Re: Infomix on SCO Unix

I have been away for a few days, so this is probably far too late. A report on what has happened would be very interesting. Anyway for future reference: 1. I know of no way to get at your root password without rebooting the OS (using your emergency disks which you have of course?). If there where such a way it would be a gaping security hole that noone could accept. This leaves you with having to stopp the machine some way. Others gave you references to descriptions of how to get at the root password. Do get these descriptions from SCO support or off their web site. For many cases the suggestion of editing the /etc/passwd file will not work. (/etc/shadow may work depending on the security level set up and the version of the OS.) 2. If you have Informix SE there is no engine. Just make sure all users are logged off. If you can log in and get a Unix prompt do so and type sync a few times. Log out, wait and power off. Obviously if you have any way to get the data off the machine you do so first. If you have OnLine it's worse. You realy should stop the engine. If you have the informix password, no problem. Log in as informix and stop it and follow the above procedure. If you have also lost the informix password (must be a realy .... customer) you are essentially lost. Your only option is to do as above with the sync stuff if you can, power off and hope. Before I did this I would make as sure as possible that there are backups available. I would assume that a situation like this means there are nightly backups. You should of course wait overnight and try to check the backup on another machine before proceding. Preferably you should restore the database on that other machine first. If you can get into Unix as some other user you may also be able to unload the data using dbexport, dbaccess and unload command or some other tool and get the data off the machine. Do so if at all possible. As the last resort have the user print out as much information as possible on paper. Make very shure they understand they may be about to loose all the data they have. As to powering off a machine with OnLine runing it has happened to us. (A bad UPS.) In that case everything, Unix and OnLine, started up without a hitch when power was restored. I wouldn't expect that however. If it doesn't start up and you have problems with the backups (not unlikely when it has gone as far as this) I would call Informix support. They may be able to make the engine start again so you can at least get to the data, or some of it. At this point I would do *nothing* but unload the data to files. If dbexport works that's fine. Otherwise you may have to unload individual tables. Then also run dbschema to have a copy of the current schema (it's again likely that there is no other schema that is up to date when someone have let such a crazy situation come about). Then reinitialize the whole engine (diskspace and all) and reload the data. Make sure you charge a lot for your services even if all data is completely lost. Double that if the data is recoverable. Good luck. ngall@stratis-caribbean.com (Nigel Gall) wrote: :Wow, dude! That's the problem everybody dreads. : :But don't panic... yet. I think SCO tech support may be able to help :you restore your root password without having to do a UNIX :re-installation. : :Informix passwords are setup just like any other user on the Unix :system. So if you have forgotten your root password, and your informix :password, you would be in a bit of a quandary. : :I don't use OnLine, but I would like to think that not just any user :would be able to do something as powerful as shutting down the engine. :My guess is that informix would be the only user (aside from root?.. :can't remember) to have those capabilities. : :Don't shut down your server (hardware) without shutting down your engine :(OnLine); risk of data corruption, lost transactions etc. I'm not sure :if sync'ing and haltsys would be the same as shutdown -y. I would think :not, since when I do that I don't receive the same messages output by :the rc0 scripts which are run automatically on executing init 0. So :sync'ing and then throwing the off switch (because you can't login as :root to do a proper shutdown) without properly shutting down the engine :is a definite no-no. : :Perhaps Nils or one of the other more experienced SCO users would have :some suggestions? I would be very interested in any solutions you get :on this. : :Best regards, :Nigel :Dave Cohen wrote: :> :> I have been contacted by a company who have lost their root password on SCO :> Unix. :> This machine is running an infomix server. :> Can I just turn off the machine? Do I need an infomix password to shut :> down infomix first? Is syncing the disks enough? :> Is there a file that, as root, I can delete or edit to reset infomix :> passwords. :> :> Dave Cohen, RHBNC : :-- :+--------------------------------------------------------------------+ :| Name : Edmund Nigel Gall Address: 9A Stanmore Avenue | :| Title : Account Executive Port of Spain | :| Company : Stratis Caribbean Ltd. Trinidad & Tobago, W.I. | :| | :| Contact Information: | :| Office Personal | :| Voice : (809) 623 6530/1 (809) 662 6611 | :| Fax : (809) 623 8370 (809) 662 6611 | :| Email : ngall@stratis-caribbean.com nigelg@trinidad.net | :+----------------- http://www.stratis-caribbean.com -----------------+ Nils.Myklebust@idg.no NM Data AS, P.O.Box 9090 Gronland, N-0133 Oslo, Norway My opinions are those of my company The Informix FAQ is at http://www.iiug.org