100 Tech Tips, #97 db2connectactivate Server Activation Tool

1. You can obtain db2connectactivate license key from DB2 Connect Unlimited Edition for system z via
   • DB2 Connect Unlimited Edition for System z CD or
   • By downloading the IBM DB2 Connect 9.7, Unlimited Edition for System z Quick Start and Activation for Linux, UNIX and Windows - CI36DML from Passport Advantage
     Refer to:  DB2 Version 9.7 Activation key part numbers
     To be more specific, this utility is present under ~\consv_zs\db2\license directory
     Note: db2connectactivate is only available starting in Version 9.7 Fix Pack 3, so if you've obtained a CD or downloaded the Quick Start and Activation from Passport Advantage earlier before db2connectactivate was added, its likely that you may not find the db2connectactivate utility, please make sure that its the latest one.
2. To activate the license key on a DB2 for z/OS subsystem, you need to run the db2connectactivate utility from the DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows workstation.
   • Ensure that Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 or later is available on the DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows workstation from which you want to run the activation utility.
     db2connectactivate is a java tool that requires only JRE, hence, no DB2 product needs to be installed prior to running this command.
3. This utility applies only for applications which uses CLP, GUI tools, JCC Type 4, CLI, ODBC, .NET driver or IBMDADB2 connection to establish direct connection to the DB2 z/OS.
   • This is similar to copying DB2 JCC license file (e.g.  db2jcc_license_cisuz.jar ) for making direct JCC Type 4 connection or copying DB2 Connect Server license file (for example: db2consv_zs.lic ) to allow application to make direct connection to the z/OS using ODBC/CLI, .NET or OLEDB.

Advantages:

1. Only difference is that you do not need to copy DB2 Connect Server license file or jcc license jar files to each clients machine
2. This is a simplified method to activate the license directly on server.

With the use of JCC Type 4 driver for direct connection to the z/OS, only using JCC T4 is supported, but, once you activated the license on the DB2 z/OS system (using db2connectactivate from db2 connect unlimited for z),  db2connectactivate activates ALL client APIs - including CLP, any GUI tools that use JCC, ODBC/CLI, .NET data provider, IBMDADB2 (OLEDB Driver) or Java application using JCC T4 can make direct connection to the system z without having to copy license files on each workstation, the whole idea is to avoid needing a client side license  

Scenarios where db2connectactivate utility does not apply:

If you run your client connection through the DB2 Connect gateway then, the license activation process is the same as in previous releases, db2connectactivate does not work in these cases.

Note: This only affects direct client connection from applications using above mentioned drivers.

db2connectactivate - Server license activation utility
Activating the license for DB2 Connect Unlimited Edition (System z)