Online: Bizarre disk interactions

I'm troubleshooting for a client whose person that configured Online is long gone. I noticed that they configured their chunks to point to Block-"/dev/dsk/*" devices rather than Character-"/dev/rdsk/*" devices. An Informix tech suggessted that I *might* be able to simply redirect the symbolic links that the chunks use from the Block to the Character devices. I'm trying this out on a test system (Unixware 2.1.2, Online 7.10.UC2), so as not to look stupid blowing away a client's DB. To test the effect of using Block devices, I took an existing Online system and redirected the pointer of the rootdbs symbolic link from its Character filename to the corresponding Block filename (/dev/rdsk --> /dev/dsk). I started the Online server, and it seems to run fine. I'm able to query & update the DB OK. (Though, I know I'm not guaranteed that this switching of devices will work the opposite way around at my client's.) But when I run `oncheck -pe`, the output still shows the rootdbs to be using the raw "/dev/rdsk/*" Character devices. To make sure that I was doing the right thing, I made updates to data in the database tables. Indeed, the filename for the Block device showed a updated timestamp reflecting access to the device (I brought Online down to make sure data got flushed from the buffers to disk). Just to make sure, I changed the permissions on the previously pointed-to Character devices (ones that should not be used any longer) to have no read-write-execute permissions. I was still able to access database files. So I figured that this proved I had Online accessing the expected device files. To test my assertion, I also changed the permissions to remove read&write&execute from the Block devices (the ones now pointed to by the symbolic links). I should *not* now be able to access the database. But darn it if I could *Still* access the database! I even changed the owner and group on the devices to "root" with *NO* Read, Write or eXecute permissions. I was *Still* able to access the database files! What the heck gives with that??? 1 - What is the effect of using Block rather than Character devices? 2 - Why does `oncheck -pe` still show that Online is using a character device, when it is actually using a block device? 3 - How is it that Online can access data on devices user Informix does not own, and which have NO read, write or execute permissions? Any insights appreciated. -- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Blah Blah Lounge - "Do You Have Something Smart To Say?" Cosmo Lee email: cosmo@echonyc.com Brooklyn, NY * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *