SQL/MP Installation and Management Guide

Installing SQL/MP
HP NonStop SQL/MP Installation and Management Guide—523353-004
2-5
Initializing SQL/MP
By default, the system catalog resides on the subvolume $SYSTEM.SQL;
however, you can specify an alternative volume and subvolume.
The system catalog contains a table called CATALOGS, which is the system
directory of catalogs. If you put the system catalog on a volume other than
$SYSTEM, SQL/MP puts the CATALOGS table on a subvolume named SQL on
the same volume as the rest of the system catalog.
If you want the system catalog to reside on the default location ($SYSTEM.SQL),
enter this command at the SQLCI prompt:
>> CREATE SYSTEM CATALOG;
If you want the system catalog to reside on a volume or subvolume other than the
default location, enter this command at the SQLCI prompt:
>> CREATE SYSTEM CATALOG $vol.subvol;
In this command, $vol.subvol is a Guardian volume and subvolume name. If
you do not specify a subvolume, the RDBMS uses the name SQL by default. If you
specify a subvolume other than SQL, the RDBMS places all system catalog tables
except CATALOGS on the subvolume you specify and places the CATALOGS table
on a subvolume named SQL, on the same volume as the other catalog tables.
If you are installing SQL/MP on a system using the HP NonStop Storage
Management Foundation (SMF), and you want to ensure that you can fall back to a
non-SMF system, you should make sure that the system catalog tables reside on
one physical volume. If you specify a virtual volume for the system catalog, SMF
can distribute the system catalog tables among multiple physical volumes in the
storage pool. When this configuration is in place, there is no guarantee that you
can return to using a nonvirtual volume. When you are certain you will not need to
fall back to a non-SMF system, you can specify a virtual volume for the system
catalog tables without being concerned with the physical location of the files.
To ensure that the system catalog tables reside on one physical volume, you can
specify a direct volume that is not in any storage pool, or you can use the
PHYSVOL option, as follows:
>> CREATE SYSTEM CATALOG $virtual_vol.subvol
PHYSVOL $physical_vol;
With the PHYSVOL option, you can specify only the volume name. Also, the virtual
volume specified with the CREATE SYSTEM CATALOG clause must be
associated with the same storage pool that contains the physical volume specified
with PHYSVOL. For more information about using this option, see the SQL/MP
Reference Manual and the Storage Management Foundation User’s Guide.
Note. It is recommended that you do not place the system catalog on the $SYSTEM
volume. When the system catalog resides on another volume, the $SYSTEM volume can
function as a nonaudited volume and can also be rebuilt from a system image tape (SIT),
in case of disaster, without affecting the SQL/MP catalog structure.