dbsrv17 stops after disconnecting a transaction

[Former Member]

Having successfully started the database using the following command:

$ /opt/sqlanywhere17/bin64s/dbsrv17 -ga -x tcpip(port=49153) -n ftnode_sa /home/sa/sqlany17/ftnode_sa.db
SQL Anywhere Network Server Version 17.0.4.2053
Copyright (c) 2016 SAP SE or an SAP affiliate company.
All rights reserved.
Use of this software is governed by the SAP Software Use Rights Agreement.
Refer to http://global.sap.com/corporate-en/our-company/agreements/index.epx.
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Database "ftnode_sa" (ftnode_sa.db) started at Thu Jul 13 2017 23:49
Database server started at Thu Jul 13 2017 23:49
Trying to start SharedMemory link ...
    SharedMemory link started successfully
Trying to start TCPIP link ...
Starting on port 49153
    TCPIP link started successfully
Now accepting requests
Press 'q' to shut down the database server

The database suddenly shuts down whenever I close SQL Central on a client machine.

Finished checkpoint of "ftnode_sa" (ftnode_sa.db) at Thu Jul 13 2017 23:58
Database "ftnode_sa" (ftnode_sa.db) stopped at Thu Jul 13 2017 23:58
Database server shutdown automatically after last database stopped
TCPIP listener on IP address (::):49153 is exiting
TCPIP listener on IP address 0.0.0.0:49153 is exiting
Database server stopped at Thu Jul 13 2017 23:58

Is there anyway I can prevent this from happening. I prefer to explicitly stop the database using dbstop, something like this:
/opt/sqlanywhere17/bin64s/dbstop -c "Server=ftnode_sa;uid=sadb;pwd=sadb;"
Clients should be able to connect and disconnect as and when. I could hack it and open a dummy client, but prefer not to create such spurious connections.

[MarkCulp · Accepted solution]

Remove the -ga switch from the database server command line - this option tells the server to auto-stop after the last connection has disconnected! See the -ga documentation

[VolkerBarth · Accepted solution]

Just as a general rule of thumb: Specify only the command line options that are required or are understood - SQL Anywhere usually has very reasonable defaults...