Manageability enhancements

The Db2 12.1 release contains enhancements that improve management of external tables, centralized KMIP client certificates, and the online movement of columnar tables.

Attention: The Db2 12.1 release is currently available for the following Db2® products:
The following table lists manageability enhancements that have been added to Db2 12.1:
Table 1. Manageability enhancements in 12.1
Enhancement Description
Enhanced support for decimal input formats when using CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statement The default character representation for numerals when moving data in and out of external tables with the CREATE EXTERNAL TABLE statement is ASCII. With the release of Db2 12.1, you can now change the default format to either packed decimal format or zoned-decimal format.

For more information, see PACKEDDECIMAL and ZONEDDECIMAL.
New dynamic configuration of the SSL_KMIP_CLIENT_CERTIFICATE_LABEL KMIP configuration file parameter. There is no longer a need to restart the instance to change the KMIP client certificate. With the release of Db2 12.1, Db2 can detect changes to the KMIP configuration file and refresh the KMIP client certificate while the instance is running. For more information, see Completing an online update of the KMIP client certificate.
Online movement of columnar tables using the ADMIN_MOVE_TABLE command. With the release of Db2 12.1, the ALLOW_READ_ACCESS option is no longer needed to move columnar tables by using the ADMIN_MOVE_TABLE command. In Db2 11.5.9 and earlier, users needed to specify ALLOW_READ_ACCESS to prevent delete and insert operations on a source table while the move was in progress. Triggers are now available to the ADMIN_MOVE_TABLE command for the capture of changes to columnar tables.
ADMIN_MOVE_TABLE avoids RENAME INDEX during SWAP Advantage With the release of Db2, the ADMIN_MOVE_TABLE command is enhanced to defer the RENAME_INDEXES process to the CLEANUP phase of the move operation. This change reduces the likelihood of deadlock with applications that try to access the source table during a SWAP operation. For more information, see RENAME_INDEXES.