IBM DB2 virtual system patterns

The predefined virtual system patterns for DB2® products provide reference topologies. You should further customize these topologies based on your specific needs.

Requirements

For your IBM® DB2 environment to function properly, you require a configured NTP server that is accessible by your virtual machines. When virtual system patterns are deployed, the NTP server establishes the system time for your virtual machines. Without a synchronized date and time, deployment problems can occur. If an NTP server is not used, the system clocks for the appliance and the hypervisors need to be synchronized manually. Your virtual system instances might have trouble starting because of mismatched time. For information on defining your NTP server in the system settings, see the related links.

Available patterns

The following predefined virtual system patterns are available. You can use these patterns as is, or you can customize them to meet the needs of your environment.

Single server virtual system patterns
The following single server virtual system patterns are available:
  • DB2 Enterprise 10.5 with BLU Acceleration
  • DB2 Enterprise 10.1
  • DB2 Enterprise 9.7
In addition, the following single server virtual system pattern comes predefined with Cloud Pak System Software for Power® for Power:
  • DB2 Enterprise 10.1 (PowerVM®)
Cluster virtual system patterns
The following cluster virtual system patterns are predefined:
  • DB2 Enterprise 10.5 and highly available cluster
  • DB2 Enterprise 10.1 and highly available cluster
  • DB2 Enterprise 9.7 and highly available cluster
Note: DB2 Enterprise 10.5 with BLU Acceleration cannot be used with a high availability cluster. If you want to deploy a DB2 Enterprise 10.5 pattern using BLU Acceleration, it must be created as a single server virtual system pattern.

For more information about the predefined virtual system patterns, see the related links.

Table 1 shows more specific information about the DB2 virtual system patterns.

Custom patterns

You can define your own virtual system patterns that combine parts from different virtual images. However, including more than one DB2 high availability disaster recovery (HADR) pair into a single virtual system pattern is not supported. You should place each DB2 HADR pair into its own virtual system pattern.

For more HADR best practices, see the following articles:

Features and functions of the DB2 virtual system patterns

The following table displays more specific information about the DB2 virtual system patterns.
Table 1. A visual display of the features and functions of the DB2 virtual system patterns and how they differ.
Feature DB2 Enterprise 9.7 DB2 Enterprise 9.7 and high availability cluster DB2 Enterprise 10.1 DB2 Enterprise 10.1and high availability cluster DB2 Enterprise 10.5 DB2 Enterprise 10.5 and high availability cluster
DB2 ESE part 1   1   1  
DB2 ESE HA Primary part   1   1   1
DB2 ESE HA Standby part   1   1   1
BLU Acceleration support No No No No Yes No
Total number of virtual machines 1 2 1 2 1 2
Available AIX® versions 6.1, 7.1 6.1, 7.1 6.1, 7.1 6.1, 7.1 6.1, 7.1 7.1