Error 5115

Severity

16

Message text

I/O error during disk initialization.  PHYSNAME '%.*s' may be incorrect or %ld (VSTART + SIZE) may exceed the size of the device.  Please consult the SQL Server error log for more details.

NoteThis error may be caused by a hardware problem.

Explanation

This error occurs when a disk init command fails. It can occur for the following reasons:

Action

  1. Check the Adaptive Server error log for information that might help determine the cause of the error.

  2. If necessary, check the items mentioned in the sections below.

  3. Make any needed changes and then run the command again.


Incorrect device name

Make sure you have the correct physical device name. Refer to the Adaptive Server installation and configuration guide for your platform or “Specifying a physical device name with disk init” in the System Administration Guide: Volume 1 in the chapter “Initializing Database Devices” for instructions.


Incorrect size

The size parameter of the disk init command must be specified in units of 2K blocks in version 12.0.x and earlier; or Kilobytes (k or K), Megabytes (m or M), or Gigabytes (g or G) in version 12.5 and later.

Sizing 2K units

There are 512 2K blocks in 1MB. Use the formula:

#_of_Megabytes * #_of_data_pages_per_Megabyte = #_of_2K_blocks

For example, to initialize a 10MB Sybase device, specify 5120 for the size:

10MB * 512 = 5120

To determine the number of 2K blocks to use for a raw partition on a UNIX system, convert the size of the partition, in sectors, to 2K blocks. The size of a sector varies on different UNIX systems. For example, it is 512 bytes on Sun, so use sectors/4 for the size parameter. It is 1024 bytes on HP, so use sectors/2. Also, see the information below about virtual device numbers.

You must restart Adaptive Server or use a different virtual device number when you reissue the disk init command.

Refer to the Adaptive Server installation and configuration guide for your platform for more information about Sybase and your operating system’s partitions.

NoteNot all operating systems have partitions as described above.


Virtual device number

The vdevno parameter of the disk init command must be unique. Also, if a disk init command fails, Adaptive Server saves the vdevno used, even though the disk init command failed. To make the vdevno available again, restart Adaptive Server. Use sp_helpdevice to determine which virtual device numbers have been used.

The available number of virtual devices is equal to the number of configured devices minus one. For example, if the number of devices configuration parameter is set to 10, then there are 9 available devices, 1 through 9.


Permission problem

If Adaptive Server was started using the “sybase” account, there must be permission to write to the raw partition or to create a file in the directory specified by disk init. Raw partitions used by Sybase should always be owned by the “sybase” account. Correct the permissions problem and execute the command again, using a different vdevno. Refer to “Virtual device number” for more information.


UNIX kernel

If the UNIX kernel (on Sun Solaris 2.x systems only) is not configured for asynchronous I/O, the 5115 error may occur only if your master device is on a UNIX file, and you are trying to do a disk init on a raw partition. Have your UNIX administrator rebuild the kernel to allow for asynchronous I/O. Refer to “Error 823” for more information.

Versions in which this error is raised

All versions