Allocating Disk Space

This section explains how to allocate disk space for the database server. Read the following sections before you allocate disk space:

• Unbuffered or Buffered Disk Access on UNIX
• Amount of Disk Space Needed to Store Data
• Disk-Layout Guidelines

Before the database server can use disk space, you might need to perform these tasks:

• Initializing disk space
• Creating a dbspace
• Adding a chunk to an existing dbspace
• Mirroring an existing dbspace

You can allocate either an empty file or a portion of raw disk for database server disk space.

If you allocate raw disk space, It is recommended that you use the ln command to create a link between the character-special device name and another filename. For more information on this topic, see Creating Standard Device Names.

Using a UNIX file and its inherent operating-system interface for database server disk space also is referred to as using cooked space.