PRB: Disk Init: Cannot Create New Device with vdevno=10

ID Number: Q42629

1.00 1.10 1.11 4.20

OS/2

Summary:

SYMPTOMS

Disk init will fail if you try to create a device by setting

vdevno=10:

disk init name = 'log_device',

physname = "c:\sql\data\morelogs.dat",

size = 2048,

vdevno = 10

Message number is 5146.

CAUSE

With versions of SQL Server earlier than version 4.2, there is a

limit of 10 devices, including the master, but not including the

dump devices.

You can add 9 of your own devices (dump devices do not count here)

for a total of 10 "data" devices.

RESOLUTION

To set up these devices more efficiently, you can create the

devices with a larger amount of storage per device. For example,

instead of creating a 2 MB device, create a device with 10 MB (or

larger if possible). A single device can be as large as the free

space on the computer.

More Information:

The maximum limit of devices for SQL Server version 4.2 has been

increased to 256, although the practical limit is dependent on the

number of threads supported by the version of OS/2 and the number of

threads being used by other SQL Server configuration values. For OS/2

1.3, the limit is typically around 48. See the "Microsoft SQL Server

System Administrator's Guide" (page 34 for version 4.2) for more

information. Also, be aware that with version 4.2, you must use

"sp_configure devices" to set the configured limit higher if you are

already using as many devices that have been configured. Note that

this setting uses memory even if the disks have not yet been

initialized, so do not set it arbitrarily high. Set it only as high as

needed.

Additional reference words: 1.00 1.10 1.11 4.20