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Informix Error -954: Client is not known to remote host.

Cause and resolution

Client is not known to remote host.

The computer on which your application is running is not known to the computer you are trying to access. Contact your network administrator, and ask that your computer be made known. The usual way of making a computer known is through the configuration file /etc/hosts.equiv on the other system. Refer to the IBM Informix NET/Informix STAR Installation and Configuration Guide. This message appears prior to Version 6.0.

-954 Client is not known to database server.

The computer on which your application is running is not known to the database server that you are trying to access. Contact your network administrator, and ask that your computer be made known, most likely through the configuration file /etc/hosts on the other system. This message appears with Version 6.0 and later.

Oninit® Troubleshooting Guidance

Reasons / Common Causes

-954 fires when the local computer running the application isn't recognized by the target server — per the official guidance, this is typically resolved through a host-trust configuration file on the remote system: /etc/hosts.equiv (pre-6.0) or /etc/hosts (Version 6.0+).

  1. The local computer not listed in the remote system's host-trust configuration, per the official guidance — /etc/hosts.equiv on pre-6.0 systems, /etc/hosts on Version 6.0+.
  2. The local computer's hostname/IP changed without the remote system's trust configuration being updated to match.
Solutions / Resolution
  1. Contact your network administrator, and ask that your computer be made known, per the official guidance — this requires action on the remote system, not locally.
  2. Point them at the specific configuration file: /etc/hosts.equiv (pre-6.0) or /etc/hosts (Version 6.0+), per the official guidance, since that's most likely where the entry needs to be added.
Examples
N/A

A remote-side host-trust configuration problem — 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, pointing them at /etc/hosts.equiv (pre-6.0) or /etc/hosts (Version 6.0+) as the likely location needing an entry.
Related Errors / Related Topics
  • -951 — "User username is not known on the database server." A related authentication error, about the connecting user rather than the connecting host machine.
  • -950 — "User username is not known on the database server." A related authentication error, in the PAM-specific context.

A remote-side host-trust configuration gap — escalate to that remote system's network administrator, pointing at /etc/hosts.equiv//etc/hosts.