Error -908 on network connection (IDS 7.30)

Hello everybody, I have an (obviously quite common) problem with connecting from a client (for test purposes ILogin Demo) to an Informix Dynamic Server 7.30 database server. Here is my configuration: Server side: Linux (SuSE 6.1 with Kernel 2.2.10) hostname: bassin.hec.de IP-address: 192.168.0.229 uname -a: Linux bassin 2.2.10 #4 Thu Oct 7 09:50:15 MEST 1999 i586 unknown $INFORMIXDIR=/opt/informix $INFORMIXSERVER=bassin sqlhosts file (/opt/informix/etc/sqlhosts): bassin onsoctcp bassin idstcp bassin2 onipcshm bassin idstcp onconfig file (/opt/informix/etc/onconfig, extraction): [...] SERVERNUM 0 DBSERVERNAME bassin DBSERVERALIASES bassin2 NETTYPE onsoctcp,1,20,NET DEADLOCK_TIMEOUT 60 RESIDENT 0 [...] /etc/hosts.equiv file: MEA.hec.de 192.168.0.101 /etc/services file (extraction): [...] idstcp 1526/tcp .rhosts file of user mea (~mea/.rhosts): MEA.hec.de 192.168.0.101 bassin.hec.de client side: Hostname: MEA.hec.de IP-dddress: 192.168.0.101 Windows NT 4.0 Service Pack 4 Informix Client SDK Version 2.30 tc1.1 for intel pentium nt 4.0. (I installed the whole package, including the two ODBC-drivers Informix 3.30.00.10139 32 BIT and INTERSOLV 3.11.00.21 32 BIT INFORMIX 9). Setnet32 Settings: -Environment: INFORMIXDIR=d:\\programme\\informix\\sdk INFORMIXSERVER=bassin All other entries are left blank. -Server Information: Informix Server: bassin HostName: bassin.hec.de Protocolname: onsoctcp Service Name: idstcp Options: (left blank) -Host Information Current Host: bassin User Name: mea Password Option: Password Password: My correct password that I won't post here ;-) Registry entries: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Informix/SqlHosts/bassin: -HOST "bassin" -PROTOCOL "onsoctcp" -SERVICE "idstcp" HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Informix/Environment: -DBANSIWARN "n" -DELIMIDENT "n" -INFORMIXDIR "d:\\Programme\\Informix\\sdk" -INFORMIXSERVER "bassin" Services file (C:\\WINNT\\System32\\drivers\\etc, extraction): [...] idstcp 1526/tcp [...] There is no sqlhost or onconfig file on the client. The network connection between both computers works fine. On the server side, I can do ping MEA or ping MEA.hec.de: PING MEA.hec.de (192.168.0.101): 56 data bytes 64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=0 ttl=128 time=0.556 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=1 ttl=128 time=0.382 ms 64 bytes from 192.168.0.101: icmp_seq=2 ttl=128 time=0.387 ms --- MEA.hec.de ping statistics --- 3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0% packet loss round-trip min/avg/max = 0.382/0.441/0.556 ms The same thing works the other way around: PING wird ausgef'hrt f'r bassin [192.168.0.229] mit 32 Bytes Daten: Antwort von 192.168.0.229: Bytes=32 Zeit<10ms TTL=255 Antwort von 192.168.0.229: Bytes=32 Zeit<10ms TTL=255 Antwort von 192.168.0.229: Bytes=32 Zeit<10ms TTL=255 Antwort von 192.168.0.229: Bytes=32 Zeit<10ms TTL=255 I first made a test with the dbaccess tool on the linux host to determine if the database server works correctly, and found out that it works fine. I started dbaccess as user "mea", select Connection/Connect, pressed enter to select the first database (bassin), entered my user name ("mea") and my password and after a few seconds, I got the choice of available databases on the server. So I could e.g. choose "store7@bassin" and everything was fine. To be sure the connection was made via tcp/ip sockects, I watched the socket ports using netstat -tuonc. Here I could observe the following behaviour: 1. Before the connection was established, I got the output: Active Internet connections (w/o servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State Timer tcp 0 0 127.0.0.2:1526 127.0.0.2:1101 CLOSE on2 (2.04/0/7) tcp 0 130 192.168.0.229:23 192.168.0.101:1043 ESTABLISHED on1 (0.36/0/0) tcp 0 0 192.168.0.229:23 192.168.0.101:1042 ESTABLISHED off (0.00/0/0) [The first entry shows the state of the Informix server (the other two entries are probably my two telnet sessions on the linux host)] 2. After starting dbaccess, the output changed to: Active Internet connections (w/o servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State Timer tcp 0 0 127.0.0.2:1526 127.0.0.2:1102 ESTABLISHED off (0.00/0/0) tcp 0 0 127.0.0.2:1102 127.0.0.2:1526 ESTABLISHED off (0.00/0/0) tcp 0 130 192.168.0.229:23 192.168.0.101:1043 ESTABLISHED on1 (0.40/0/0) tcp 0 0 192.168.0.229:23 192.168.0.101:1042 ESTABLISHED off (0.00/0/0) [As one can see, the connection has been properly established using tcp sockets.] 3. After disconnecting, the state changed again to: Active Internet connections (w/o servers) Proto Recv-Q Send-Q Local Address Foreign Address State Timer tcp 0 0 127.0.0.2:1526 127.0.0.2:1102 CLOSE on2 (1.44/0/7) tcp 0 0 127.0.0.2:1102 127.0.0.2:1526 TIME_WAIT unkn-3 (7.50/0/0) tcp 0 130 192.168.0.229:23 192.168.0.101:1043 ESTABLISHED on1 (0.38/0/0) tcp 0 0 192.168.0.229:23 192.168.0.101:1042 ESTABLISHED off (0.00/0/0) And after a timeout, the second entry disappeard, so that a state similar to that before the connection was reached. As you can see, the database server generally accepts connections (at least from the local host). Unfortunately I do not have a second Linux box to test a real (non-loopback) network connection using dbaccess. However, I have an NT box with the Informix Client SDK installed on it. So I can use the ILogin Demo to test the connection. But this does not work. I started the ILogin Demo and selected "Run" in the file menu. First, I left the configuration dialogue, that appeared after selecting "Run", unchanged (i.e. Server is "bassin" and Stores Database is "stores7"). As a result, after approx. 80 seconds, a message box with the following text appeared: Database: Sqlcode = -908 Refer to Informix Find Error utility or Informix Error Messages manual for more details on this error number. The same behaviour can be observerd if I fully specify the connection in the configuration dialog of the "Run" menu item: -Server: bassin -Hostname: bassin.hec.de -Servicename: idstcp -Protocolname: onsoctcp -Username: mea -password: My password, typed correctly. -Stores Database: stores7 All the time while ILogin Demo tried to establish the connection, I watched the socket ports on the server. There was