When you connect to a database you receive error -952 "User's password is not correct for the database server"

The error message indicates the authentication failed due to an invalid password. Under certain circumstances, error -952 could be returned even when the password is correct.

Possible causes are:

• password is not correct or it has expired
• user does not have read permission on file /etc/passwd
• wrong permission on the executable $INFORMIXDIR/bin/oninit, where INFORMIXDIR is the environment variable pointing to the directory where the product is installed.
• the password is greater than 8 characters
• the database server was not started as user informix or root

• Operating System is AIX, and file /etc/security/passwd is not readable by user root
• Operating System is Linux (RedHat), Solaris or HP 11i, and file /etc/shadow is readable by user root
• if your platform is DEC-Alpha, you might be facing the following bug:

Here are some hints on what you must consider when receiving error -952:

• Log on to the system and verify that the userid/password have not expired and need to be set. Do this by using the telnet utility from the Unix prompt on a different machine, to establish a connection to the machine where Informix is installed, and go through the authentication process.

Example:

   telnet <informix server hostname>

Renew the password if you get an error saying that the password expired.

• Make sure that all users, including user informix have read permission on /etc/passwd

• Change directory to where Informix, installed and make sure that permission on the executable $INFORMIXDIR/bin/oninit are -rwsr-sr--, where INFORMIXDIR is the environment variable pointing to the directory where the product is installed.

Example:

cd $INFORMIXDIR
ls ./bin/oninit

-rwsr-sr--   1 root     informix 8163428 Jul 23  2003 oninit

• Do the following to correct any permission problem:
  
  • If you have Informix version 7, run the script installserver as user root
  • If you have Informix version 9, run the script installserver as user informix and then execute script RUN_AS_ROOT as user root

• the password is greater than 8 characters, reduce the password length to 8 characters

• Make sure you start the database server as user informix or root

• If Operating System is AIX, make sure /etc/security/passwd is readable by user root

• If Operating System is Linux (RedHat), Solaris or HP 11i, make sure file /etc/shadow is readable by user root

• If your platform is DEC-Alpha, make sure you have the fix for defect 154706 by doing one of the following:
  
  • Install a version of the product where this defect is fixed: 7.31.FD5, 9.40.UC1 or later
  • Contact Informix Technical Support Team and request a fix for this defect

Example:

informix:x:200:200:InformixAdministrator:/home/informix:/bin/ksh

where x represents that the password is a shadow password

Example:

informix:ow3/GUDb8r2rk:12103::::::

Example:

After the update, the entry in the /etc/passwd file will look like the following:

informix:ow3/GUDb8r2rk:200:200:InformixAdministrator:/home/informix:/bin/ksh

This error appears in the IBM® Informix® Dynamic Server (IDS) message log file (ONCONFIG configuration file parameter MSGPATH) and users are not able to connect to the database server.:

listener-thread: err = -27001: Read error occurred during connection attempt.

Common causes and solutions for the error are:

1. The connectivity files in the /INFORMIXTMP directory are not removed.

The files are in the form of : VP.server_name.0100a


server_name
Database server name as was set in INFORMIXSERVER environment variable and associated with the tcp connections.

Solution:

Stop the database server, remove the files from the /INFORMIXTMP directory, and start the database server.

Solution:

As a work around Change the vp class setting for the NETTYPE configuration parameter from CPU to NET.

Solution:

Check and possibly increase settings for the following kernel parameters or parameters equivalent to them depending on Unix platform:

• NOFILES
• SEMMNU
• NFILES
• MAXFILES
• MAXFILE_LIM

Gathering general information

For IBM® Informix® products, gather the following information for any problem:

MustGather: General Information to collect for Informix Family product problems



Down DBSpace / Chunk information 

• Are the chunks stored in an external disk array cabinet (or similar hardware)?
• If more than one chunk has been marked down, are those chunks handled through the same disk controller? (onstat -d , although you may have to check the devices if using links)
• How many other instances exist on this machine? (onstat -g dis)
• Was a new chunk recently added to this instance? (oncheck -pr)
• If there are other instances on the same machine, were a chunk was recently added?
• Is there recent backup of the system? (onstat -g arc, oncheck -pr)
• Is it possible to dial into, or somehow connect to, the system?

• On UNIX or Linux: run ps -ef to collect a list of the currently running processes.
• On UNIX or Linux: run ls -lL to check whether the chunk exists and has the correct permissions. The permissions should be 660 and the owner/group should both be informix.
• On UNIX and Linux: If the chunk exists, run a dd command to see if any errors are reported or whether the chunk is accessible:
  dd if=chunk_path of=your_name bs=2k count=100 iseek=0
  Adjust "bs" to be the page size of the dbspace in question. Adjust iseek if there has been an offset used when the chunk was added. (The above information can be ontained from an onstat -d").

• Run oncheck -pr to gather detailed information about the IDS reserved pages. Some of the useful information from this report are:
  • "Page Size" from PAGE_PZERO
  • MSGPATH, DBSPACETEMP, DUMPDIR, onDBSPACEDOWN from PAGE_CONFIG".
• If the IDS engine is online, run onstat -d.
• If the IDS engine is online, run onstat -b.
• Run oninit -V to obtain the exact IDS version being run.
• On UNIX, run uname -a to obtain the O/S version. If running on AIX, also run oslevel -s.

• Any core files generated during the problem.
• If there is a core file generated, please also supply the binary that was running, which in most cases will be the oninit binary from $INFORMIXDIR/bin directory.
• The whole online.log or the relevant portion from the online.log if it is large.
• Any Assertion file that was reported at the time of the issue.
• Errors reported to the Front End application.
• The relevant hardware log from the machine.

• IBM Support Assistant (ISA)
• Electronic Service Request (ESR)
• FTP to the Enhanced Customer Data Repository (ECuRep)