A database system that incorporates numerous features that reduce the total cost of maintaining the database system is provided. The database system includes a database appliance that executes a database server on a platform that includes a special purpose operating system specifically tailored to the services required by the database server. The hardware may also be specially tailored to the services required by the database server. The database sever may be generated from another database server by modifying the code of the other database server optimize the code for execution on said database appliance. According to another aspect, the database appliance includes an operating system and a database server generated from another database server by modifying the code of the other database server optimize the code for execution on said database appliance.