Informix Error -513: Statement not available with this database server.

Reasons / Common Causes

-513, despite its generic-sounding text, is specifically an X/Open XA error: it fires when xa_open() is called while another database is already open in the session/thread.

1. xa_open() called without first closing an already-open database connection, per the official guidance — the direct, only cause.
2. A transaction-manager-driven (XA) application reusing a connection/thread that still has a non-XA (or a different XA) database open from an earlier step in the same session.
3. Connection-pooling code that hands XA-managed connections back into a pool without guaranteeing the previous database was closed before the next xa_open() on that connection.

Solutions / Resolution

1. Close any open database before calling xa_open(), per the official guidance — issue a CLOSE DATABASE (or equivalent driver/library call) first.
2. Audit connection-reuse logic in XA-managed connection pools to guarantee each connection is database-closed before it's handed to a new XA transaction branch.
3. Avoid mixing non-XA database opens with XA transaction management on the same connection, since the two models expect to own the open/close lifecycle differently.

Examples

Hitting the restriction

/* pseudocode */
sqli_connect("stores7");     /* database already open on this connection */
xa_open(xa_info, rmid, flags);
/* -513: another database is already open */

Corrected sequence

sqli_connect("stores7");
/* ... work done, then ... */
CLOSE DATABASE;
xa_open(xa_info, rmid, flags);

Diagnostic Checks

1. Trace the connection's database-open state right before the xa_open() call to confirm nothing was left open from an earlier statement or a previous pooled use of the connection.

Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -513 in this set yet.

Despite the generic wording, this is XA-specific: xa_open() requires no database already open on the connection — close it first.