Re: Emergemcy Chunks Offline

Posted in 1995

Mark Denham — 25 Sep 1995 03:48:03 -0400 — source: Informix-list mailing list archive (1991-1998)

>Ed Kelley writes: >|My INFORMIX 7.1 engine will not come up and indicates that 29 chunks >|are bad. This was caused by the database being started BEFORE the >|scsi disks were available. The chunks are actually good. Is there a >|way to flag the chunks as OK? I can't even get the engine up now. >|The root dbspace is fine. It's just that so many chunks are marked >|as bad (I assume) that the engine can't come up. >|HELP! >We have had this problem a number of times, and, after trying to >.persuade Informix to release the tbzero utility to us, possibly with >some training, Corporate HQ of Informix said no. >You have three options (probably had, actually, since I assume you >will be back up by now) - >1) try the program that was posted here before that enables you to > switch the flag byte in the chunk/dbspace to on-line (a bit dodgy, > since if you make a mistake you're on your own), >2) Call Informix support and ask them to log in and do it for you > with their tbzero utility, >3) Re-initialize and recover using archive and logical logs. >My personal opinion is that Informix is being a bit spiteful not >releasing their utility or training anyone up on it, since this would >help enhance the resilience of their product. I daresay, however, >that the beancounters are quite happy counting those extra >'after-hours/dial-in support' beans that come in from these problems. ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Have to say that for once I am on the side of informix here. Giving the tbzero utility to customers is, in my opinion, a recipe for disaster. I wouldn't mind betting that you would end up with plenty of cases of people running it against wrong versions of the database or running it accidentally etc..... Even after training! What happens when your DBA who was trained leaves the company? My bet is that the new person would not be trained about this utility and you then have a *good* chance of it being ran by mistake. >Richard Ridley >DHL Asia Pacific Mark Denham BBC London, UK Mark.Denham@bbc.co.uk