Automatic database expansion

To enable automatic expansion, install the installdbextend script from $SYBASE/$SYBASE_ASE/scripts.

The Automatic Expansion tab in the Database Device Properties dialog allows you to install automatic database expansion procedures on database/segment pairs and devices.

The Set Policies for Automatic Expansion option defines site-specific policies for individual segments and devices, and sets the threshold at which a database, segment, or device should fire. The two optional parameters are:

Grow By – is the rate, in unit specifiers or percentage values, at which the database grows at each expansion attempt.

To turn off the automatic growth feature on a particular device, specify 0 for growby or maxsize. If you do not specify a value for growby, the default expansion rate is used.
Max Size – is the maximum size of the segment, after which no further expansion occurs.

You can set maxsize to a value larger than the total amount of disk space available on the device, but actual expansion is limited to the available disk space at the time expansion is attempted.

After you set up the database for automatic expansion, when a database grows to its free space threshold, internal mechanisms fire, increasing the size of the database by the amount of space your expansion policies specify. The automatic expansion process measures the amount of room left on all devices bound to the database. If there is sufficient room on the devices, the database continues to grow. If any devices are configured for expansion, those devices expand next. Finally, the database is expanded on those devices.This automatic expansion process runs as a background task and generates informational messages in the server's error log about its progress.

See sp_dbextend in the Reference Manual: Procedures for more information about Database Device Properties