Utility databases

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 on the utility database returns the default collation sequence that is used when creating a database:

SELECT PROPERTY( 'DefaultCollation' );

For information about connection and database server properties, see:

In a mirroring system sometimes you cannot connect to a database even though the database server is running. In these cases, you can connect to the utility database to shut down the server or to force a database to become the primary server. See Stopping a database server in a mirroring system and Forcing a database server to become the primary server.

Allowed statements for the utility database

Only the following statements can be executed when connected to the utility database:

ALTER DATABASE dbfile ALTER TRANSACTION LOG. See ALTER DATABASE statement.
CREATE DATABASE statement. See CREATE DATABASE statement.
CREATE DECRYPTED DATABASE statement. See CREATE DECRYPTED DATABASE statement.
CREATE DECRYPTED FILE statement. See CREATE DECRYPTED FILE statement.
CREATE ENCRYPTED DATABASE statement. See CREATE ENCRYPTED DATABASE statement.
CREATE ENCRYPTED FILE statement. See CREATE ENCRYPTED FILE statement.
DROP DATABASE statement. See DROP DATABASE statement.
CREATE USER DBA IDENTIFIED BY new-password. See CREATE USER statement.
RESTORE DATABASE statement. See RESTORE DATABASE statement.
REVOKE CONNECT FROM DBA. See REVOKE statement.
SET TEMPORARY OPTION progress_messages = [ OFF | RAW | FORMATTED ]. See SET OPTION statement.
SELECT statement without a FROM or WHERE clause. See SELECT statement.
START DATABASE statement. See START DATABASE statement.
STOP DATABASE statement. See STOP DATABASE statement.
STOP SERVER statement. See STOP SERVER statement.

Utility databases

Allowed statements for the utility database

See also