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Informix Error -916

-916 NFS mount table error.

The database server that you tried to access or a path that was specified in your DBPATH environment variable is located on an NFS-mounted file system. However, the database server or client application encountered an error accessing the NFS-mounted table file /etc/mtab (or, on some operating systems, /etc/mnttab). This condition probably occurred because your account does not have read permission for the file. Contact your system administrator, and have the file made readable to public.

This message appears with Version 6.0 and later.

-916 Cannot open /etc/mtab.

The database server needs to check the system configuration file /etc/mtab to verify the location of a file system. However, it got an error when it tried to read that file, probably because your account does not have read permission for it. Contact your system administrator, and have the file made readable to public.

This message appears prior to Version 6.0.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-916 fires when the database server or client can't read the NFS mount table file (/etc/mtab, or /etc/mnttab on some operating systems) while checking the location of an NFS-mounted database or DBPATH entry — per the official guidance, this probably reflects a missing read permission on that file.

  1. No read permission on /etc/mtab (or /etc/mnttab) for the connecting account, per the official guidance — the specific, named likely cause.
  2. A database or DBPATH entry located on an NFS-mounted filesystem, per the official guidance's framing — this error specifically arises in that context, not for purely local storage.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Contact your system administrator, and have the file made readable to public, per the official guidance — this is the documented, specific resolution.
  2. Check the file's current permissions, as a first diagnostic step:
    ls -l /etc/mtab
# or, on some operating systems:
ls -l /etc/mnttab
Examples
Checking mount-table file permissions
$ ls -l /etc/mtab
-rw-r-----  1 root root  ...  /etc/mtab

If the connecting account isn't root or in the owning group, and no other-read permission is set, that's the fix target — the system administrator needs to make it world-readable.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Check /etc/mtab//etc/mnttab permissions for public (world) read access.
  2. Confirm the database/DBPATH entry involved is genuinely on an NFS-mounted filesystem.
Related Errors / Related Topics

No closely related error codes are cross-referenced for -916 in this set yet.

A missing public-read permission on the NFS mount table file — the system administrator needs to make it world-readable.