Relative Path Names

You can create a database using a relative or fully qualified path name for each of the files for the database.

Sybase recommends that you create databases with relative path names. If you specify absolute path names, you will not be able to move files to a different path name without backing up and restoring the database.

If your database is on UNIX, you can define a symbolic link for each path name, as described in as described in Reference: Statements and Options > SQL Statements> CREATE DATABASE statement.

If you omit the directory path, Sybase IQ locates the files as follows:

The catalog store is created relative to the working directory of the server.
The IQ store, temporary store, and message log files are created in the same directory as, or relative to, the catalog store.
The transaction log is created in the same directory as the catalog store. (This also occurs if you do not specify any file name.) However, you should place it on a different physical device from the catalog store and IQ store, on the same physical machine.

Note: You must start the database server from the directory where the database is located, for any database created with a relative path name. Using a configuration file to start the server ensures that you start the server from a consistent location.