Starting SAP ASE in Master-Recover Mode

Start SAP ASE in master-recover mode with the dataserver -m (UNIX and Windows) option.

On UNIX platforms – make a copy of the runserver file, naming it m_RUN_server_name. Edit the new file, adding the parameter -m to the dataserver command line. Then start the server in master-recover mode:
```
startserver -f m_RUN_server_name
```
On Windows – start SAP ASE from the command line using the sqlsrver command. Specify the -m parameter in addition to other necessary parameters. For example:
```
sqlsrver.exe -dD:\new_user\DATA\MASTER.dat -sPIANO -eD:\new_user\install\errorlog -iD:\new_user\ini -MD:\new_user -m
```

See the Utility Guide for the complete syntax of these commands.

When you start SAP ASE in master-recover mode, only one login of one user—the system administrator—is allowed. Immediately following a dataserver command on the master database, only the “sa” account exists, and its password is NULL.

Warning! Some sites have automatic jobs that log in to the server at start-up with the “sa” login. Be sure these are disabled.

Master-recover mode is necessary because the generic master database created with dataserver does not match the actual situation in SAP ASE. For example, the database does not know about any of your database devices. Any operations on the master database could make recovery much more complicated and time-consuming, if not impossible.

An SAP ASE started in master-recover mode is automatically configured to allow direct updates to the system tables. Certain other operations are disallowed.

Warning! Do not make ad hoc changes to system tables—some changes can render SAP ASE unable to run. Make only the changes described in this chapter, and always make the changes in a user-defined transaction.