Prerequisites for Db2

All prerequisites for the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2® application server must be met before you start protecting Db2 resources with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

Requirements for the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 application server are available here, Db2 requirements.

Space prerequisites

Ensure that you have enough space on the Db2 database management system, in the volume groups for the backup operation, and on the target volumes for copying files during the restore operation. For more information about space requirements, see Space requirements for Db2 protection. When you are restoring data to an alternative location, allocate extra dedicated volumes for the copy and restore processes. The data paths for table spaces and logs on the target host are the same as the paths on the original host. This setup is needed to allow copying of data from the mounted vSnap to the target host. Ensure that dedicated local database directories are allowed for each database in your volume setup.

Multi-partitioned Db2 environments

In order to protect Db2 multi-partitioned databases, the ACS backup mode must be set to parallel mode. To run parallel backup processing of partitions in your Db2 environment, ensure that one of the following prerequisites is met:
  • The Db2 registry variable DB2_PARALLEL_ACS is set to YES, for example: db2set DB2_PARALLEL_ACS=YES.
  • The Db2 registry variable DB2_WORKLOAD is set to SAP.
Restriction: The DB2_PARALLEL_ACS registry variable is available only in certain fix pack levels of Db2. If DB2_PARALLEL_ACS is not available in your version, you can choose to change DB2_WORKLOAD to SAP.

More configuration requirements

Ensure that your Db2 environment is configured to meet the following criteria:
  • Db2 archive logging is activated, and Db2 is in recoverable mode.
  • Ensure that the effective file size ulimit -f for the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user and the Db2 instance user, is set to unlimited. Alternatively, set the value to a sufficiently high value to allow copying of the largest database files in your backup and restore jobs. If you change the ulimit setting, restart the Db2 instance to finalize the configuration.
  • If you are running IBM Spectrum Protect Plus in an AIX® or Linux® environment, ensure that the installed sudo version is at the recommended level. For more information, see technote 2013790. Then, set sudo privileges as described in Setting sudo privileges for Db2.
  • In a Linux environment, ensure that the Linux utility package util-linux-ng or util-linux package is current.
  • Unicode characters in file path names cannot be handled by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus. All names must be in ASCII.
  • The database table spaces, online logs, and the local database directory can be on one or separate dedicated logical volumes that are managed by either LVM2 or JFS2. For layout two examples, see the following pictures. In the first picture, two types of volume groups shown. In the second picture, all volumes for data and logs are on one volume group.
    Figure 1. Logical volume layout examples
    Logical volume layout
    Figure 2. Single logical volume layout example
    Single logical volume layout
  • Ensure that your Db2 logical volume setup does not include nested mount points.