Copies of the Db2 catalog

You can create copies of the Db2 catalog to be used by Db2 Admin Tool.

For example, you can choose to use a different copy of the catalog for each weekday and create a backup copy that is associated with each weekday. This strategy allows you to examine previous definitions in the backup copies of the Db2 catalog. As another example, you might allow only the system administrator to examine the active Db2 catalog and allow developers to access only a copy of the Db2 catalog. This strategy can result in decreased contention on the catalog that can be caused by the developers' queries, while still allowing the system administrator to maintain the active Db2 catalog.

Db2 Admin Tool uses the catalog copy version table, ADBCATVT, to keep track of the available Db2 catalog copies. You are responsible for adding an entry to this table for each copy of the catalog that you want to use. For information about how to create catalog copies, including how to add an entry to the ADBCATVT table, see Making copies of the Db2 catalog for Db2 Admin Tool.

When you select any options on the System Catalog (ADB21) panel, you can choose to use a copy of the Db2 catalog. For instructions on how to select the copy that you want to use, see Switching copies of the Db2 catalog.

You can also choose to use the catalog of a remote Db2 subsystem. This method for using a remote site catalog is different from the method that is provided by the DD option (distributed Db2 systems) on the DB2 Administration Menu (ADB2) panel. (For more information about that option, see Db2 Admin Tool distributed support.) A GEN request can use a remote copy of the catalog if you use a catalog alias (the catalog copy type is A) and specify the alias' location for routing to the remote site.