Using Formatting Characters in a Pathname

When you alter a dbslice and add more than one dbspace to each coserver, use embedded formatting characters in the pathname to generate uniform chunk names for the dbspaces that make up a dbslice. The pathname specification with the embedded formatting characters is referred to as a pathname_format. A pathname format generates unique chunk names for all of the dbspaces in a dbslice.

You can embed the following formatting characters within a pathname format. The onutil utility substitutes values stored internally for the %c, %n, and %o formatting characters:

• Use the %c formatting character to generate a pathname with the coserver number embedded in it.
• Use the %n formatting character to generate a pathname with the host name of the node, or node name, embedded in it.
• Use the %o formatting character to generate a pathname with the dbspace ordinal number embedded in it. The database server automatically generates the dbspace ordinal number when you add dbspaces to a dbslice. The ordinal number indicates the order in which the dbspaces were created.
• Use the %r(first..last) formatting characters to generate unique pathnames or chunk names for each dbspace on a coserver. You can create multiple uniform dbspaces per coserver within the same dbslice.
• The following rules describe how to combine the formatting characters:
  • You can combine the %r(first..last) formatting characters with any number of %c, %n, and %o formatting characters in a single dbslice component.
  • You can specify multiple instances of the %c, %n, and %o formatting characters in a single dbslice component.
  • You can specify the %r(first..last) formatting characters only once in a pathname format.