Help Is On The Way... Not!

Posted on January 26, 2006 4:08 PM

Just recently we did a restore of a DB2 database from one AIX system to another. The restore wasn't due to any disaster. We're setting up a new development system and we wanted to use this as an opportunity to test our recovery strategy. Lots of good stuff is going on. I learned how to get the new system to pull the backup straight out of TSM using the -fromnode and -fromowner options. This means I don't have to restore the backup file to the filesystem, then ftp it over to the new system, then restore the database from the file. One of the problems I did encounter was when I tried to rollforward the database using the log files that are also in TSM. For some reason, even though DB2 knows how to get the backup, it is having some problem retrieving the log files. My suspicion is that there is something else that needs to be done in the TSM configuration or that something with the configuration is not correct. After trying twice with no luck, I decided to give up for now ™, and rollforward with log files retrieved manually. With the database up and working, I alerted the development team that it was ready for them to do some damage.

The lead developer came back quickly, saying that he got an error message from DB2 when he tried to connect:

Code:

SQL0969N There is no message text corresponding to SQL error "-2079391743" in the message file on this workstation. The error was returned from module "SQLEUCCM" with original tokens "".

That's a beauty, isn't it?

Anyone who has worked with DB2 for a while is probably used to error messages that, to say the least, are no help at all. The really aggravating ones are the messages that are simply telling you that DB2 doesn't really know what the problem is, like this one is doing in a way. The great thing about this error message is that it points to this "SQLEUCCM" module, but if you do a quick search on Google, you'll find that there aren't too many websites that contain that particular string of characters. The IBM DB2 Help Center website returns no results if you search for it there. I find it perplexing that DB2 will spit out an error message that you can find no reference to on the support website. Well, now there's one more website that does mention it.

I did find a useful link to the International DB2 Users Group website, which points to a problem with file permissions. In my own defense, I had assumed that the problem had to be permission related, because I could connect with no problem to the database using my own account and DB2 credentials, but if I used another user's account (one that was not SYSADM) I had the same problem, even when I tried to use my own DB2 credentials. This seemed to suggest that the problem was not connected to the AUTHID but to the actual account using the AUTHID. After some detective work, I found that only the group and the owner of the root database directory had read and execute on the directory. So if you're reading this because you have this message staring you in the face, check the permissions of the directories where your database is located, and any directories that will hold the tablespaces, if you put them in a different location.

Add/View Comments (2)

Tags: 2079391743, AIX, DB2, SQLEUCCM, SysAdmin, TSM

Technology Is A Cruel Master

Posted on January 11, 2006 4:51 PM

I have told my wife that if we ever won the lottery, and I'm talking millions of dollars here, I wouldn't care if I ever used a computer again. She expressed her doubts. It is true; I really like all the different things that I can do with a computer. I can share pictures with my friends and family. I can edit videos taken with my digital camcorder and make them available through various means for home viewing or for sharing on the web. I can keep track of my finances. I can write little programs that make my life easier.
more...

Add/View Comments (1)

Tags: Lottery, Rant, Technology

Resolutions, anyone?

Posted on January 2, 2006 9:36 AM

It is the second day of the new year and I don’t have to go to work today because it is our first company holiday of 2006. So what will I get done today? I have a nice little list that I made for myself because I find that if I don’t make a list, the things that I would like to get done don’t.

I have some semi-resolutions for this new year as well. I want to get into better shape. I am 35 years old now, and I am probably in the worst shape of my life. I don’t look that bad, in my opinion. I’ve always had the body type that looks like I am in decent shape, but looks can be deceiving. I’m tired of talking about how I used to work out a lot. It’s been many years since I worked out in a regular routine. I have a gym membership and my gym is only 1 mile away or so from my house. These days, I really have no excuse for not using my gym membership, except for laziness.

Since they say that about 85% of people who make New Years resolutions fail, I need to give myself a couple easy ones to knock out. The working out resolution is one of the harder ones, believe it or not. Another thing I’d like to do this year is, be more organized. There are a couple of hotspots around my house that show how organized I am. My office, here on the 2nd of January, 2006, is a disgrace. One of my failings is that if I have a clear horizontal space, something gets put on it. I have a huge desk that is mostly used to stack papers and other sundry objects, until I just can’t see the surface any more. Don’t get me started on the garage, or the basement, or my closet, or the attic. :) My hope is that when I start to get better organized, I will start Getting Things Done. ™

Resolution #3, if we’re counting, is to write more. When I was in school, oh so long ago, my writing skills were pretty good. I remember when I first transferred to the Middletown campus of PSU, I had to take an English writing test. I think the outcome of that was that I needed to work on my writing. However, I know that most people who took that test probably received the same result or worse. I had an English 101 class in my first year of college, after leaving the Marines, and I know that my basic writing skills at that time were better than a lot of my classmates who had just graduated from high school. One of my biggest problems is converting what I think are coherent thoughts and ideas to words on the screen or on paper. Typically I will have a collection of thoughts coagulating in my brain and when I take the time to sit down and write them out, I lose what I thought was a coherent chain of ideas. I think it has something to do with the process of changing gears from free thinking to the mechanics of grammar and spelling and all the mundane parts of writing that will come naturally once I get into the habit of just sitting down and banging the words out.

Part and parcel to writing, is reading. I’ve been reading the novel, Lonesome Dove for the last few weeks. The version that I have is in Spanish, so I’m not sure how much that will help my English vocabulary and grammar. My Spanish is much worse than my English, but it’s getting better, judging by how many times I have to crack open my Spanish-English dictionary now, compared to when I started.

The final resolution for today is to get better at finishing these posts. I usually reach a point where I just don’t have anything else to write, and I have to leave the reader at an abrupt stop. This paragraph is my lame attempt at a conclusion for this post. :) Add/View Comments (2)

Tags: resolutions

My Little Girl

Posted on January 1, 2006 11:07 PM

My little girl, I felt you tonight.

We were watching television in the living room. Your mommy was sitting on the loveseat with her legs stretched out straight because her belly is getting bigger these days and for some reason she is more comfortable in that position. She told me that somebody was moving around and I put my hand on her belly and I felt you inside, not kicking, just tapping lightly. You were probably just moving around, getting comfortable in there, but I felt you. I hope that someday when you are older you will read this and know that it will be a while before I get to meet you in person, but I already love you.
Add/View Comments

Happy New Year

Posted on January 1, 2006 7:17 PM

The new year is starting out great. On Thursday we went for the ultrasound. It looks like we are going to have a girl. The doctors were very confident. The number one concern in my heart as I watched the little person on the screen was that every thing was all right. I'm sure that there's only so much they can see with an ultrasound, but they said that from what they could see everything looks good.

I was impressed by all the things that the ultrasound tech pointed out to us. It reminded me of my time working in the Pentagon. There were some photo intelligence people in my shop, and I was always amazed by what they could identify on a grainy satellite photo.

At one point they turned on the 3d imaging. That's was really cool. The little girl wasn't cooperating fully. She kept putting her arm up in front of her face.

We've got a lot to do around her to get ready for her arrival. We've already moved all the old furniture out of the bedroom that will be hers. Angela has spent some time deciding what shade of pink that she wants to paint the walls. I believe that will be my job to do next weekend. I am looking forward to all the things that you get to do with a daughter. It looks like I'm going to have a chance to build one of those super big doll houses that you see on TV and in the movies.

The holiday season is winding down. We had a great get-together with some friends here at the house for New Years. We played some games, one of which was Charades. Since we were all couples, we decided to make the teams boys vs. girls. Let me just say that the girls spanked the boys most of the games we played. It seemed like whenever the boys came up with something that we thought would be incredibly hard for the girls to get, they had no problem. I can't figure out if we (the boys) were just bad at it, or if the girls were especially good. It was probably a little of both. Of course, it was fun watching some of the demonstrations. I think more memorable ones were Blake's "goblin" and Amy's rendition of "Gangsta's Paradise". I don't know why I didn't set up the camera for that.

Add/View Comments