Re: Cannot set/unset DELIMIDENT

Petro Schutte wrote: > Solaris 8 > Informix Dynamic Server Version 7.31.FD1 > > On the specific server commands in dbaccess behave as if DELIMIDENT is > set. Neither does it show when I list the current environment > variables nor can I unset it. I have tried it in Kourne shell as well > as Cshell with no effect. (I have tested the set and unset of > DELIMIDENT on two other servers with the same software loaded and > there it is working as desribed in the manual) The servers are all > running SAP 4.6. > > The output of "env" is: > -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > HOME=/export/home/informix > PATH=/informix/PRD/bin:/export/home/informix:...snip...>[...no DELIMIDENT in the deleted info...] > INFORMIXSQLHOSTS=/informix/PRD/etc/sqlhosts.tli > INFORMIXSERVER=gariepprdshm> dbms_type=inf > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Although DELIMIDENT is not set it behaves as if it is set. > > Please help -- We have to unset DELIMIDENT. See my session G08 "Is Your DBA Paranoid Enough?" from the IBM DMTC 2004. I fear your DBA (DBSA - Database System Administrator) isn't paranoid enough. If DELIMIDENT was set in the environment of oninit when it was started, then it doesn't matter what the value is in the client's environment - the server's value will take precedence over the client's lack of a value (and all that matters is whether DELMIDENT is present in the environment - not what its value is). You will have to restart the server without DELIMIDENT in the environment. I don't think 7.31 supports 'onstat -g env', but if it does, it would confirm (or deny) my hypothesis. The correct way to start the server is to rigorously control its environment... Use a script like this - always, and every time you start the server: IXD=/informix/PRD cd $IXD env -i INFORMIXDIR=$IXD \\ ONCONFIG=onconfig.gariep.prd \\ TZ=GMT-2 \\ SHELL=/bin/ksh \\ HOME=$IXD \\ PATH=$IXD/bin:/bin:/usr/bin \\ INFORMIXSQLHOSTS=$IXD/etc/sqlhosts.tli \\ INFORMIXSERVER=gariepprdshm \\ -- $IXD/bin/oninit "$@" You might want to ensure that "$@" - the argument list - does not include '-i' (you probably don't use this script to initialize the server, and you don't want it to be abused to initialize the server). The env command is standard POSIX. The '-i' option says "ignore inherited environment". The environment that follows is close to minimal - it has INFORMIXSQLHOSTS in it since your working environment does. The double-dash says "end of environment variables"; command line follows. One advantage of using the absolute name of the oninit executable is that the path shows up in the 'ps' listings, which makes it easier to associate different oninit commands with the corresponding INFORMIXDIR values - if you have multiple servers on your machine (as I do, but not every one does). I use a one-step-more-complex startup script. It uses a command 'asroot' of my own devising which I use to set the UID to informix and the sole GID to informix so that the CPU VPs run as informix and not as root. Your time zone setting is odd (not wrong, necessarily). You time zone name is GMT all year round, and it's offset is two hours east of UTC (Universal Time, Coordinated), aka GMT. I'd have expected an alternative abbreviation. But setting the time zone reliably for the server is another part of being a paranoid DBSA. I note that you're living in a state of sin - you've got SHELL=/bin/csh in your environment. See: "C Shell Programming Considered Harmful" at (amongst other places): http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/unix-faq/shell/csh-whynot.html Incidentally, you can run into similar problems with other environment variables. For example, setting DBDATE="Y4MD-" in the server's environment will baffle any client who connects with no DBDATE set in their environment - innocent US citizens would expect the nominal default DBDATE="MDY4/" setting to work, but the server's value takes precedence. -- Jonathan Leffler #include <disclaimer.h> Email: jleffler@earthlink.net, jleffler@us.ibm.com Guardian of DBD::Informix v2003.04 -- http://dbi.perl.org/

Jonathan Leffler wrote: > [...] > See my session G08 "Is Your DBA Paranoid Enough?" from the IBM DMTC > 2004. I fear your DBA (DBSA - Database System Administrator) isn't > paranoid enough. Ok - at the risk of looking like an idiot for not being able to find it for myself, would you mind posting how/where one would go about finding that? You've got a version of slides that is even more current than the one from the CD given to the conference attendees, correct? I've checked the IBM and IIUG sites for it. Did I overlook it? -- June C. Hunt

June C. Hunt wrote: > Jonathan Leffler wrote: > >>[...] >>See my session G08 "Is Your DBA Paranoid Enough?" from the IBM DMTC >>2004. I fear your DBA (DBSA - Database System Administrator) isn't >>paranoid enough. > > Ok - at the risk of looking like an idiot for not being able to find it for > myself, would you mind posting how/where one would go about finding that? > You've got a version of slides that is even more current than the one from > the CD given to the conference attendees, correct? I've checked the IBM and > IIUG sites for it. Did I overlook it? Probably not. I gave it at the KCIUG meeting (http://www.iiug.org/kciug/) too, and sent it to be put up on the web site, but it isn't there. Oh well, you'll have to come to the IIUG/IDUG conference in May :-) Besides, weren't you at the DMTC? A draft, admittedly not as complete as I'd like, is on that CD. -- Jonathan Leffler #include <disclaimer.h> Email: jleffler@earthlink.net, jleffler@us.ibm.com Guardian of DBD::Informix v2003.04 -- http://dbi.perl.org/