Informix Error -199

Reasons / Common Causes

-199 covers two specific, named scenarios — worth telling apart, since the fix differs between them.

1. Adding a logical log via onparams to a dbspace without enough space for the specified log size. A genuine capacity issue specific to the target dbspace for logs — the dbspace may be perfectly fine for other purposes but not sized for the log being added.
2. Creating a temporary table with logging (the default log setting for temporary tables) when DBSPACETEMP in ONCONFIG is set to TEMP or NOTCRITICAL. These specific DBSPACETEMP settings restrict how logged temporary tables can be placed, and hitting this configuration state produces "dbspace is full" here, distinct from the logical-log scenario above.
3. A dbspace originally provisioned without accounting for a planned logical log addition — sized for its existing contents, not for the log size intended later.
4. DBSPACETEMP configured without accounting for a workload that needs logged temporary tables — a setting that made sense for one workload pattern not matching what a different or evolved workload actually needs.

Solutions / Resolution

For the logical log scenario:

1. Add one or more chunks to the dbspace to provide enough space for the log, or
2. Specify a smaller log size when adding the log via onparams.

For the temporary table scenario:

3. Set DBSPACETEMP to ALL, allowing logged temporary tables to use all configured temporary dbspaces, or
4. Create temporary tables with no log instead of relying on the default logged behavior:

   CREATE TEMP TABLE tmp_data (id INT) WITH NO LOG;
   

More generally:

5. Plan dbspace capacity in advance of any planned logical log addition, accounting for the specific log size intended.
6. Review DBSPACETEMP configuration against actual application needs — confirm whether the workload genuinely requires logged temporary tables, and adjust the setting deliberately rather than hitting this reactively.

Examples

Adding a logical log with insufficient space

onparams -a -d dbspace1 -s 50000
-- -199: dbspace1 doesn't have enough free space for a 50MB log

Fix — either add a chunk:

onspaces -a dbspace1 -p /dev/newchunk -o 0 -s 100000

or specify a smaller log size:

onparams -a -d dbspace1 -s 10000

Temp table logging vs. DBSPACETEMP setting

# ONCONFIG
DBSPACETEMP  NOTCRITICAL

CREATE TEMP TABLE tmp_report (id INT, total DECIMAL(10,2));
-- default logging on temp tables; -199 given the DBSPACETEMP mode

Fix — create without logging:

CREATE TEMP TABLE tmp_report (id INT, total DECIMAL(10,2)) WITH NO LOG;

or adjust DBSPACETEMP to ALL if logged temp tables are genuinely needed across the workload.

Diagnostic Checks

1. Check dbspace free space for the target dbspace in the onparams log-add case:

   onstat -d
   

2. Check the DBSPACETEMP setting in ONCONFIG for the temporary-table case.
3. Confirm which of the two documented scenarios actually applies, based on the operation being attempted — this determines which fix is relevant.

Related Errors / Related Topics

• -131 — "ISAM error: no free disk space." The general dbspace-space-exhaustion sibling.
• -179 — "ISAM error: No free disk space for sort." Another temp-space-related condition, though about sort operations rather than logical logs or temp table logging specifically.

Identify which of the two named scenarios applies first — the fix for a logical-log space shortfall (add a chunk or reduce log size) is completely different from the fix for a DBSPACETEMP-related temp table logging conflict (ALL or WITH NO LOG).