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· Dec 14, 2023 1m read

InterSystems IRIS does not start after restarting the OS after changing the machine name (host name)

#System Administration #InterSystems IRIS

InterSystems FAQ rubric

If you restart the OS after changing the machine name without stopping InterSystems IRIS (hereinafter referred to as IRIS), a problem occurs when IRIS cannot start.

To get started, delete the <installation directory>\mgr\iris.ids file.

iris.ids file stores the started node name and shared memory information (shared memory ID). It is created when IRIS starts and deleted when stopped (iris stop or iris force). If you stop (restart) the OS without stopping IRIS, iris.ids, which contains IRIS startup information, may remain.

IRIS checks iris.ids during the next startup process. If the machine name has been changed, IRIS will not start properly because the information on the name of the node being started is different from the contents of iris.ids. When stopping (rebooting) the OS after changing the machine name, be sure to stop IRIS in advance.

To prevent unexpected problems, it is ideal to stop IRIS before stopping the OS.

* The same applies to other InterSystems products. 

Discussion (5)3
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Joel Solon · Dec 18, 2023

It is ideal to stop IRIS before stopping the OS. However, if you stop the OS while IRIS is still running, IRIS can handle it. Check the IRIS messages.log after you shut down the OS, and you'll see lines like these:

10/16/23-18:11:04.649 (5940) 1 [Generic.Event] Operating System shutdown! InterSystems IRIS performing fast shutdown.
10/16/23-18:11:06.001 (5940) 1 [Generic.Event] Fast shutdown complete

If your plan is to stop the OS and change the machine name, then definitely shut down IRIS in advance of stopping the OS.

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Joel Solon · Dec 18, 2023

I'm not exactly sure what fast shutdown is so I don't know the answer. I'm also not sure if "iris force" is the same as fast shutdown. I suppose they could be similar. When you do "iris force" IRIS runs an irisstat to capture the pre-force state and writes it to messages.log; fast shutdown doesn't do that.

Edit: I also learned that fast shutdown waits for our system daemons to quiesce whereas iris force doesn't wait. @Eduard Lebedyuk: despite that behavior, maybe iris force takes longer because it runs irisstat.

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