Creating an Extspace

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Creating an Extspace

You create an extspace with the onspaces utility. But you should first have a valid data source and a valid access method with which to access that data source. Although you can create an extspace without a valid access method or a valid data source, any attempts to retrieve data from the extspace will generate an error. For information on access methods, see the IBM Informix Virtual-Table Interface Programmer's Guide.

To create an extspace with onspaces, use the -c option as illustrated in the following example. The following example shows how to create an extspace, pass_space, that is associated with the UNIX password file.

onspaces -c -x pass_space -l /etc/passwd

Specify an extspace name of up to 128 bytes. The name must be unique and begin with a letter or underscore. You can use letters, digits, underscores, and $ characters in the name.

Important:

The preceding example assumes that you have coded a routine that provides functions for correctly accessing the file passwd and that the file itself exists. After you have created the extspace, you must use the appropriate commands to allow access to the data in the file passwd. For more information on user-defined access methods, see the IBM Informix Virtual-Table Interface Programmer's Guide.

For reference information on creating an extspace with onspaces, see information on the onspaces utility in the IBM Informix Administrator's Reference.