Informix Error -182: ISAM error: Duplicate optical BLOBSpace name.

Reasons / Common Causes

-182 is a naming collision between two distinct concepts that apparently share a namespace at some level: a blobspace (storage for TEXT/BYTE data) was defined with the same name as an existing Optical family — the naming construct used by the legacy Optical subsystem (see -181).

1. A new blobspace defined with the same name as an existing Optical family — the direct cause.
2. Legacy Optical family names left over from a previous configuration, not accounted for when naming a new blobspace — especially likely if Optical was used previously and later decommissioned without its family definitions being fully cleaned up.
3. Generic naming conventions ("blob1", "storage1") that happen to coincide with an existing Optical family name, with no awareness of the collision at the time.
4. Migrating or restoring configuration from an environment that used Optical, into a new environment where blobspace names are chosen independently of that environment's Optical family names.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Choose a different, non-colliding name for the new blobspace.
2. Check existing Optical family names before naming a new blobspace, particularly in environments with any history of Optical subsystem use.
3. If Optical is no longer used, consider cleaning up old Optical family definitions to avoid this restriction going forward — involve whatever administrative process governs Optical family housekeeping, since these definitions may have their own cleanup requirements.
4. Establish naming conventions that clearly distinguish blobspace names from Optical family names (a distinct prefix, for example) to avoid this class of collision going forward.

Examples

The straightforward rename

-- "archive1" already exists as an Optical family name
onspaces -c -b archive1 ...
-- -182: name collision with the existing Optical family

-- Choosing a distinct name instead:
onspaces -c -b blob_archive1 ...

Diagnostic Checks

1. List existing Optical family names on the server before naming a new blobspace, if Optical has any history of use in this environment.
2. Confirm whether Optical was previously used or is still configured on this server, if the collision is unexpected.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -181 — "ISAM error: No Optical Subsystem connection." The direct sibling — both are specific to the legacy Optical subsystem's naming and connection requirements.
• -100 — "ISAM error: duplicate value for a record with unique key." The other foundational ISAM-level error in this family, unrelated in cause.

Simply renaming the blobspace to avoid the collision resolves this directly — there's no need to modify the existing Optical family definition unless it's genuinely no longer needed.