ISAM error: the file is locked.

I don't have much experience in Informix with using locks/interpreting error messages involving locks. There is generally nothing running against the database except a C/Fortran data ingest program. I'm getting the message below when I try to execute a simple script containing select counts for the half dozen tables being fed by the ingest. The first select executes but then this message shows up. Occasionally the script runs in its entirety but generally I'm getting this error message. I've run onstat -u and -k and am not certain what I'm looking at or for. I believe the Informix version is 9.3 and the operating system is Redhat 7.2. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Monica 252: Cannot get system information for table. 113: ISAM error: the file is locked.

That is because if a table has been locked due to and update process or whatever then your script cannot access that table. So there are 2 solutions : 1. Use "set isolation to dirty read; " phrase before each "select count(*) from <tablename>. Or 2. When u get the error, investigate which table is locked and run ur count on that table when its not locked. (Read about locking in Informix before u do anything not to harm your production environment !) Hope this helps. monica toth <monica.toth@noaa.gov> wrote: I don't have much experience in Informix with using locks/interpreting error messages involving locks. There is generally nothing running against the database except a C/Fortran data ingest program. I'm getting the message below when I try to execute a simple script containing select counts for the half dozen tables being fed by the ingest. The first select executes but then this message shows up. Occasionally the script runs in its entirety but generally I'm getting this error message. I've run onstat -u and -k and am not certain what I'm looking at or for. I believe the Informix version is 9.3 and the operating system is Redhat 7.2. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Monica 252: Cannot get system information for table. 113: ISAM error: the file is locked. Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail - More reliable, more storage, less spam

The easy answer is to add the following line at the top of the SQL statements in your script: SET ISOLATION TO DIRTY READ; That will let it ignore locks, but it could make your count snapshot a little blurry. Since you're getting locks so frequently, there is something wrong - it could be the tables have grown over too many extents, you need to update statistics, design better indexes or review the program running against it. -----Original Message----- From: forum.subscriber@iiug.org [mailto:forum.subscriber@iiug.org] On Behalf Of monica toth Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 2:37 PM To: ids@iiug.org Subject: ISAM error: the file is locked. [2685] I don't have much experience in Informix with using locks/interpreting error messages involving locks. There is generally nothing running against the database except a C/Fortran data ingest program. I'm getting the message below when I try to execute a simple script containing select counts for the half dozen tables being fed by the ingest. The first select executes but then this message shows up. Occasionally the script runs in its entirety but generally I'm getting this error message. I've run onstat -u and -k and am not certain what I'm looking at or for. I believe the Informix version is 9.3 and the operating system is Redhat 7.2. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Monica 252: Cannot get system information for table. 113: ISAM error: the file is locked.

If you haven't already done this, you might also try changing the lock mode on the table to row locking instead of page locking, as follows: alter table table_name lock mode (row); Joe V. -----Original Message----- From: Danny Wright [mailto:dwright@sherwoodfoods.com] Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 6:04 PM To: ids@iiug.org Subject: RE: ISAM error: the file is locked. [2687] The easy answer is to add the following line at the top of the SQL statements in your script: SET ISOLATION TO DIRTY READ; That will let it ignore locks, but it could make your count snapshot a little blurry. Since you're getting locks so frequently, there is something wrong - it could be the tables have grown over too many extents, you need to update statistics, design better indexes or review the program running against it. -----Original Message----- From: forum.subscriber@iiug.org [mailto:forum.subscriber@iiug.org] On Behalf Of monica toth Sent: Wednesday, March 17, 2004 2:37 PM To: ids@iiug.org Subject: ISAM error: the file is locked. [2685] I don't have much experience in Informix with using locks/interpreting error messages involving locks. There is generally nothing running against the database except a C/Fortran data ingest program. I'm getting the message below when I try to execute a simple script containing select counts for the half dozen tables being fed by the ingest. The first select executes but then this message shows up. Occasionally the script runs in its entirety but generally I'm getting this error message. I've run onstat -u and -k and am not certain what I'm looking at or for. I believe the Informix version is 9.3 and the operating system is Redhat 7.2. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thanks, Monica 252: Cannot get system information for table. 113: ISAM error: the file is locked.