Stored Procedures Used to Manage Database Devices

In addition to using SQL Enterprise Manager, you can also administer database devices using the DISK INIT statement and several system stored procedures. The DISK INIT statement is used to reserve and format physical storage for database devices. A summary of the stored procedures follows. For more information on each, see the Microsoft SQL Server Transact-SQL Reference.

Note that you are not required to use the DISK INIT statement or stored procedures to manage database devices. In most cases, SQL Enterprise Manager is the recommended tool.

Stored procedure
Description
sp_diskdefault Sets a database device's status to indicate whether the device can be used for database storage when the user does not specify a database device or specifies DEFAULT with the CREATE DATABASE or ALTER DATABASE statement.
sp_dropdevice Removes a SQL Server database device or dump device.
sp_helpdevice Reports information about SQL Server database devices and dump devices.
sp_logdevice Puts the syslogs system table, which contains the transaction log, on a separate database device.