Additional installation considerations for Db2 Connect server products (AIX)

Before you install Db2 Connect server products on AIX® operating systems, ensure that the system you choose meets the necessary operating system, hardware, software, and communications requirements.

For the most up-to-date installation requirements for Db2 Connect products, see System requirements for IBM® Db2 Connect. This techdoc uses IBM Software Product Compatibility Reports (SPCR). With the SPCR tool, you can locate and find complete lists of supported operating systems, system requirements, prerequisites, and optional supported software for Db2 Connect products.

In addition to system requirements, installing a Db2 Connect product has these additional considerations.

Software requirements

Use the bosboot command to switch to the 64-bit kernel.
To switch to a 64-bit kernel, you require root authority and should enter the following commands:
```
   ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /unix
   ln -sf /usr/lib/boot/unix_64 /usr/lib/boot/unix
   bosboot -a
   shutdown -Fr
```
For application development and runtime considerations, see the topics in Supported programming languages and compilers for database application development.
To download the latest IBM C++ Runtime Environment Components for AIX, see the IBM AIX XL C and C++ support page.
For details regarding known AIX issues, see www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?&uid=swg21165448

Communication requirements

When using a communication protocol, you have the following requirements:

For TCP/IP connectivity, no additional software is required.
For LDAP (Lightweight Directory Access Protocol) support, you require an IBM SecureWay Directory Client V3.2.1 or later.

Db2 product installation on NFS (Network File System)

The installation of Db2® products on NFS (Network File System) is not recommended. Running Db2 products on NFS (for example, NFS mounting /opt/IBM/db2/V12.1 and then running off code that was physically installed on a remote system) requires several manual setup steps. There are also a number of potential issues with setting up NFS for a Db2 server. These include possible problems that involve:

Performance (impacted by network performance)
Availability (you are allowing a single point of failure)
Licensing (there is no checking done across machines)
Diagnosing NFS errors can be difficult

As mentioned, the setup for NFS will require several manual actions including:

Ensuring that the mount point preserve the install path
Permission must be controlled (for example, write permission should not be given to the mounting machine)
Db2 registries have to be set up manually and maintained across all mounting machines
The db2ls command, which lists installed Db2 products and features, must be set up and maintained properly if you need to detect Db2 products and features
More care is required when updating your Db2 product environment
More steps are required when cleaning up on the exporting machine and the mounting machine