D.15 RDB$FORMATS

RDB$FORMATS stores information about changes in tables. Each time any metadata change to a table is committed, it gets a new format number. When the format number of any table reaches 255, or any view 32,000, the entire database becomes inoperable. To return to normal, the database must be backed up with the gbak utility and restored from that backup copy.

Column Name Data Type Description
RDB$RELATION_ID SMALLINT Table or view identifier
RDB$FORMAT SMALLINT Table format identifier — maximum 255 for tables, 32,000 for views. The critical time comes when this number approaches 255 for any table or 32,000 for any view
RDB$DESCRIPTOR BLOB FORMAT Stores column names and data attributes as BLOB, as they were at the time the format record was created