Using Command-Line Utilities

Use the following utilities to monitor configuration information.

onstat -c

Execute onstat -c to display a copy of the ONCONFIG file. For information about the ONCONFIG file, see the chapter on configuration parameters in the IBM Informix: Administrator's Reference.

The values of the configuration parameters are stored in the file indicated by the ONCONFIG environment variable or, if you have not set the ONCONFIG environment variable, in $INFORMIXDIR/etc/onconfig on UNIX.

Manual changes to the ONCONFIG file do not take effect until you shut down and restart the database server, also called reinitializing shared memory. If you change a configuration parameter in the ONCONFIG file using a text editor but do not reinitialize shared memory, the effective configuration differs from what the onstat -c option displays.

You can modify the values of some configuration parameters dynamically with the onutil SET command. In-memory changes made using this command take effect immediately. The SET command can also rewrite the ONCONFIG file if told to do so with the PERSISTENT keyword. For more information on the onutil SET command see the utilities chapter of the IBM Informix: Administrator's Reference.

onstat -g cfg

Execute onstat -g cfg to display the list of configuration parameters that can be modified using the onutil SET command.

onutil CHECK RESERVED DISPLAY

The database server also stores current configuration information in the PAGE_CONFIG reserved page. The reserved page contains a description of the current, effective configuration.

To list the reserved page, execute onutil CHECK RESERVED DISPLAY.

Figure 4 shows sample output.

If you change the configuration parameters in your ONCONFIG file with a text editor and run onutil CHECK RESERVED DISPLAY before you reinitialize shared memory, onutil discovers that values in the configuration file do not match the current values in the reserved pages and returns a warning message.

...

Validating Informix database server reserved pages - PAGE_CONFIG
    ROOTNAME                       rootdbs
    ROOTPATH                       /home/dyn_srv/root_chunk
    ROOTOFFSET                     0
    ROOTSIZE                       8000
    MIRROR                         0
    MIRRORPATH
    MIRROROFFSET                   0
    PHYSDBS                        rootdbs
    PHYSFILE                       1000
    LOGFILES                       5
    LOGSIZE                        500
    MSGPATH                        /home/dyn_srv/online.log
    CONSOLE                            /dev/ttyp5
...                                ...