Checking the DB System with SAPDBA (SAP Library - SAP Database Guide: Informix (BC-DB-INF-DBA))

Checking the DB System with SAPDBA

Use

You can use SAPDBA for Informix to run database system checks (shortened to "DB system checks") for your Informix database.

You can also run the DB system checks in the DBA Planning Calendar or the Computing Center Management System (CCMS), both of which are in the R/3 System.

Prerequisites

SAPDBA is correctly installed. Refer to SAPDBA Setup.

You know how to use SAPDBA and have started it. Refer to Getting Started with SAPDBA and Starting SAPDBA.

The program infcfgcheck is installed in the /usr/sap/<SID>/SYS/exe/run directory. This is part of the standard R/3 System installation after release 3.1G.

You can change the settings for the check using CCMS. Refer to Configuring DB System Checks in CCMS (Informix). Any configuration changes made in CCMS also affect checks that you run in SAPDBA.

Procedure

Choose DB System Checks in SAPDBA.

Choose one of the following options:

All checks or All checks [HTML]

These options include all available checks.

All non-performance checks or All non-performance checks [HTML]

These options include all checks except performance checks. Most of the checks run with this option are configuration checks.

All performance checks or All performance checks [HTML]

These options include all checks related to database performance. If you correct problems identified with these options, you should be able to improve the performance of your database.

Using the [HTML] option has no effect on the information produced.

Caution

SAP recommends that you always look at the results of check runs as soon as possible, otherwise you might fail to react in good time to a warning or error. At worst, this might lead to data loss.

Look at the results of the check run as follows, depending on which option you chose:

If you chose a [HTML] option, an output file containing the report is written to the current directory, with the name infcfg.html . The format of the file is HTML, so you can view the report with your usual HTML browser.

Otherwise, you can view the report directly on screen.

Whenever you run a check, you see a summary and a detail section.

Look at the highest detected severity in the summary section. If this is nothing to complain, you need take no action, as your system has passed all checks. Otherwise, continue with this procedure.
In the detail section, look at the results for each individual parameter checked, as follows:

DB System Check Results

Severity	What to do
Abort	You must immediately correct the severe error, otherwise data might be lost
Error	You should correct the error as soon as possible, otherwise a severe error might occur leading to data loss
Warning	You should correct the setting, but do not need to do so immediately
Not checked	As the system could not perform the check, you should find out why not (this is usually given in the recommendation)
Nothing to complain	As the check is OK, you need not do anything.

If the check returns abort, error, warning, not checked, or nothing to complain, perform the necessary action, as identified in the table above.

For each such check, the system displays the expected value and the current value, together with a recommendation, as shown in the following example:

Example

When looking at the detailed results for a check run, you might see something like the following for a single check:

EXTENTS for table vrsx (class DBGENERAL) non-performance check
expected... <= 200 (SAP original)
found ........ 228
recommendation.. section D-021 in note ‘64001’ ?
please reorganize table immediately

This means that the value in the variable EXTENTS found for the table vrsx exceeds the recommended maximum value of 200. Refer to SAP Note 64001, or choose ? to display background information about this single check.

You can also see the following information:

The class of the check is DBGENERAL, that is, general database checks.
The check is a non-performance check.
The expected value of the check is SAP original. This means that the expected value had not been amended before the check was run.

Result

If you follow the recommendations given for the checks, you can make sure that your system remains as well tuned as possible. This leads to reduced downtime and better system performance.