Checkpoints - a mystery

Sorry if I have already posted this once already...we are having problems with our news server... HP-UX 10.20 running IDS 7.24.UC5 We have been having isolated problems with checkpoints - see below. During the lengthy checkpoints, obviously no users can perform any update routines or even log in to the server ( since the process of logging in also writes an audit trail to an activity log within the database ). Also, performing "onstat -u" does not show any users in a critical section holding everything up. I know we have a fairly large Physical Buffer file but this hardly gets filled... The server is not really used as a work horse and limited resource is used by the Informix online instance. Not a lot of work goes on this server at all. Do any of you guys have any ideas what is going on ??? Any/All suggestions welcome. TIA Sean :-( These are taken straight out of the log files - as you can see, no log activity or anything, just simple checkpoints at reglar intervals. 09:25:30 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 09:30:33 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 1 seconds. 09:35:37 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 09:53:43 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 91 seconds. 10:20:46 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 340 seconds. 10:40:18 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 282 seconds. 10:47:05 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 53 seconds. 10:49:38 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 33 seconds. 10:58:36 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 29 seconds. 11:04:05 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 11:04:38 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 9 seconds. 11:08:12 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 11:13:40 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 11:18:44 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 1 seconds. Another Example:- 13:00:04 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 4 seconds. 13:05:07 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 13:10:11 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 13:43:41 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 429 seconds. 14:16:55 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 14:22:04 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. 14:27:07 Checkpoint Completed: duration was 0 seconds. A copy of the ONCONFIG file is also enclosed:- Configuration File: /home/informix/etc/onconfig.bain #************************************************************************** # # INFORMIX SOFTWARE, INC. # # Title: onconfig.std # Description: INFORMIX-OnLine Configuration Parameters # #************************************************************************** # Root Dbspace Configuration ROOTNAME rootdbs # Root dbspace nameROOTPATH /dev/vg_bain/rlvol3 # Path for device containing root dbspace ROOTOFFSET 0 # Offset of root dbspace into device (Kbytes) ROOTSIZE 100000 # Size of root dbspace (Kbytes) # Disk Mirroring Configuration Parameters MIRROR 0 # Mirroring flag (Yes = 1, No = 0) MIRRORPATH # Path for device containing mirrored root MIRROROFFSET 0 # Offset into mirrored device (Kbytes) # Physical Log Configuration PHYSDBS plogdbs # Location (dbspace) of physical log PHYSFILE 180000 # Physical log file size (Kbytes) # Logical Log Configuration LOGFILES 25 # Number of logical log files LOGSIZE 1000 # Logical log size (Kbytes) # Diagnostics MSGPATH /home/informix/online.log # System message log file path CONSOLE /dev/console # System console message path ALARMPROGRAM /home/informix/etc/log_full.sh # Alarm program path TBLSPACE_STATS 1 # System Archive Tape Device #TAPEDEV /dev/null # Alt. Tape device path TAPEDEV /dev/rmt/0m # Tape device path TAPEBLK 256 # Tape block size (Kbytes) TAPESIZE 2097152 # Max amount of data to put on tape (Kbytes) # Log Archive Tape Device LTAPEDEV /dev/null # Alt. Log tape device path#LTAPEDEV /tmp/ian # Tape device path LTAPEBLK 256 # Log tape block size (Kbytes) LTAPESIZE 2097152 # Max data to put on log tape (Kbytes) # Optical STAGEBLOB # INFORMIX-OnLine/Optical staging area # System Configuration SERVERNUM 0 # Unique id corresponding to a OnLineinstance DBSERVERNAME bain_tcp # Name of default database server DBSERVERALIASES # List of alternate dbservernames NETTYPE soctcp,1,50,NET # Configure poll thread(s) for nettype DEADLOCK_TIMEOUT 60 # Max time to wait of lock in distributed env. RESIDENT 0 # Forced residency flag (Yes = 1, No = 0) MULTIPROCESSOR 0 # 0 for single-processor, 1 formulti-processor NUMCPUVPS 1 # Number of user (cpu) vps SINGLE_CPU_VP 1 # If non-zero, limit number of cpu vps toone NOAGE 0 # Process aging AFF_SPROC 0 # Affinity start processor AFF_NPROCS 0 # Affinity number of processors # Shared Memory Parameters LOCKS 300000 # Maximum number of locks BUFFERS 80000 # Maximum number of shared buffers NUMAIOVPS 1 # Number of IO vps PHYSBUFF 32 # Physical log buffer size (Kbytes) LOGBUFF 32 # Logical log buffer size (Kbytes)LOGSMAX 50 # Maximum number of logical log files CLEANERS 1 # Number of buffer cleaner processes SHMBASE 0x0 # Shared memory base address SHMVIRTSIZE 271360 # initial virtual shared memory segmentsize SHMADD 131072 # Size of new shared memory segments (Kbytes) SHMTOTAL 524288 # Total shared memory (Kbytes). 0=>unlimited CKPTINTVL 300 # Check point interval (in sec) LRUS 30 # Number of LRU queues#LRU_MAX_DIRTY 60 # LRU percent dirty begin cleaning limit #LRU_MIN_DIRTY 50 # LRU percent dirty end cleaning limit LRU_MAX_DIRTY 10 # LRU percent dirty begin cleaning limit LRU_MIN_DIRTY 5 # LRU percent dirty end cleaning limit LTXHWM 50 # Long transaction high water markpercentage LTXEHWM 60 # Long transaction high water mark (exclusive) TXTIMEOUT 0x12c # Transaction timeout (in sec) STACKSIZE 32 # Stack size (Kbytes) # System Page Size # BUFFSIZE - OnLine no longer supports this configuration parameter. # To determine the page size used by OnLine on your platform # see the last line of output from the command, 'onstat -b'. @@

You only have one page cleaner (CLEANERS 1 in the $ONCONFIG file). Set this between 1 and 2 cleaners per chunk. Also use fragmentation to balance I/O among multiple chunks residing on different physical devices.