The utility database is a phantom database with no physical representation. This feature allows you to execute database file administration statements such as CREATE DATABASE without first connecting to an existing physical database. The utility database has no database file, and therefore it cannot contain data.

The utility database is named utility_db. If you attempt to create or start a database with this name, the operation fails.

Executing the following statement after connecting to the utility database creates a database named new.db in the directory c:\temp.

CREATE DATABASE 'c:\\temp\\new.db';

See CREATE DATABASE statement.

You can also retrieve values of connection properties and server properties using the utility database.

For example, executing the following statement against the utility database returns the default collation sequence, which will be used when creating a database:

SELECT PROPERTY( 'DefaultCollation' );

For information about connection and server properties, see Understanding database properties.

Allowed statements for the utility database

The following are the only statements that you can execute when connected to the utility database:

• ALTER DATABASE dbfile ALTER TRANSACTION LOG
• CREATE DATABASE
• CREATE DECRYPTED FILE
• CREATE ENCRYPTED FILE
• DROP DATABASE
• CREATE USER DBA IDENTIFIED BY new-password
• RESTORE DATABASE
• REVOKE CONNECT FROM DBA
• SELECT (with no FROM or WHERE clauses)
• START DATABASE
• STOP DATABASE
• STOP ENGINE