Re: Bad day with oninit -i

Eduardo Quint's wrote: > > Hi, > > Trying to restarting Informix 9.3 we executed oninit -i > All configuration and space disk flies as a bird. > Last backup is so older, and the tape fails. > > Only our dbspaces seems be ok, with valid data into ... > > There is any way to restore the database using the dbspaces data ? > > Enjoy this Christmas, sigh. Big ifs but worth a try. IFF your database system catalog tables do not reside in the rootdbspace and IFF you have not added or dropped any chunks or dbspaces or dropped and recreated any databases since the backup - you can restore just the rootdbs then bounce the engine and you MIGHT recover. If the databases live in rootdbs that is trouble. You could restore just rootdbs to another machine (or rename the chunk links temporarily and then use dd (assuming RAW devices dd is not safe for cooked files) to copy just the reserved pages (about 64 2K pages) from the restore area to the original ROOTDBS, then (name the chunks back if you did that trick, then) bring the engine online and PRAY REALLY loudly (if you're into that kind of thing of course). Either way the engine may mark one or more chunks or dbspaces as down or inconsistent (or it may not). If down you can use onspaces to mark them back up, if inconsistent, call tech support and ask them to mark things back up. This may not work but what else have you got. If it works do several things ASAP (meaning IMMEDIATELY!) in order: 1) Unload ALL data to disk using the simplest tool possible, ie dbaccess unload with no WHERE clauses. 2) Archive the engine at level 0. 3) Verify as much of the data as you can. 4) Pray some more. Strongly suggested: 5) Dbexport the database, oninit -i again and build a clean instance, or if you're pressed for recovery do this on another machine, and dbimport the data clean. 6) Archive that engine at level 0. 7) Post a note telling us how it went. 8) Take regular backups and archive your log files. Good luck. Art S. Kagel