IC71713: FUNCTIONALITY OF BUILT-IN TASK "ALERT CLEANUP" DOES NOT CORRESPOND TO DOCUMENTATION

APAR status

• Closed as program error.

Error description

• Documentation for built-in task "Alert Cleanup" says:
  http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/idshelp/v115/index.jsp?
  topic=/com.ibm.admin.doc/ids_admin_1328.htm
  -----
  This task removes all alert entries from the ph_alert table that
  are older than the threshold of 15 days.
  The threshold is named ALERT HISTORY RETENTION in the
  ph_threshold table.
  -----
  
  But if you take a look at the implementation of this task in
  {$INFORMIXDIR}/etc/sysadmin/sch_tasks.sql,
  you can see that it will delete only "alert's" with "run's" from
  related tables "ph_alert" and "ph_run",
  but it will not delete "alert's" without "run's" and "run's"
  without "alert's".  This can lead to filling up of root dbspace.
  

Local fix

• As workaround you can create a new separate scheduler task which
  will do the final cleanup of these tables or delete all
  unnecessary records manually.
  

Problem summary

• ****************************************************************
  * USERS AFFECTED:                                              *
  * All users who see sysadmin db growing because of lots of     *
  * remnant rows in ph_alert table.                              *
  ****************************************************************
  * PROBLEM DESCRIPTION:                                         *
  * Users may notice that the Alert Cleanup task in database     *
  * scheduler isn't cleaning up the rows in ph_alert table as    *
  * per the external documentation. By default, the Alert        *
  * Cleanup task is scheduled to run once daily. If the user has *
  * defined his alert generating tasks to run at much lower      *
  * frequency than the Alert Cleanup task and the tk_delete      *
  * value for those tasks is also much lower than the frequency  *
  * of the Alert Cleanup task - the stored procedure which the   *
  * Alert Cleanup task executes could leave behind certain rows  *
  * in the ph_alert table which are not selected for deletion on *
  * the next execution of the Alert Cleanup task.                *
  ****************************************************************
  * RECOMMENDATION:                                              *
  * If this problem is deemed critical to the customer, please   *
  * upgrade to 11.50.xC9. You may still need to recreate the     *
  * sysadmin db to bring this fix into effect.                   *
  ****************************************************************
  

Problem conclusion

• The problem is fixed in 11.50.xC9. However, the user may need
  to recreate the sysadmin db by using the "reset sysadmin" SQL
  Admin API command.
  

Temporary fix

Comments

APAR Information

• APAR is sysrouted FROM one or more of the following:

• APAR is sysrouted TO one or more of the following:

Fix information

• Fixed component name

  IBM IDS ENTRP E

• Fixed component ID

  5724L2304

Applicable component levels

• RB15 PSY

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