Unix kill -9 and Informix SE???

On a HP 9000/800 system with 9.0 that I access, users are knocked off after a period of time by a script that looks for idle processes ( terminals ). From what I have found out, they use "kill -9" against the set of processes attached to a particular terminal. The terminals are running isql 4.1 against an Informix SE database. What I would like to know is: (1) How should the program kill sqlexec processes, isql sessions, etc. that are lying around? (2) Is there a definitive set of steps in how this should be done? If so, what are those steps? (3) What are the possible side effects of using "kill -9" on a sqlexec process ( especially with the isql session in an update or insert state )? The reason for my asking is that I left a screen running and left my system for awhile. During that time, the program performed to "kill" the terminal interface ( telnetd, ksh ), but it left isql and sqlexec running without a terminal interface. When I returned to my desk, I had a message that I had eaten up so much disk space that no users could get on the system. In looking at my disk usage, I found that I did not consume hardly any disk space. What I did find, however, was that the sqlexec and isql were running rampant. The CPU usage was high and a "bdf" showed that the disk was at 100% usage. When I killed the isql session ( not sqlexec ), the disk usage went down to 27%. I tried to get information about how to terminate such processes from the Informix manuals, but all they say is don't use "kill -9". They do not say how to appropriately kill the processes. Harry Lynch harry@hpdmm43.boi.hp.com