Chapter 3. Configuration File Blocks for INFORMIX

Chapter 3. Configuration File Blocks for INFORMIX
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Configuration parameters for INFORMIX must be specified in the configuration file /var/ha/ha.conf. The sections in this chapter describe each INFORMIX specific block that must be added and the configuration parameters within each of those blocks. The sections are as follows:

The examples in this chapter show the INFORMIX configuration file blocks for the example discussed in the sections “Example INFORMIX Configuration” and “Configuration Parameters for INFORMIX” in Chapter 2.

INFORMIX Application-Class Block

Example 3-1 shows the application-class block in an INFORMIX configuration.

Example 3-1. INFORMIX Application-Class Block

application-class informix
{
        server-node = xfs-ha1
        agent = /usr/etc/ha_ifmx
}

The application-class informix block contains these configuration parameters:

server-node		Lists a node that is a primary server for INFORMIX. In this example, just one node is listed because just one node is a primary node for INFORMIX. If both nodes are primary nodes for INFORMIX, server-node is listed twice.
agent		The full pathname of the database agent for INFORMIX. You should not change this parameter.

INFORMIX Blocks

Example 3-2 shows an example informix block. Each informix block in an INFORMIX configuration file lists the volume or filesystem used by the INFORMIX master database, the INFORMIX user and password for the database, timeout and retry parameters, and an availability for the database.

Example 3-2. INFORMIX Block

informix INFORMIX1
{
        master-db-vol = vol1
        unix-user = informix
        sa-user = informix
        sa-passwd = sa_passwd
        release-dir = /usr/informix
        config-file = onconfig.informix1
        shutdown-options = 2
        monitoring-level = 1
        running-indicator-strings = “On-Line|Recovery”
        db-avail = high
        db-probe-time = 120
        db-timeout = 120
        start-monitor-time = 300
        db-retry-count = 1
}

The configuration parameters used in informix blocks are as follows:

master-db-vol		The value must match the label of a volume block. See the discussion at the end of this section about master-db-vol and master-db-fs for information about which volume block label to use. This parameter or master-db-fs must be specified.
master-db-fs		The value must match the label of a filesystem block. See the discussion at the end of this section about master-db-vol and master-db-fs for information about which filesystem block label to use. This parameter or master-db-vol must be specified.
unix-user		The IRIX login name that is the owner of the INFORMIX release directory.
sa-user		The INFORMIX login name of the INFORMIX database system administrator. This parameter is required.
sa-passwd		The unencrypted password of the INFORMIX database system administrator (sa-user). This parameter should be omitted if there is no password.
release-dir		The INFORMIX release directory specified in the INFORMIX configuration. This value is the value of the environment variable INFORMIXDIR. This parameter is required.
config-file		The configuration file for this node. Its value is the value of the ONCONFIG environment variable.
shutdown-options		Defines how the INFORMIX database is shut down on a failover. It is required. The possible values are: 0—Normal shutdown 1—Shutdown with nowait and no checkpointing 2—Shutdown with nowait with checkpointing
monitoring-level		Defines which test is done to determine if INFORMIX is up. If the value is 1, the database agent executes the `onstat` command and searches the output for the pattern specified by running-indicator-strings. If there is a match, the database is up. If the value is 2, the database agent uses a database call to determine if INFORMIX is up.
running-indicator-strings		A string that is used as a search pattern in determining if On-Line is up. The output of the `onstat` command is searched (see the INFORMIX-OnLine Dynamic Server Database Server Administrator's Guide Volume 2 from INFORMIX, Inc. for information about `onstat`). The string must begin and end with double-quotes. An OR symbol (\|) can be used in the string to separate multiple search patterns. The string cannot contain any blanks and the search is case-sensitive. This parameter is required if monitoring-level is 1.
db-avail		The possible values are high and low. If the value is high and the database fails, the database agent sends a message to the application monitor that tells the application monitor to fail over this database and all other services on the volume. If the value is low and the database fails, the database agent sends mail to the address indicated by the mail-dest-addr parameter.
db-probe-time		Defines the length of time (in seconds) between the completion of one probe of the database by the INFORMIX database agent and the beginning of the next probe. This parameter is required.
db-timeout		Defines the time the INFORMIX database agent waits for a response to its probe from the INFORMIX database instance in seconds. This parameter is required.
start-monitor-time		The amount of time that the INFORMIX database agent waits after receiving a message to start monitoring before it performs its first probe of the INFORMIX database instance. This wait ensures that the database instance has had time to start up.
db-retry-count		The number of monitoring retries by the database agent before a failure is declared.

The informix blocks list only the volume or filesystem of the master database; they do not list all volumes and filesystems that are part of the database. This is because the default monitoring of the database accesses the master volume or filesystem only. However, the configuration file must list all volumes and filesystems used by each database in volume and filesystem blocks. The IRIS FailSafe system uses the volume and filesystem blocks as a specification of the shared storage that must be online prior to bringing up the database.

Figure 3-1 shows the monitoring frequency parameters in each informix block. They control the monitoring of a database instance by the INFORMIX database agent.

Figure 3-1. Monitoring Frequency Configuration Parameters in INFORMIX Blocks

Table 3-1 lists each of these monitoring frequency parameters and their suggested values. It also describes relationships between different parameters and the rounding that occurs for some parameter values.

Table 3-1. Values for Monitoring Frequency Configuration Parameter in INFORMIX Blocks

Parameter	Suggested Value	Comments
start-monitor-time (informix block)	300	Rounded to the nearest ten seconds.
db-probe-time	120	Rounded to the nearest ten seconds.
db-timeout	120	Rounded to the nearest ten seconds.
db-retry-count	1

INFORMIX Action and Action-Timer Blocks

Example 3-3 shows the action and action-timer blocks for INFORMIX. The action block specifies the pathnames of the local monitoring script and the action-timer block specifies monitoring timing and timeout values for the monitoring of the INFORMIX database agent by the application monitor.

Example 3-3. INFORMIX Action and Action-Timer Blocks

action informix
{
        local-monitor = /var/ha/actions/ha_ifmx_lmon
}

action-timer informix
{
        start-monitor-time = 300
        lmon-probe-time = 60
        lmon-timeout = 30
        retry-count = 2
}

The parameters used in action and action-timer blocks for INFORMIX are as follows:

local-monitor		The pathname of the local monitoring script for INFORMIX. Do not change this value.
start-monitor-time		Specifies the amount of time that the application monitor waits before it starts using the local monitoring script to monitor the INFORMIX database agent. The value of this parameter should be greater than or equal to the largest value specified for start-monitor parameters in any of the informix blocks and it should be greater than or equal to the value of long-timeout.
lmon-probe-time		Local monitoring of the INFORMIX agent is done this often (in seconds). Be aware that there is a performance penalty for monitoring the INFORMIX agent too frequently.
lmon-timeout		Local monitoring of the INFORMIX agent times out in this many seconds if no response is received.
retry-count		Specifies the number of probes done by the database agent during each probe seen by the application monitor. This value doesn't affect the lmon-timeout value.

Figure 3-2 shows the monitoring parameters in the “action-timer informix” block. They control the monitoring of the INFORMIX database agent by the local monitoring script.

Figure 3-2. Monitoring Configuration Parameters in the Action-Timer Block for INFORMIX

Table 3-2 lists each of these monitoring parameters and their suggested values. It also describes relationships between different parameters and the rounding that occurs for some parameter values.

Table 3-2. Values for Monitoring Frequency Configuration Parameter in INFORMIX Action-Timer Blocks

Parameter	Suggested Value	Comments
start-monitor-time (action-timer block)	300	Should be greater than or equal to the value of long-timeout and greater than or equal to the largest of the values specified for start-monitor-time in any of the informix blocks.
lmon-probe-time	60
lmon-timeout	30
retry-count	2	This value doesn't affect the lmon-timeout value.

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Chapter 2. Configuring IRIS FailSafe for INFORMIX		Appendix A. Messages About Configuration File Errors