Row size support is extended

Rows of table data are organized into blocks called pages, which can be four sizes: 4, 8, 16, or 32 KB. All tables that you create within a table space of a particular size have a matching page size. In previous releases, the maximum number of bytes in a table row was depended on the page size of the table space. Any attempt to create a table whose row length exceeded the maximum record length for the page size resulted in an error (SQLSTATE 54010). For example, in previous releases, you could not create the table in the following statement in a table space with a 4 KB page size because of the table's large row size:

CREATE TABLE T1 (C1 INTEGER, C2 VARCHAR(5000))

However, starting with DB2 Version 10.5, you can create table T1 in a table space with a 4 KB page size.

You can use extended row size support for the following purposes:

• To migrate tables that have row sizes exceeding 32 KB to DB2 Version 10.5.
• To help improve the performance of applications where the majority of data rows can fit on a smaller page but the table definition requires a bigger page size.
• To create tables with more VARCHAR or VARGRAPHIC columns. The maximum number of columns is not changing, but the ability to exceed the maximum record length for the page size allows for more columns.