A DB2 federated database system enables users and applications to refer to multiple database management systems or databases within a single SQL statement. You can, for example, perform a UNION between a DB2 table and a Microsoft SQL Server view. A DB2 federated system includes a DB2 instance and database, and one or more data sources. Each data source consists of a non-DB2 DBMS and data.
In DB2 Relational Connect, different wrappers are provided to allow your DB2 server to access different data sources. Wrappers are available for Oracle, Sybase, and MS SQL Server.
Before setting up Relational Connect, you must do two things:
To set up Relational Connect for MS SQL Server data sources, enter the information about the ODBC driver for your MS SQL Server database server.
To set up Relational Connect for Microsoft SQL Server data sources, enter the required information in the fields. The DB2 Setup wizard will install a wrapper for the data source and set up Relational Connect to access it.
You can set up Relational Connect for data sources later by using the DB2 Setup wizard or the Command Line Processor (CLP). For more information on using DB2 Relational Connect to access non-DB2 data sources see the Federated Systems Guide.