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Informix Error -953

-953 Network server could not exec sqlexec program.

The network server was unable to start the database server thread. The most common cause for this error is a failure to define the INFORMIXDIR environment variable, by root, at the time the database server process was started. Contact your network administrator, and ask that the database server process on the remote system be restarted with a valid path to the IBM Informix software. This message appears with Version 6.0 and later.

-953 Remote host could not exec sqlexec program.

The network daemon, sqlexecd, on the other computer system was unable to start the database server process. The most common cause of this error is a failure to define the INFORMIXDIR and SQLEXEC environment variables, by root, at the time the daemon was started. Contact your network administrator, and ask that the daemon on the remote system be restarted with a valid path to the IBM Informix software. This message appears prior to Version 6.0.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-953 fires when the remote network server/daemon can't start the database server thread/process — per the official guidance, the most common cause is that INFORMIXDIR (and, pre-6.0, SQLEXEC) wasn't defined by root at the time the daemon/process was started on the remote system.

  1. INFORMIXDIR not defined by root when the network daemon/server process started remotely, per the official guidance — the specific, named most-common cause.
  2. SQLEXEC also not defined, on versions prior to 6.0, per the official guidance.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Contact your network administrator, and ask that the database server process (or, pre-6.0, the daemon) on the remote system be restarted with a valid path to the IBM Informix software, per the official guidance — this requires action on the remote system, not locally.
Examples
N/A

A remote-side environment-variable configuration problem at daemon/process startup — escalate to the network administrator for that remote system.

Diagnostic Checks
  1. Identify the specific remote system the connection was targeting.
  2. Escalate to that system's network administrator, per the official guidance, to confirm INFORMIXDIR (and, pre-6.0, SQLEXEC) were set by root when the network daemon/server process was started there.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -903 — "Licensed Informix SQL server not accessible." A related networking error, about sqlexecd not running at all, rather than being unable to exec the database server program.
  • -905 — "Cannot locate sqlexec service /tcp service in /etc/services." A related networking- software installation error, about a missing service-registry entry.

A remote-side INFORMIXDIR/SQLEXEC environment-variable problem at daemon startup — escalate to that remote system's network administrator.