Incompatibilities that Could Impact Migrations to DB2 11

As part of the process of migrating from DB2 Version 10 to DB2 11, you should be aware of these incompatibilities:

·         Application and SQL release incompatibilities: Next week's post will cover application and SQL-specific incompatibilities in detail.

 

·         V10R1 application compatibility: When the application compatibility value is set to V10R1, applications that attempt to use functions and features introduced in DB2 11 or later versions may behave differently or receive errors.

·         Utility release incompatibilities.

·         Command release incompatibilities.

·         Storage release incompatibilities.

 

·         Other release incompatibilities.

 

·         Deprecated functions: During migration it's important to know of all functions that are deprecated in DB2 11. While deprecated functions are still supported, that support could be removed in the future. So avoid creating new dependencies that rely deprecated functions and plan to remove existing dependencies.

 

·         Functions that are no longer supported.

DB2 10 Migrations Simplified

The process of installing or migrating to a new DB2 release can be long and complex. Fortunately, IBM has greatly simplified the migration path to DB2 10.

Migrations are never easy. They require DBAs to perform many manual steps and procedures. However, IBM has recently made numerous improvements to help simplify the process. Most significantly, DB2 8 users can now migrate directly to DB2 10. That removed a major obstacle for many shops.

Other, less talked-about enhancements are also important. Here are some things to look for:

• A new program, DSNTRIN, is used to install and service DB2-supplied routines according to user-specified configuration parameters. JCL to execute this program is found in member DSNTIJRT.
• Another new program, DSNTRVFY, validates the installation and configuration of DB2-supplied routines. To execute this program, use job DSNTIJVR.
• A new core set of WLM environments is used to execute the DB2-supplied routines. This is a huge time-saver -- DBAs have spent many hours trying to determine which WLM configuration is needed to support a given supplied routine. The installed environments are:
  • DSNWLM_DEBUGGER: used by the unified debugger tool.
  • DSNWLM_DSNACICS: used by the DB2 CICS transaction invocation stored procedure.
  • DSNWLM_GENERAL: used by most DB2-supplied routines.
  • DSNWLM_JAVA: used by most DB2-supplied Java routines.
  • DSNWLM_MQSERIES: used by routines that use DB2 MQSeries functions.
  • DSNWLM_NUMTCB1: used by routines that must run serially.
  • DSNWLM_PGM_CONTROL: used by routines that are registered to an external security RACF program control (or an equivalent) and can therefore be loaded only with other similar routines.
  • DSNWLM_REXX: used by DB2 SQL procedure processor routines as well as REXX stored procedures.
  • DSNWLM_UTILS: used by DB2 utilities stored proedures.
  • DSNWLM_XML: used by DB2-supplied XML processing routines that require large amounts of memory.
• A new set of install panels are provided to specify routine configuration parameters.
• New pre-migration reports, executed from job DSNTEJ6Z, gather current subsystem parameter settings.

Take the word of someone who's been through many installations and migrations of older DB2 releases: This stuff makes a DBA's life much easier. It's nice to see IBM deliver jobs with programs that can simplify these processes.