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Informix Error -375

-375 Cannot create log file for transaction.

While the database server was trying to execute a START statement, it got an unexpected error in trying to create the transaction-log file. Check the accompanying ISAM error code for more detailed information on the cause. Typical causes include a shortage of disk space, file permission problems, or a limit on the number of open files.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-375 is an infrastructure-level failure during START DATABASE ... WITH LOG IN: the server can't create the transaction-log file, most commonly due to disk space, file permissions, or the process's open-file limit.

  1. Insufficient disk space on the filesystem where the log file would be created.
  2. File permission issues preventing the server process from creating the file at the specified location.
  3. The server process has reached its open-file limit (an OS-level ulimit/ file-descriptor ceiling), preventing any new file from being opened regardless of disk space or permissions.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Check the accompanying ISAM error code first, per the official guidance, for the specific underlying reason.
  2. Check available disk space on the target filesystem.
  3. Check filesystem-level permissions for the Informix server process at the target location.
  4. Check the server process's open-file limit (ulimit -n or equivalent) if disk space and permissions both check out, and raise it if it's being exhausted.
Examples
Checking disk space, permissions, and open-file limits
df -h /informix/logs/
ls -ld /informix/logs/
ulimit -n
-- confirm space, permissions, and the process's open-file
-- ceiling all look adequate
Diagnostic Checks
  1. Read the accompanying ISAM error code for the specific underlying reason.
  2. Check disk space on the target filesystem.
  3. Check filesystem permissions at the target location.
  4. Check the server process's open-file limit.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -318 — "File with the same name as specified log file already exists." Another WITH LOG IN-related failure, though about a naming conflict rather than an infrastructure-level creation failure.
  • -325 — "Filename must be specified with a full path name." Another WITH LOG IN-clause requirement in the same statement family.

Check disk space, permissions, and the open-file limit in that order — the official guidance treats these as the three usual suspects, with the ISAM error code narrowing it down further.