Question & Answer
Question
What information should be collected when you experience a problem with your software? Collecting data before upgrading to IBM Informix Dynamic Server (IDS). Collecting this information before calling IBM support will help you understand the problem and save time analyzing the data.
Answer
Collecting general information
If you have experienced a problem during your upgrade, collect the following information for any problem:
Collecting General Information to collect for Informix Family product problems
INTRODUCTION
It is highly recommended to collect this information before upgrading. This data will aid technical support if any problems are encountered during the upgrade process.
CHECKLIST
- SQL query plans for all regularly used queries (especially complex queries) using SET EXPLAIN ON.
- dbschema -d -hd for all critical tables. The output will have distribution information.
- dbschema -c -ns
- oncheck -pr output that dumps all the root reserved pages.
- Copy of onconfig configuration file.
Note: oncheck –pr will not dump all the configuration parameters so it’s better to have a copy of onconfig file.
- List of all the environment variables used at database server startup.
- List of all the environment variables used by a typical client.
- During times of peak usage:
- online.log snippet, with some checkpoint durations in it.
- onstat –aF, -g all, -g stk all.
- During times of peak usage, run the following onstats repetitively with -r repeat option for a period of 3 to 5 minutes:
- onstat -u, to see the total number of sqlexecs used.
- onstat -p, for read and write cache rates, to detect deadlocks and the number of sequential scans.
- onstat -g nta, a consolidated output of -g ntu, ntt, ntm and ntd.
- onstat -g nsc, -g nsd, -g nss for status of shared memory connections.
- onstat -P, -g tpf, -g ppf
- vmstat, iostat and sar, for cpu utilization. Run these repetitively for a period of about 3 to 5 minutes.
- timex of all regularly run queries.
Note: For 32-bit to 64-bit database server upgrades change SHMBASE and STACKSIZE according to the onconfig.std configuration file for the new version.
If it becomes necessary to contact IBM Informix Technical Support:
What to do next
Once you have collected the preceding information, simply submit the diagnostic information to IBM support.
You can submit files using one of following methods to help speed problem diagnosis:
- IBM Support Assistant (ISA)
- Electronic Service Request (ESR)
- FTP to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep)
See the Related information article, Submitting diagnostic information to IBM Technical Support for problem determination.
Related Information
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Document Information
Modified date:
16 June 2018
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