Upgrade essentials for clients

Upgrading clients to DB2® Version 10.5 requires an understanding of upgrade concepts, upgrade options, upgrade restrictions, upgrade recommendations, and connectivity between clients and DB2 servers.

After you have a complete understanding of what upgrading your clients involves, you can create your own plan to successfully upgrade your clients to DB2 Version 10.5.

In the upgrading client topics, the term pre-DB2 Version 10.5 clients refers to Version 10.1, and Version 9.7 clients.

Upgrade options for clients

The upgrade options vary depending on the type of client that you want to install. The following table describes the upgrade options for each type of DB2 Version 10.5 client:

Table 1. Upgrade options for DB2 Version 10.5 clients

Upgrading from	Upgrading to	Upgrade support details
Version 10.1 Data Server Client Version 9.7 Data Server Client (Windows)	DB2 Version 10.5 Data Server Client(Windows)	You have two options: Install the DB2 Version 10.5 Data Server Client, and choose a pre-DB2 Version 10.5 client copy with the upgrade action in the Work with Existing window. The client instance is then automatically upgraded for you. Install a new copy of the DB2 Version 10.5 Data Server Client, and then manually upgrade existing client instances.
Version 10.1 Data Server Runtime Client Version 9.7 Data Server Runtime Client (Windows)	DB2 Version 10.5 Data Server Runtime Client(Windows)	Install the DB2 Version 10.5 Data Server Runtime Client as a new copy, and then manually upgrade your existing client instance.
All Version 10.1, or Version 9.7 clients (Linux or UNIX)	All DB2 Version 10.5 clients (Linux or UNIX)	Install a new copy of any DB2 Version 10.5 client, and then manually upgrade your existing client instance.

When you upgrade a client instance, the bit size is determined by the operating systems where you installed the DB2 Version 10.5 client. Refer to Table 1 for details.

Upgrade restrictions for clients

Review Upgrade restrictions for DB2 servers for information regarding instance upgrade and operating system support. These restrictions also apply to clients and can impact their upgrade.

Also, the trusted context capability supports only the TCP/IP protocol. Any connections to upgraded databases that you cataloged using a local node are unable to use this capability unless you recatalog the nodes using the TCP/IP protocol.

Connectivity support between clients and DB2 servers

In DB2 Version 10.5, the following support for connectivity between clients and DB2 servers is available:

Table 2. DB2 Version 10.5 connectivity support

Client	DB2 server	Client connectivity support
32-bit or 64-bit DB2 Version 10.5 clients	32-bit or 64-bit DB2 Version 10.5 server	Version 10.5 clients other than the IBM® Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ can establish 32-bit or 64-bit connections. For the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ: With type 4 connectivity, a 32-bit or 64-bit Java™ application can connect to a 32-bit or 64-bit server. With type 2 connectivity A 32-bit or 64-bit Java application can make a remote connection to a 32-bit or 64-bit server. A 64-bit Java application can make a local connection to a 32-bit or 64-bit server. A 32-bit Java application can make a local connection only to a 32-bit server.
32-bit or 64-bit DB2 Version 9.7 clients	32-bit or 64-bit DB2 Version 10.5 server	Only DB2 Version 9.7 or earlier functionality is available.
32-bit or 64-bit Version 10.1 clients	32-bit or 64-bit DB2 Version 10.5 server	Only DB2 Version 10.1 or earlier functionality is available.

Connections to DB2 Version 9.1 servers from a Version 10.5 client is supported. However, DB2 Version 9.1 reached end of support on April 30, 2012. For more support lifecycle information, see http://www-01.ibm.com/software/data/support/lifecycle/. For continued Version 9.1 support, a service extension is required.

Besides connectivity support, if you issue DB2 commands or SQL statements from a client to a DB2 server with a different version, you must be aware of incompatibilities between releases that can arise from changes in default behavior or restrictions lifted for these commands or SQL statements.

For example, if you issue the DESCRIBE command with the INDEXES FOR TABLE parameter from a DB2 Version 10.5 client, a pre-DB2 Version 10.5 server lists only relational indexes while a DB2 Version 10.5 DB2 server lists indexes over XML data and text search indexes in addition to relational indexes. Refer to Upgrade impact from DB2 command changes and Upgrade impact from SQL statement changes for details.