In SQL Anywhere, you can set the default column value to be GLOBAL AUTOINCREMENT. You can use this default for any column in which you want to maintain unique values, but it is particularly useful for primary keys. This feature is intended to simplify the task of generating unique values in setups where data is being replicated among multiple databases, typically by MobiLink synchronization.

When you specify default global autoincrement, the domain of values for that column is partitioned. Each partition contains the same number of values. For example, if you set the partition size for an integer column in a database to 1000, one partition extends from 1001 to 2000, the next from 2001 to 3000, and so on.

You assign each copy of the database a unique global database identification number. SQL Anywhere supplies default values in a database only from the partition uniquely identified by that database's number. For example, if you assigned the database in the above example the identity number 10, the default values in that database would be chosen in the range 10001-11000. Another copy of the database, assigned the identification number 11, would supply default value for the same column in the range 11001-12000.