Most properties can be set on a system-wide basis; that is, you set a property for the entire system and all its databases and conglomerates, if this is applicable. Some properties, such as error handling and automatic booting, can be configured only in this way, since they apply to the entire system. (For information about the Derby system, see Derby system.)
Some properties can also be set on a database-wide basis. That is, the property is true for the selected database only and not for the other databases in the system unless it is set individually within each of them.
For properties that affect conglomerates, changing the value of such properties affects only conglomerates that are created after the change. Conglomerates created earlier are unaffected.