Informix DBA Survival Guide, Second Edition

Disk Devices

Problem: Wrong Devices

System is using block-special devices rather than character-special devices for database chunks. What kinds of problems can this cause, and what do I need to do to fix it?

Solution: Change the Link

If you have used links for your chunk names, just drop the link to the block-special device and replace it with a link to the character-special device. The disk location is the same; only the data access methods differ between the corresponding block and character devices.

Solution: Mirroring or dd

If you haven't used links, you'll have to physically move the data. The block devices are buffered devices, and UNIX considers that these a write to the buffer for these devices is equivalent to a write to disk. Informix ...