3. Installation considerations and planning

3.1.1. db2setup installation

The db2setup command starts the DB2 UDB Setup wizard, a Java-based graphical tool that installs DB2 UDB. It lays down the DB2 UDB filesets, the IBM SDK for Java, and allows you to create DB2 UDB instances, create new users and groups, configure existing users, configure communications, create the tools catalog database, and set up notification. The DB2 UDB Setup wizard also allows you to create a response file.

Using db2setup is the best method for less experienced users, because most of the configuration is automatically performed during the installation. Again, you require X Window System software capable of rendering a graphical user interface, to use db2setup successfully.

3.1.2. db2_install installation

The db2_install command starts the db2_install script. This script installs all DB2 UDB packages on your Linux system using the RPM installation utility. This method is reliable and commonly used by expert users for installing DB2 UDB on larger, more complex multiple-partition systems. However, tasks such as setting up users and groups, creating instances, tools catalog database creation, and notification setup need to be performed manually after the installation is completed.

A limitation to db2_install is that it only installs user assistance (like help, messages, and tool interfaces) in English, whereas db2setup installs support for one or more different languages. Also, a db2_install installation can take longer (considering the higher number of manual configuration tasks), it requires a higher level of knowledge and skill, and it cannot create response files.

3.1.3. Response file installation

A response file can be created using the DB2 UDB Setup wizard or by editing a sample response file. It allows you to install DB2 UDB across multiple machines with consistent installation and configuration settings. A response file installation is fast, because it bypasses the graphical wizard and does the configuration for you. Another advantage of using a response file is that it creates a Database Administration Server (DAS) on each machine, while with db2_install the DAS must be created manually after installation.

The sample response file can be used to install DB2 UDB, configure users, create instances, set up notification, create the tools catalog, and configure a large number of DBM parameters. This is the quickest installation method if you already have all the information you need. Unlike db2setup, the response file installation is not interactive, and it takes longer to prepare the response file.

3.1.4. RPM command installation

The Red Hat Package Manager (RPM) is a Linux software installation command. The various DB2 UDB installation methods use RPM to lay down the appropriate files on the system. Using the RPM command to install DB2 UDB allows you to select specific DB2 UDB files. However, the RPM installation method will only install the DB2 UDB code. It will not create instances, user IDs, or response files during DB2 installation. Please note that this installation method is not officially supported or recommended.

3.2.1. Log storage

By default, DB2 UDB sets the log path to the default database path during database creation.

You should store both the primary copy of the logs and the mirror logs each on a physically separate disk, preferably one that is also on a different disk controller.

Mirror logs are created using the MIRRORLOGPATH configuration parameter. Log mirroring allows the database to write an identical second copy of log files to a different path. For example, you can change the primary log path from the default to /db2log1, and set the mirror log path to /db2log2 by issuing these commands:

db2 update db cfg for db_name using NEWLOGPATH /db2log1 db2 update db cfg for db_name using MIRRORLOGPATH /db2log2

These changes will only take place after you deactivate and activate your database, using the db2stop and db2start commands.

3.2.2. Temporary table space storage

DB2 UDB uses system temporary table spaces for many SQL operations, such as JOIN and SORT. The temporary table space, TEMPSPACE1, is one of the three default table spaces (SYSCATSPACE, TEMPSPACE1, and USERSPACE1) that gets created during database creation. By default, TEMPSPACE1 gets placed in the database path. For larger systems, we recommend that your temporary tables paces are located on a separate file system and disk.

In a multiple-partition database environment, the catalog node should contain all three default table spaces, and the other database partitions should each contain only TEMPSPACE1 and USERSPACE1.

The following example shows how to create a system temporary table space on multiple nodes in the /db2temp file system:

connect to db_name; create temporary tablespace TEMPSPACE01 in IBMTEMPGROUP managed by SYSTEM using ('/db2temp/$INSTANCE/db_name/n001tmp/tempspace01') on \ dbpartitionnum (1) using ('/db2temp/$INSTANCE/db_name/n002tmp/tempspace01') on \ dbpartitionnum (2) using ('/db2temp/$INSTANCE/db_name/n003tmp/tempspace01') on \ dbpartitionnum (3) using ('/db2temp/$INSTANCE/db_name/n004tmp/tempspace01') on \ dbpartitionnum (4) extentsize 32 prefetchsize 128 bufferpool IBMDEFAULTBP overhead 24.1 transferrate 0.9; drop tablespace tempspace1;

3.3.1. User and group requirements

DB2 UDB requires a minimum of three users and groups: the instance owning user, the fenced user, and the Database Administration Server (DAS) user. You may use the default names provided by the setup utilities, or specify your own user and group names. For example, consider the following default user IDs and group names produced by the DB2 UDB Setup wizard:

3.3.2. Creating users - single-partition

You must have root authority to create users and groups. There are three ways in which you can create a DB2 UDB user ID:

• DB2 UDB Setup Wizard. The DB2 UDB Setup Wizard creates all of the required users and groups for you during installation. The default users and groups that get created are displayed in the previous table. DB2 UDB Setup also gives you an option to specify your own user and group names.

• Response file. Users can also be created during a response file installation if you specify user and group information in the response file. For example, consider the following entries in a response file that create the three required users and groups for DB2 UDB:

  * DAS user DAS_USERNAME = dasusr1 DAS_GROUP_NAME = dasadm1 DAS_HOME_DIRECTORY = /home/dasusr1 DAS_PASSWORD = ****** * Instance-owning user inst1.NAME = db2inst1 inst1.GROUP_NAME = db2grp1 inst1.HOME_DIRECTORY = /db2home/db2inst1 inst1.PASSWORD = ****** inst1.AUTOSTART = YES inst1.AUTHENTICATION = SERVER inst1.SVCENAME = db2c_db2inst1 inst1.PORT_NUMBER = 50001 inst1.FCM_PORT_NUMBER = 60000 inst1.MAX_LOGICAL_NODES = 4 * Fenced user nst1.FENCED_USERNAME = db2fenc1 inst1.FENCED_GROUP_NAME = db2fgrp1 inst1.FENCED_HOME_DIRECTORY = /db2home/db2fenc1 inst1.FENCED_PASSWORD = ******

• Manually using command line. To use this method, follow these steps:

  1. Log on to your machine as root.

  2. Create groups for the instance owner, the fenced user and the DAS user by using these commands:

     groupadd db2iadm1 groupadd db2fadm1 groupadd db2asgrp

     Linux will create the groups using the first available group ID (GID) numbers available over 500. You can specify GID numbers if you prefer.

  3. Create a user that belongs to each group and specify the home directory. For example, you can choose to place all home directories in /db2home by entering these commands:

     useradd -g db2iadm1 -m -d /db2home/db2inst1 db2inst1 -p password1 useradd -g db2fadm1 -m -d /db2home/db2fenc1 db2fenc1 -p password2 useradd -g db2asgrp -m -d /db2home/dasusr1 dasusr1 -p password3

3.3.3. Creating users - multiple-partition

In a multiple-partition database environment, you only need to create one shared home directory for the instance owner and fenced user (but remember to create users on each computer). When creating users in a multiple-partition environment, make sure that the user and group IDs are the same on each machine. Consider the following setup:

• A shared home directory, /db2home, on the instance-owning machine, which is NFS-mounted on the remaining machines in the cluster. In this directory are found the home directories for the instance-owning user and fenced user: db2inst1 and db2fenc1.

• A local home directory for the DAS user on each computer, dasusr1, which is stored in the /home directory.