DBSPACETEMP Environment Variable

To override the DBSPACETEMP parameter, you can use the DBSPACETEMP environment variable for both temporary tables and sort files. This environment variable specifies a comma- or colon-separated list of dbspaces in which to place temporary tables for the current session.

It is recommended that you use DBSPACETEMP rather than the PSORT_DBTEMP environment variable to specify sort files for the following reasons:

• DBSPACETEMP typically yields better performance.

  When dbspaces reside on character-special devices (also known as raw disk devices), the database server uses unbuffered disk access. I/O is faster to unbuffered devices than to regular (buffered) operating-system files because the database server manages the I/O operation directly.

• PSORT_DBTEMP specifies one or more operating-system directories in which to place sort files.

  These operating-system files can unexpectedly fill on your computer because the database server does not manage them.