Initializing Database Devices

A database device stores the objects that make up databases.

The term device does not necessarily refer to a distinct physical device: it can refer to any piece of a disk (such as a disk partition) or a file in the file system that is used to store databases and their objects.

Each database device or file must be prepared and made known to SAP ASE before it can be used for database storage. This process is called initialization.

After a database device has been initialized, it can be:

Allocated to the default pool of devices for the create and alter database commands
Assigned to the pool of space available to a user database
Assigned to a user database and used to store one or more database objects
Assigned to store a database’s transaction logs

Using the disk init command
System administrators use the disk init command to initialize new database devices with the disk init command.
Getting Information about Devices
sp_helpdevice provides information about the devices in the sysdevices table.
Dropping devices
Use sp_dropdevice to drop database and dump devices.
Designating Default Devices
To create a pool of default database devices to be used by all SAP ASE users for creating databases, use sp_diskdefault after the devices are initialized.
Increasing the Size of Devices with disk resize
The disk resize command allows you to increase the size of your database devices dynamically, rather than initializing a new device.