IBM Support

IBM Db2 database backup and restore requirements: IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.13

Preventive Service Planning


Abstract

This document details the IBM Db2 database backup and restore requirements for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.13.

Content

This document is divided into linked sections. Use the following links to go to the section of the document that you require.



 

General

Beginning with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.2, support was added for backing up and restoring Db2 database data.
To read about new and changed features in different versions of IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1, see What's new for IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.

Before you register a Db2 database with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, ensure that the system environment meets the following requirements.

IBM Spectrum Protect Plus support for third-party operating systems, applications, services, and hardware depend on the respective vendor. If a third-party product or version moves into extended support, self-service support, or end-of-life, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus supports the product or version at the same level as the vendor. See also IBM Support General Guidelines and Limitations - IBM support for software on unsupported operating systems



 

Configuration

Application versions

Table 1. Coverage matrix for application levels supported by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 V10.5*(1) Db2 V11.1*(1) Db2 V11.5*(1)
10.1.2 --
10.1.3 --
10.1.4 --
10.1.5
10.1.6
10.1.7
10.1.8
10.1.9
10.1.10
10.1.11
10.1.12
10.1.13 (2)

 * The base release and later maintenance and modification levels are supported.
(1) Db2 database supported editions: Enterprise Edition.
(2) Transport encryption feature is supported.



 

Operating systems

Table 2. Coverage matrix for supported operating systems on IBM PowerPC
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus IBM AIX 7.1* IBM AIX 7.2*
10.1.2
10.1.3
10.1.4
10.1.5
10.1.6
10.1.7
10.1.8
10.1.9
10.1.10
10.1.11
10.1.12
10.1.13

* The base release and later maintenance and modification levels are supported.
Note: Transport encryption feature is not supported on the AIX® systems. For more information, see the restrictions section.


 

Table 3. Coverage matrix for supported Linux® x86_64 operating systems
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus RHEL 6.8* RHEL 7.0* RHEL 8.0* SLES 11.0 SP4* SLES 12.0 SP1* SLES 15.0*
10.1.2 -- --
10.1.3 -- --
10.1.4 -- --
10.1.5 -- --
10.1.6 -- --
10.1.7 --
10.1.8
10.1.9
10.1.10
10.1.11
10.1.12
10.1.13 (1) (1)

*The base release and later maintenance and modification levels are supported.
(1) Transport encryption feature is supported.


 

Table 4. Coverage matrix for supported operating systems on Linux on Power Systems (little endian)
IBM Spectrum Protect Plus RHEL 7.1* RHEL 8.0* SLES 12.0 SP1* SLES 15*
10.1.4 -- --
10.1.5 -- --
10.1.6 -- --
10.1.7 -- --
10.1.8
10.1.9
10.1.10
10.1.11
10.1.12
10.1.13 (1) (1)

*The base release and later maintenance and modification levels are supported.
(1) Transport encryption feature is supported.


 

Restrictions

  • The Db2 pureScale feature is not supported.
  • Ensure that your Db2 logical volume setup does not include nested mount points.
  • Ensure that the protected Db2 database does not share the local database directory with other Db2 databases.
    Note: If a Db2 database is not unique within its volume directory, the snapshot backup fails. This behavior is a Db2 restriction.
  • If you plan to protect multiple partitions, Db2 must be in parallel backup mode. Parallel backup mode can be enabled by editing Db2 registry variables. For more information, see Prerequisites for Db2.
    The DB2_PARALLEL_ACS registry variable is available only in certain fix pack levels of Db2. If the DB2_PARALLEL_ACS variable is not available in your version, you can meet the requirement by specifying DB2_WORKLOAD = SAP.
  • Transport encryption feature is not supported on the following databases and operating systems:
    • Db2 V10.5 and Db2 V11.1
    • AIX, RHEL 7, and SLES 12.



 

Software

  • The bash and sudo packages must be installed. Sudo must be version 1.7.6p2 or later. Run sudo -V to check the version.
    Tip: The required bash and sudo packages are included in the supported Linux x86_64 and Linux on Power Systems (little endian) operating system installation packages.
  • Install the most recent Db2 patches and updates in your environment.
  • Ensure that the supported version of Linux x86_64, Linux on Power Systems (little endian), or AIX is installed with the most recent patches and updates.
  • The International Components for Unicode (libicu) rpm package corresponding to the operating system must be installed.
  • Ensure that the user limit value ulimit -f is set to unlimited, for the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user and the Db2 instance user. Alternatively, set the value sufficiently high 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.
  • In a Linux environment, depending on your version or distribution, ensure that the Linux utility package util-linux-ng or util-linux is current.
  • RHEL users: To ensure that the util-linux-ng or util-linux package is current, run the following command:
        yum update package_name
    Where package_name is the name of the Linux utility package.
  • Linux users: Before you enable transport encryption, ensure that the cifs-utils package is installed on the applications host.



 

Connectivity

Ensure that your system environment meets the following connectivity requirements:

  • The secure file transfer protocol (SFTP) subsystem for Secure Shell (SSH) is enabled.
  • The SSH service is running on port 22 on the Db2 database server.
    Note: During registration, either ChallengeResponseAuthentication option must be set to no or LoginGraceTime parameter must greater than 0. If one of those conditions is not met, the public key retrieval hangs.
  • The SSH host key must be one of the following algorithms: ssh-dsa, ssh-rsa, ecdsa-sha2-nistp256, ecdsa-sha2-nistp384, or ecdsa-sha2-nistp521.
  • Firewalls are configured to allow IBM Spectrum Protect Plus to connect to the Db2 server by using SSH.
  • When transport encryption is not enabled, IBM Spectrum Protect Plus uses the Network File System (NFS) protocol to mount storage volumes for backup and restore operations:
    • On Linux, ensure that the Linux NFS client is installed on the Db2 server.
    • On AIX, ensure that NFS communication is configured with reserved ports by using the following command:
          nfso -p -o nfs_use_reserved_port=1
  • When transport encryption is enabled, the Server Message Block (SMB) or the Common Internet file system (CIFS) protocol to mount storage volumes for backup and restore operations. On Linux, ensure that the Linux SMB client is installed.
  • All servers, proxies, applications, and hypervisors that are added to the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus environment must be registered by using a Domain Name System (DNS) name or Internet Protocol (IP) address.
  • If DNS names are used, they must be resolvable over the network by the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server and the vSnap server. All IBM Spectrum Protect Plus components must also be resolvable by their DNS names.
  • If DNS is not available, you must add the server to the /etc/hosts file on the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus by using the command line.



 

Authentication and privileges

Authentication

  • The Db2 server must be registered with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus by using an operating system user who exists on the Db2 server. The user is then referred to as the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user.
  • Ensure that the root user password is correctly configured and that the user can log in without other prompts, such as prompts to reset the password.


 

Privileges

To use a Db2 database, an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user must have the following permissions:

  • Privileges to run commands as the root user and as a Db2 software owner user by using sudo. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires these privileges for various tasks such as discovering storage layouts, mounting and unmounting disks, and managing databases.
    • The sudoers configuration must allow the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent user to run commands without a password.
    • The !requiretty setting must be specified, as described in Setting sudo privileges for Db2.
  • Privileges to read the Db2 inventory by using the db2ls command in the  /usr/local/bin directory. IBM Spectrum Protect Plus requires these privileges to discover and collect information about Db2 instances and databases.



 

Prerequisites and operations

Prerequisites

The following prerequisites must be met before you start protecting your resources:

  • Db2 archive logging is activated and Db2 is in recoverable mode.
  • Sufficient space is available in 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.
    • Before you back up Db2 databases, ensure you have enough free disk space on the target and source hosts, and in the vSnap repository. Extra free disk space is required in the volume groups on the source host for creating temporary Logical Volume Manager (LVM) snapshots of the logical volumes that the Db2 database and log files are stored on. To create LVM snapshots of a protected Db2 database, ensure that the volume groups with Db2 data have sufficient free space.
      • For AIX®, no more than 15 snapshots can exist for each enhanced journaled file system (JFS2). Internal and external JFS2 snapshots cannot exist at the same time for the same file system. Ensure that no internal snapshots exist on the JFS2 volumes, as these snapshots can cause issues when the Db2 agent is creating external snapshots.
      • For every LVM or JFS2 snapshot logical volume that contains data, allow at least 10% of its size as free disk space in the volume group. If the volume group has enough free disk space, the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus Db2 agent reserves up to 25% of the source logical volume size for the snapshot logical volume.
    • When you are restoring data to an alternative location, allocate extra dedicated volumes for 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 supports the copying of data from the mounted vSnap server to the target host. Ensure that the protected Db2 database does not share local database directory with other Db2 databases.
  • Logical volumes holding Db2 table spaces (data and temporary table spaces), the local database directory, and Db2 log files are managed by the Logical Volume Management system (LVM2) on Linux or by JFS2 on AIX. LVM2 on Linux and JFS2 on AIX are used for creating temporary volume snapshots. While the snapshot exists, the logical volume grows in size as the data changes on the source volume. For more information, see LVM2 and JFS2.
  • With transport encryption, you can securely transfer data between application host and vSnap during backup and restore. The transport encryption option is not enabled by default. To enable the transport encryption option, see Configuring advanced storage options.


 

Operations

Before you start a backup or restore operation, take the following actions:

  • Ensure that the application servers that host the Db2 databases that you want to back up are registered with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus.
  • A service level agreement (SLA) policy is configured.
  • Assign appropriate roles and resource groups to users who are running backup and restore operations. Grant users access to resources and roles by using the Accounts pane.

Review the following information about creating backup and restore jobs:

  • Define regularly scheduled Db2 backup jobs to protect your data. You can also enable continuous backup operations for archive logs so that you can restore a point-in-time copy with rollforward options if required. For instructions, see Backing up Db2 data.
  • To restore Db2 data from the vSnap repository, define a job that restores data from either the newest backup or an earlier backup copy. You can restore data to the original instance or to an alternative instance on a different client host. For instructions, see Restoring Db2 data.

For an overview about protecting Db2 databases with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus, see Protecting Databases-Db2.



 

Ports

The following ports are used by IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent users.

Table 5. Communication ports when the target is an IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
22 Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) IBM Spectrum Protect Plus server Db2 Provides access to troubleshoot and maintain remote proxy host servers running guest application components by using the SSH protocol.


 

Table 6. Communication ports when the initiator is the IBM Spectrum Protect Plus agent
Port Protocol Initiator Target Description
111 TCP and User Datagram Protocol (UDP) Db2 vSnap server Used for NFS data transfer to and from file systems mounted from vSnap servers during backup and restore operations when transport encryption is not enabled.
445 TCP Db2 vSnap server Used for SMB or CIFS data transfer to and from file systems mounted from vSnap servers during backup and restore operations when transport encryption is enabled.
2049 TCP and UDP Db2 vSnap server Used for NFS data transfer to and from file systems mounted from vSnap servers during backup and restore operations when transport encryption is not enabled.
20048 TCP and UDP Db2 vSnap server Used for NFS data transfer to and from file systems mounted from vSnap servers during backup and restore operations when transport encryption is not enabled.

Ports update:  Port 445: Beginning with IBM Spectrum Protect Plus 10.1.13 and later this port with target vSnap server is used when transport encryption is enabled.



 

Hardware

Table 7. Minimum hardware requirements
System Disk space
Compatible hardware that is supported by the operating system and Db2 database server A minimum of 100 MB under /tmp and 200 MB under /opt is required for product installation.



 

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Document Information

Modified date:
09 December 2022

UID

ibm16837833