System procedures are:
Shortcuts for retrieving information from the system tables
Mechanisms for performing database administration and other tasks that involve updating system tables
Usually, system tables can be updated only through stored procedures. A system administrator can allow direct updates of system tables by changing a configuration variable and issuing the reconfigure with override command. See Chapter 17, “Managing User Permissions,” in the System Administration Guide: Volume 1.
The names of system procedures begin with “sp_”. They are created by the installmaster script in the sybsystemprocs database during Adaptive Server installation. The name of the system procedure usually indicates its purpose. For example sp_addalias adds an alias.
