.242.880 tempdbs_____5_______26.214.400 histodbs____2______393.216.000 datosdbs___16____2.097.152.000 physdbs_____3_______31.457.280 Thank you for your interest. Juan Carlos
Hi Mark. Thank you for your answer.
I will run the oncheck as soon as I can. Thanks for the suggestion.
Meanwhile, I have found a workaroud and created a new DBSPACE. I will move
some data there and with that I can continue working.
Thank you for your time.
Juan Carlos
That makes no sense at all! If you cannot add chunks you cannot add a new
dbspace either.
Art
Art S. Kagel
Advanced DataTools (www.advancedatatools.com)
Blog: http://informix-myview.blogspot.com/
Disclaimer: Please keep in mind that my own opinions are my own opinions
and do not reflect on my employer, Advanced DataTools, the IIUG, nor any
other organization with which I am associated either explicitly,
implicitly, or by inference. Neither do those opinions reflect those of
other individuals affiliated with any entity with which I am affiliated nor
those of the entities themselves.
On Fri, Nov 30, 2012 at 1:40 PM, <> wrote:
> Hi Mark. Thank you for your answer.
> I will run the oncheck as soon as I can. Thanks for the suggestion.
> Meanwhile, I have found a workaroud and created a new DBSPACE. I will move
> some data there and with that I can continue working.
>
> Thank you for your time.
> Juan Carlos
>
>
>
>
*******************************************************************************
> Forum Note: Use "Reply" to post a response in the discussion forum.
>
>
--14dae9399c71020da104cfbc0c39
Juan, There was a defect very similiar to this in a much earlier version (it may have been the other way around) .. so something could be happening defect or corruption wise. I would contact tech support as this may have an impact on your ability to fully restore the instance if that should ever become necessary. At the least I would take an external snapshot of the data (if this is a critical instance). Mark
Original Post:
Hi! I have a dbspace that is almost full, and when I try to add a new chunk
the operation returns an error : ISAM error 137.
The explanation for this error is:
-137 ISAM error: chunk table overflow.
The database system administrator sees this error message. The database server
is configured to handle a certain number of disk chunks. The limit has been
reached, so a chunk could not be added. Increase the CHUNKS parameter of the
ONCONFIG file, and initialize shared memory.
I have never seen this parameter, but I have added a line in my onconfig,
CHUNKS 10000 and restarted the server, but it doesn´t fix the problem.
I´m using the following to add the chunk:
Execute function sysadmin:task('add chunk','dbs','/dbspaces/datdbs','2g');
The server is IBM Informix Dynamic Server Version 11.50.UC1W1
I need some suggestions, please.
Thank you.
Response:
It looks like the -137 error can be generated in a couple different ways on
11.50. If you can create a new dbspace but can't add a chunk to an existing
dbspace, then I would guess that you have exceeded the maximum number of pages
that 1 dbspace can track (which I believe is 0x7fffffff, or max signed int ~ 2
billion pages). To verify this, you should add up the size (in pages) of all
the chunks that already exist in the dbspace. If all your chunks in that
dbspace are 2Gb in size, I think you can get 2147 2Gb chunks into 1 dbspace,
but then the 2148th would fail with the -137 error (assuming 2k page size). In
your message you don't specify if this dbspace that is nearly full has that
many chunks already allocated to it or not, but it seems like the more likely
reason then the other that I found which were exceeding the max number of
chunks.
Jacques Renaut
IBM Informix Advanced Support
APD Team