Re: Emergemcy Chunks Offline

Malcolm writes: I agree with you over the need for the companies who are 'particular' about who can get access to their data needing alternative arrangements to having tbzero. Perhaps the approach should be to ensure that agreement is reached at the appropriate level in the 2 companies, Informix and A. N. Other, so that the Informix employee who handles the support has the correct security clearances, has clear guidelines as to how/when they dial in etc. It may also be that the agreement would involve said Informix employee travelling to the client and performing the work. I wouldn't mind betting that if tbzero were used by a 'user' incorrectly and REALLY buggered their system, said company would be talking to their lawyers PDQ and sueing Informix. So much for being helpful! All this will of course cost extra money, my guess is that most of the 'whiners' do not have or are not willing to pay for the appropriate support, not that Informix won't attempt to agree a suitable solution. Personally I think Informix try to be as helpful as possible, the fact that they do not always appear to be is often a communication problem rather than a lack of willingness! If you don't like what you get, switch to Oracle!....and we'll see you back here in 6 months, with renewed appreciation. >Ed certainly does have a point. There are a number fo facilities which >need INFORMIX personnel to dial-in in order to fix. However, INFORMIX do >not make such a decision lightly. INFORMIX do not want the hassles of >out of hours working or the need to dail-in to secure sites. The problem >is that utilities such as tbzero cure one cause of a symptom, not all >causes. And, if utilities such as this are run indsicriminately then >INFORMIX could get a lot of negative feedback. I think we should all >understand the INFORMIX position and try to work with them on it. >As to the potential problems of secure systems I can only recommend that >if the data is as secure as to forbid dial-in access then users will have >to accept the alternative of reverting to backup. >> Ed Kelley writes: >> > |My INFORMIX 7.1 engine will not come up and indicates that 29 chunks >> |are bad. This was caused by the database being started BEFORE the >> |scsi disks were available. The chunks are actually good. Is there a >> |way to flag the chunks as OK? I can't even get the engine up now. >> |The root dbspace is fine. It's just that so many chunks are marked >> |as bad (I assume) that the engine can't come up. >> |HELP! >> > We have had this problem a number of times, and, after trying to >> persuade Informix to release the tbzero utility to us, possibly with >> some training, Corporate HQ of Informix said no. >> > You have three options (probably had, actually, since I assume you >> will be back up by now) - >> > 1) try the program that was posted here before that enables you to >> switch the flag byte in the chunk/dbspace to on-line (a bit dodgy, >> since if you make a mistake you're on your own), >> > 2) Call Informix support and ask them to log in and do it for you >> with their tbzero utility, >> > 3) Re-initialize and recover using archive and logical logs. >> > My personal opinion is that Informix is being a bit spiteful not >> releasing their utility or training anyone up on it, since this would >> help enhance the resilience of their product. I daresay, however, >> that the beancounters are quite happy counting those extra >> 'after-hours/dial-in support' beans that come in from these problems. >> > Hope this helps, >> > Richard Ridley >> DHL Asia Pacific Mark Denham BBC London, UK Mark.Denham@bbc.co.uk