The master device is the default device in a newly installed Adaptive Server. This means that, if you create any databases (including the proxy databases used by Failover), they are automatically created on the master device. However, adding user databases to master makes it more difficult to restore the master device from a system failure. To make sure that the master device contains as few extraneous user databases as possible, create a new device using disk init (make sure this device is on a dedicated shared disk). Use sp_diskdefault to specify the new device as the default before you configure Adaptive Server as a companion for failover. For example, to add a new default device named money_default1 to the MONEY1 Adaptive Server, enter:
sp_diskdefault money1_default1, defaulton
The master device continues to also be a default device until you suspend it as the default device:
sp_diskdefault master, defaultoff
See the Adaptive Server Reference Manual for more information about disk init and sp_diskdefault.
