Initialize=initialize-options Noinitialize Allows you to specify initialization options. If more than one option is specified, separate the options with a comma, and enclose the list of options within parentheses. The following options are available for the Initialize qualifier: o Free_Pages The Initialize=Free_Pages qualifier initializes database pages that do not contain data in the selected storage areas (that have a uniform page format). You can use the Initialize=Free_ Pages qualifier to correct BADPTLARE errors found by the RMU Verify command and also to free pages from a table that has many deleted rows. If you specify the default, the Noinitialize qualifier, no database pages are initialized. Frequently, you will receive one or more RMU-W-ABMBITTERR error messages after you issue the RMU Repair command with the Initialize=Free_Pages qualifier. This occurs because the initialization of pages can create new ABM errors. Correct these errors by issuing the RMU Repair command with the Abm qualifier. (However, note that you cannot specify the Initialize=Free_Pages qualifier and the Abm qualifier on the same command line.) If you ignore the RMU-W-ABMBITTERR error messages, extra I/O operations will be performed (one for each RMU-W-ABMBITTERR error you received) when a database query causes a sequential scan of an entire table. If a table residing in a storage area that has a uniform page format is frequently accessed sequentially, the cost of the sequential access is determined by the number of allocated pages. If the maximum size allocated for the table is much larger than the table's average size, the cost of the sequential access can be excessive. By using the RMU Repair command with the Initialize=Free_Pages qualifier, you can purge the allocated but unused database pages from the table. In some cases, there may be a decrease in performance when you insert new data into the table after using this option. As with all Repair options, you should test the performance of the database after executing the command and be prepared to restore the backup made before executing the Repair command if you find that the command results in decreased performance. The initialization of free pages requires access to the Oracle Rdb system tables. You should not initialize free pages until you know that the RDB$SYSTEM storage area (where the system tables are stored) is not corrupted. o Larea_Parameters=options-file This option specifies an options file (default file extension .opt) that contains a list of logical areas and parameter values that RMU Repair uses to update the area inventory page (AIP) before it builds the space area management (SPAM) pages. The Larea_Parameters options file contains lines in the following format: name [/Areas=name][/Delete][/[No]Thresholds=(n[,n[,n]])[/Length=n][/Type=option] A comment can be appended to the line (an exclamation point (!) is the comment character), and a line can be continued (as in DCL) by ending it with a hyphen (-). The logical area can be specified by name or identification number (ID). The logical area named must be present in the AIP, or an error is generated. The Larea_Parameters options are further described as follows: - Areas=name Restricts this line to the logical area that resides in the specified storage area. The storage area can be specified by name or ID. By default, all logical areas with a matching name are altered independently of the storage area in which they reside. You can specify storage area ID numbers with the Areas qualifier. - Delete Specifies that the logical area should be marked as deleted. You will corrupt your database if you delete a logical area that is referenced by Oracle Rdb metadata. - Length=n The Initialize=Length option specifies the record length to store in the logical area inventory entry. RMU Repair uses this value to calculate SPAM thresholds. When columns are deleted from or added to a table, the record length stored in the logical area inventory entry is not updated. Therefore the search for space needed to store a new record may be inefficient, and the SPAM thresholds will not be set properly. You can solve this problem by first correcting the length in the logical area inventory entry, then generating corrected SPAM pages using the RMU Repair command. See Example 2 in the Examples help entry under this command. - Thresholds=(n [,n [,n]]) NoThresholds This option specifies the logical area SPAM thresholds. This is useful only for logical areas that reside in a storage area with a uniform page format. If thresholds are set, they are ignored in a storage area with a mixed page format. See the Oracle Rdb7 Guide to Database Performance and Tuning for information on setting SPAM thresholds. The Nothresholds option specifies that logical area thresholds be disabled. - Type=keyword By specifying a Type, you can update the on-disk logical area type in the AIP. For databases created prior to Oracle Rdb release 7.0.1, the logical area type information in the AIP is unknown. However, the RMU Show Statistics utility depends on this information to display information on a per-logical-area basis. A logical area is a table, B-tree index, hash index, or any partition of one of these. In order to update the on-disk logical area type in the AIP, specify the type as follows: Type=Table Specifies that the logical area is a data table, such as is created with the SQL CREATE TABLE statement. Type=Btree Specifies that the logical area is a B-tree index, such as is created with the SQL CREATE INDEX TYPE IS SORTED statement. Type=Hash Specifies that the logical area is a hash index, such as is created with the SQL CREATE INDEX TYPE IS HASHED statement. Type=System Specifies that the logical area is a system record that is used to identify hash buckets. Users cannot explicitly create this type of logical area. This type should not be used for the RDB$SYSTEM logical areas. It does not identify system relations. Type=Blob Specifies that the logical area is a BLOB (LIST OF BYTE VARYING) repository. There is no error checking of the type specified for a logical area. The specified type does not affect the collection of statistics, nor does it affect the readying of the affected logical areas. However, an incorrect type will cause incorrect statistics to be reported by the RMU Show Statistics utility. o Only_Larea_Type The Initialize=Only_Larea_Type option specifies that only the logical area type field is to be updated in the area inventory page (AIP). o Snapshots The Snapshots option allows you to create and initialize new snapshot files. In addition, it removes corrupt snapshot area pages from the Corrupt Page Table (CPT). This is much faster than using the RMU Restore command to do the same thing, especially when just one snapshot file is lost and needs to be created again. The default is not to create new files. When you specify the Confirm option with the Initialize=Snapshots option (Initialize=Snapshots=Confirm), you can use the RMU Repair command not only to initialize, but also to optionally rename, move, or change the allocation of snapshot files. These operations might be necessary when a disk with a snapshot file has a hardware problem or is removed in a hardware upgrade, or when a snapshot file has grown too large and you want to truncate it. The Confirm option causes RMU Repair to prompt you for a name and allocation for one or more snapshot files. If you use the Areas qualifier, you can select the snapshot files in the database that you want to modify. If you omit the Areas qualifier, all the snapshot files for the database are initialized and RMU Repair prompts you interactively for an alternative file name and allocation for each snapshot file. By specifying a new file name for a snapshot file, you can change the location of the snapshot file. By specifying a new allocation for a snapshot file, you can truncate a snapshot file or make it larger. o Tsns The Initialize=Tsns option resets the database transaction state. The default is to not alter the transaction state. After-image journaling is disabled when you specify the Initialize=Tsns option. You must explicitly enable after-image journaling after the RMU Repair command completes if you want journaling enabled. This operation is useful when the database transaction sequence number (TSN) approaches the maximum allowable value and the TSN values must be initialized to zero. The TSN value is contained in a quadword with the following decimal format: high longword : low longword The high longword can hold a maximum user value of 32768 (215) and the low longword can hold a maximum user value of 4,294,967,295 (232). A portion of the high-longword is used by Oracle Rdb for overhead. Initialization of the TSN values requires reading and writing to each page of the database, so the Areas qualifier is not meaningful. It also requires initialization of the snapshot areas even if the Snapshots option has not been specified. The Tsns initialization option carries the following restrictions: - It cannot be performed if the Replication Option for Rdb is being used unless all transfers have been completed. RMU Repair will ask for confirmation if an RDB$TRANSFERS table is defined. - Old journal files will not be applicable to this repaired database. After TSNs have been initialized, you must reenable after-image journaling if you want journaling enabled. After the RMU Repair command completes, a full and complete backup operation should be performed on the database as soon as is practical. This operation ensures that new journaled changes can be applied to the restored database in the event that a restore operation should become necessary.