InfoScale™ 9.0 Storage and Availability Management for DB2 Databases - AIX, Linux

Last Published:
Product(s): InfoScale & Storage Foundation (9.0)
Platform: AIX,Linux
  1. Section I. Storage Foundation High Availability (SFHA) management solutions for DB2 databases
    1. Overview of Storage Foundation for Databases
      1.  
        Introducing Storage Foundation High Availability (SFHA) Solutions for DB2
      2. About the File System component
        1.  
          About the File System intent log
        2.  
          About extents
        3.  
          About file system disk layouts
      3.  
        About the Volume Manager component
      4.  
        About Dynamic Multi-Pathing (DMP)
      5.  
        About Cluster Server
      6.  
        About Cluster Server agents
      7.  
        About InfoScale Operations Manager
      8.  
        Feature support for DB2 across InfoScale products
      9.  
        Use cases for InfoScale products
  2. Section II. Deploying DB2 with InfoScale products
    1. Deployment options for DB2 in a Storage Foundation environment
      1.  
        DB2 deployment options in an InfoScale environment
      2.  
        DB2 on a single system with Storage Foundation
      3.  
        DB2 on a single system with off-host in a Storage Foundation environment
      4.  
        DB2 in a highly available cluster with Storage Foundation High Availability
      5.  
        DB2 in a parallel cluster with SF Cluster File System HA
      6.  
        Deploying DB2 and Storage Foundation in a virtualization environment
      7.  
        Deploying DB2 with Storage Foundation SmartMove and Thin Provisioning
    2. Deploying DB2 with Storage Foundation
      1.  
        Tasks for deploying DB2 databases
      2.  
        About selecting a volume layout for deploying DB2
      3. Setting up disk group for deploying DB2
        1.  
          Disk group configuration guidelines for deploying DB2
      4. Creating volumes for deploying DB2
        1.  
          Volume configuration guidelines for deploying DB2
      5. Creating VxFS file system for deploying DB2
        1.  
          File system creation guidelines for deploying DB2
      6.  
        Mounting the file system for deploying DB2
      7.  
        Installing DB2 and creating database
    3. Deploying DB2 in an off-host configuration with Storage Foundation
      1.  
        Requirements for an off-host database configuration
    4. Deploying DB2 with High Availability
      1.  
        Tasks for deploying DB2 in an HA configuration
      2.  
        Configuring VCS to make the database highly available
  3. Section III. Configuring Storage Foundation for Database (SFDB) tools
    1. Configuring and managing the Storage Foundation for Databases repository database
      1.  
        About the Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) repository
      2.  
        Requirements for Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools
      3.  
        Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools availability
      4. Configuring the Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools repository
        1.  
          Locations for the SFDB repository
      5.  
        Updating the Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) repository after adding a node
      6.  
        Updating the Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) repository after removing a node
      7.  
        Removing the Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) repository
    2. Configuring authentication for Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools
      1.  
        Configuring vxdbd for SFDB tools authentication
      2.  
        Adding nodes to a cluster that is using authentication for SFDB tools
      3.  
        Authorizing users to run SFDB commands
  4. Section IV. Improving DB2 database performance
    1. About database accelerators
      1.  
        About InfoScale product components database accelerators
    2. Improving database performance with Quick I/O
      1.  
        About Quick I/O
      2.  
        How Quick I/O improves database performance
      3.  
        Tasks for setting up Quick I/O in a database environment
      4.  
        Preallocating space for Quick I/O files using the setext command
      5.  
        Accessing regular VxFS files as Quick I/O files
      6.  
        Converting DB2 containers to Quick I/O files
      7.  
        About sparse files
      8.  
        Displaying Quick I/O status and file attributes
      9.  
        Extending a Quick I/O file
      10.  
        Monitoring tablespace free space with DB2 and extending tablespace containers
      11.  
        Recreating Quick I/O files after restoring a database
      12.  
        Disabling Quick I/O
    3. Improving DB2 database performance with VxFS Concurrent I/O
      1. About Concurrent I/O
        1.  
          How Concurrent I/O works
      2. Tasks for enabling and disabling Concurrent I/O
        1.  
          Enabling Concurrent I/O for DB2
        2.  
          Disabling Concurrent I/O for DB2
  5. Section V. Using point-in-time copies
    1. Understanding point-in-time copy methods
      1.  
        About point-in-time copies
      2.  
        When to use point-in-time copies
      3.  
        About Storage Foundation point-in-time copy technologies
      4.  
        Point-in-time copy solutions supported by SFDB tools
      5.  
        About snapshot modes supported by Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools
      6. Volume-level snapshots
        1.  
          Persistent FastResync of volume snapshots
        2.  
          Data integrity in volume snapshots
        3.  
          Third-mirror break-off snapshots
      7. Storage Checkpoints
        1.  
          How Storage Checkpoints differ from snapshots
        2. How a Storage Checkpoint works
          1.  
            Copy-on-write
          2. Storage Checkpoint visibility
            1.  
              Storage Checkpoints and 64-bit inode numbers
        3.  
          About Database Rollbacks using Storage Checkpoints
        4.  
          Storage Checkpoints and Rollback process
        5.  
          Storage Checkpoint space management considerations
    2. Considerations for DB2 point-in-time copies
      1.  
        Considerations for DB2 database layouts
      2.  
        Supported DB2 configurations
    3. Administering third-mirror break-off snapshots
      1. Database FlashSnap for cloning
        1.  
          Database FlashSnap advantages
      2. Preparing hosts and storage for Database FlashSnap
        1. Setting up hosts
          1.  
            Database FlashSnap off-host configuration
        2.  
          Creating a snapshot mirror of a volume or volume set used by the database
      3.  
        Creating a clone of a database by using Database FlashSnap
      4.  
        Resynchronizing mirror volumes with primary volumes
      5.  
        Cloning a database on the secondary host
    4. Administering Storage Checkpoints
      1.  
        About Storage Checkpoints
      2. Database Storage Checkpoints for recovery
        1.  
          Advantages and limitations of Database Storage Checkpoints
      3.  
        Creating a Database Storage Checkpoint
      4.  
        Deleting a Database Storage Checkpoint
      5.  
        Mounting a Database Storage Checkpoint
      6.  
        Unmounting a Database Storage Checkpoint
      7.  
        Creating a database clone using a Database Storage Checkpoint
      8.  
        Restoring database from a Database Storage Checkpoint
      9.  
        Gathering data for offline-mode Database Storage Checkpoints
    5. Backing up and restoring with Netbackup in an SFHA environment
      1.  
        About NetBackup
      2.  
        About using NetBackup for backup and restore for DB2
      3. Using NetBackup in an InfoScale product environment
        1.  
          Clustering a NetBackup Master Server
        2.  
          Backing up and recovering a VxVM volume using NetBackup
        3.  
          Recovering a VxVM volume using NetBackup
  6. Section VI. Optimizing storage costs for DB2
    1. Understanding storage tiering with SmartTier
      1. About SmartTier
        1.  
          About VxFS multi-volume file systems
        2.  
          About VxVM volume sets
        3.  
          About volume tags
        4.  
          SmartTier file management
        5.  
          SmartTier sub-file object management
      2.  
        SmartTier in a High Availability (HA) environment
    2. SmartTier use cases for DB2
      1.  
        SmartTier use cases for DB2
      2.  
        Relocating old archive logs to tier two storage using SmartTier
      3.  
        Relocating inactive tablespaces or segments to tier two storage
      4.  
        Relocating active indexes to premium storage
      5.  
        Relocating all indexes to premium storage
  7. Section VII. Storage Foundation for Databases administrative reference
    1. Storage Foundation for Databases command reference
      1.  
        vxsfadm command reference
      2. FlashSnap reference
        1.  
          FlashSnap configuration parameters
        2.  
          FlashSnap supported operations
      3. Database Storage Checkpoints reference
        1.  
          Database Storage Checkpoints configuration parameters
        2.  
          Database Storage Checkpoints supported operations
    2. Tuning for Storage Foundation for Databases
      1.  
        Additional documentation
      2. About tuning Volume Manager (VxVM)
        1.  
          About obtaining volume I/O statistics
      3. About tuning File System (VxFS)
        1. How monitoring free space works
          1.  
            About monitoring fragmentation
        2.  
          How tuning VxFS I/O parameters works
        3.  
          About tunable VxFS I/O parameters
        4.  
          About obtaining file I/O statistics using the Quick I/O interface
        5.  
          About I/O statistics data
        6.  
          About I/O statistics
      4. About tuning DB2 databases
        1.  
          DB2_USE_PAGE_CONTAINER_TAG
        2.  
          DB2_PARALLEL_IO
        3.  
          PREFETCHSIZE and EXTENTSIZE
        4.  
          INTRA_PARALLEL
        5.  
          NUM_IOCLEANERS
        6.  
          NUM_IOSERVERS
        7.  
          CHNGPGS_THRESH
        8.  
          Table scans
        9.  
          Asynchronous I/O
        10.  
          Buffer pools
        11.  
          Memory allocation
        12.  
          TEMPORARY tablespaces
        13.  
          DMS containers
        14.  
          Data, indexes, and logs
        15.  
          Database statistics
      5.  
        About tuning AIX Virtual Memory Manager
    3. Troubleshooting SFDB tools
      1. About troubleshooting Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools
        1.  
          Running scripts for engineering support analysis for SFDB tools
        2.  
          Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools log files
      2. About the vxdbd daemon
        1.  
          Starting and stopping vxdbd
        2.  
          Configuring listening port for the vxdbd daemon
        3.  
          Limiting vxdbd resource usage
        4.  
          Configuring encryption ciphers for vxdbd
      3.  
        Troubleshooting vxdbd
      4. Resources for troubleshooting SFDB tools
        1.  
          SFDB logs
        2.  
          SFDB error messages
        3.  
          SFDB repository and repository files
      5.  
        Upgrading Storage Foundation for Databases (SFDB) tools from 5.0.x to 9.0 (2184482)

Tasks for setting up Quick I/O in a database environment

Quick I/O is included in the VxFS package shipped with the InfoScale Foundation, InfoScale Storage, and InfoScale Enterprise products. By default, Quick I/O is enabled when you mount a VxFS file system.

If Quick I/O is not available in the kernel, or an InfoScale product license is not installed, a file system mounts without Quick I/O by default, the Quick I/O file name is treated as a regular file, and no error message is displayed. If, however, you specify the -o qio option, the mount command prints the following error message and terminates without mounting the file system.

	VxFDD: You don't have a license to run this program
	vxfs mount: Quick I/O not available

To use Quick I/O, you must:

  • Preallocate files on a VxFS file system

    Preallocating database files for Quick I/O allocates contiguous space for the files. The file system space reservation algorithms attempt to allocate space for an entire file as a single contiguous extent. When this is not possible due to lack of contiguous space on the file system, the file is created as a series of direct extents. Accessing a file using direct extents is inherently faster than accessing the same data using indirect extents. Internal tests have shown performance degradation in OLTP throughput when using indirect extent access. In addition, this type of preallocation causes no fragmentation of the file system.

    You must preallocate Quick I/O files because they cannot be extended through writes using their Quick I/O interfaces. They are initially limited to the maximum size you specify at the time of creation.

  • Use a special file naming convention to access the files

    VxFS uses a special naming convention to recognize and access Quick I/O files as raw character devices. VxFS recognizes the file when you add the following extension to a file name:

    ::cdev:vxfs:

    Whenever an application opens an existing VxFS file with the extension ::cdev:vxfs: (cdev being an acronym for character device), the file is treated as if it were a raw device. For example, if the file temp01 is a regular VxFS file, then an application can access temp01 as a raw character device by opening it with the name:

    .temp01::cdev:vxfs:

    Note:

    We recommend reserving the ::cdev:vxfs: extension only for Quick I/O files. If you are not using Quick I/O, you could technically create a regular file with this extension; however, doing so can cause problems if you later enable Quick I/O.

Depending on whether you are creating a new database or are converting an existing database to use Quick I/O, you have the following options:

If you are creating a new database to use Quick I/O:

  • You can use the qiomkfile command to preallocate space for database files and make them accessible to the Quick I/O interface.

  • You can use the setext command to preallocate space for database files and create the Quick I/O files.

If you are converting an existing database:

  • You can create symbolic links for existing VxFS files, and use these symbolic links to access the files as Quick I/O files.

More Information

Extending a Quick I/O file

Preallocating space for Quick I/O files using the setext command

Accessing regular VxFS files as Quick I/O files