ASA Database Administration Guide
The Database Server
The database server
Database options
Starts the named database as read-only. No changes to the database(s) are allowed: the server does not modify the database file(s) and transaction log files. This option is position dependent.
{ dbsrv9 | dbeng9 } -r ...
All operating systems and servers.
Opens all database files as read-only with the exception of the temporary file when the option is specified before any database names on the command line. If the -r server option is specified after a database name, only that specific database is read-only. You can make changes on temporary tables, but ROLLBACK has no effect, since the transaction and rollback logs are disabled.
Databases distributed on CD-ROM devices, and compressed databases are examples of database files that cannot be modified. You can either create a write file to allow changes to the database outside the database file, or run in read-only mode.
If you attempt to modify the database, for example with an INSERT or DELETE statement, a SQLSTATE_READ_ONLY_DATABASE error is returned.
Databases that require recovery cannot be started in read-only mode. For example, database files created using an online backup cannot be started in read-only mode if there were any open transactions when the backup was started, since these transactions would require recovery when the backup copy is started.
To open two databases in read-only mode
dbeng9 -r database1.db database2.db
To open only the first of two databases in read-only mode.
dbeng9 database1.db -r database2.db