Setting up IBM Db2 Warehouse

To deploy Db2 Warehouse, you must obtain access to the Db2 Warehouse image. You must also set up and maintain the hardware, a POSIX-compliant clustered file system (for MPP deployments only), the network, and the operating system. For more details about these requirements, see IBM Db2 Warehouse prerequisites.

The Db2 Warehouse software stack is defined for you in a Docker or Podman container, which you install on every node. The Db2 Warehouse software stack does not affect files outside the container, such as operating system files. Data is stored outside the container.

To help avoid performance and space problems, use dedicated hosts for Db2 Warehouse. You should not use Db2 Warehouse hosts for data or software that is unrelated to your Db2 Warehouse implementation.

For MPP setups, you must take extra steps to specify all of the nodes that you want to be a part of the cluster. However, using the Db2 Warehouse Orchestrator deployment method automates most of the commands across the various nodes.

The Db2 Warehouse product uses the continuous delivery model described in the IBM® software support lifecycle policy. The product numbering convention is v.r.m.f (for example, 11.5.1.0), where:
  • v represents the version of the database engine used by the product
  • r represents the release number of the database engine used by the product
  • m represents the modification level of the database engine used by the product
  • f represents the fix level of the database engine used by the product
A product number might be followed by a suffix that further describes the corresponding product level. For example, a suffix of the form -CNn (for example, 11.5.6.0) indicates an update that affects only the container contents, not the database engine.

To obtain new fixes and enhancements, deploy by using only the latest version of the Db2 Warehouse image. New fixes and enhancements in the latest version are not available for earlier versions. Earlier versions are available only in case you must redeploy a system (reinstall the same earlier version of Db2 Warehouse) because of a problem such as a hardware failure. If a security fix becomes available, you should update your system to use the latest version that contains that fix as soon as possible.

The topics in this section use Db2wh as the image container name, such as in docker run or podman run commands. Also, the topics use /mnt/clusterfs as a file system name in docker run or podman run commands. These names are examples; you can use different names.