Administration Guide

Administration Tools

The tools for administering DB2 are part of the Administration Client, a selectable component with each of the DB2 Universal Database products. The Administration Client is also available on a set of CD-ROMs that include the Administration Clients for all the operating systems on which DB2 is available. They allow you to install and use the Administration Client on any workstation: It does not matter whether your database servers are local or remote, or what operating system the database servers are running on. The tools enable you to perform the same functions from a Graphical User Interface as you could from the Command Line Processor. These functions include the entering of DB2 commands, SQL statements, or system commands. With the tools, however, you do not have to remember complex statements or commands and you get additional assistance.

Note:

The Administration Client is an installation option.

The following tools are available from the Control Center toolbar:

• The Control Center. The Control Center is the main DB2 graphical tool for administering your database. From the Control Center, you get a clear overview of all the systems and database objects that are cataloged locally.
• The Satellite Administration Center. The Satellite Administration Center allows you to administer DB2 Satellite servers.
• The Command Center. The Command Center enables you to issue DB2 database commands, SQL statements, and operating system commands; recall previous commands; and scroll through access plans for SQL queries.
• The Script Center. The Script Center enables you to create, run and schedule operating-system-level commands, DB2 command scripts, and SQL statement scripts.
• The Alert Center. The Alert Center notifies you when thresholds that you have set have been exceeded or when a node in a multinode environment is no longer responding.
• The Journal. The Journal allows you to view the status of jobs, reschedule jobs, and to view the recovery history log and messages log.
• The Information Center. The Information Center gives you quick access to the information in the DB2 product manuals and sample programs and provides access to other sources of DB2 information on the Web.
• The License Center. The License Center displays the status of your license as well as allowing you to configure your system for proper license monitoring.

For some functions that you can perform with the GUI tools, you are given the option of using a Wizard. Wizards are invoked from the pop-up menus in the Control Center. They provide a greater level of help by prompting you step-by-step on how to fill in the information necessary for the task you are doing and even making calculations and recommendations based on information you supply. Wizards are very useful if you are a new database administrator or someone who only administers a database occasionally.

In DB2 Universal Database, the following Wizards exist:

• Backup Database. This asks you basic questions about the data in the database, the availability of the database, and recoverability requirements. It then suggests a backup plan, creates the job script, and schedules it. To invoke the Backup Database Wizard, select the icon representing the database you want to backup, click the right mouse button, and select Backup --> Database using Wizard.
• Create Database. This Wizard allows you to create a database, assign storage, and select basic performance options. To invoke the Create Database Wizard, select the Databases icon in the Object Tree pane, click the right mouse button, and select Create --> Database using Wizard.
• Create Table. This Wizard helps you to design columns using predefined column templates, create a primary key for the table, and assign the table to one or more table spaces. To invoke the Wizard, select the Tables icon, click the right mouse button, and select Create --> Table using Wizard.
• Create Table space. This Wizard lets you create a new table space and set basic storage performance options. To invoke it, select the Table Space icon, click the right mouse button, and select Create --> Table space using Wizard.
• Index Wizard. Use the Index Wizard to determine which indexes to create or drop for a given set of SQL statements. The recommendations are based on the workload that you specify. To invoke the Index Wizard, select the Indexes folder, click the right mouse button, and select Create --> Index using Wizard.
• Performance Configuration. This Wizard helps you tune databases by requesting information about the database, its data, and the purpose of the system. It then recommends new configuration parameters for the database and instance and automatically applies them if you wish. To invoke this Wizard, select the icon for a database, click the right mouse button, and select Configure using Wizard.
• Restore Database. This Wizard walks you through the process of recovering a database. To invoke the Wizard, select the icon for a database, click the right mouse button, and select Restore --> Database using Wizard.
• Configure Multisite Update Wizard. This Wizard lets you configure databases to enable applications to update multiple sites simultaneously when it is important that the data at all the sites must be consistent. To invoke this Wizard, select an instance, click the right mouse button, and select Multisite Update --> Configure using Wizard.

Besides the graphical tools that you can invoke from the Control Center toolbar, there are some additional GUI tools that are not invoked directly from the Control Center toolbar.

• Performance Monitor. Performance Monitor is a tool to monitor DB2 objects such as instances, databases, tables, table spaces, and connections. You use this tool to detect performance problems and tune databases for optimum performance. The Performance Monitor is invoked as a selection on the pop-up menus in the Control Center.
• Event Monitor. Event Monitor is a tool that lets you analyze resource usage by recording the state of the database at the time specific events occur. An Event Monitor is created by typing db2emcrt from a DB2 command line.
• Event Analyzer. Event Analyzer is a tool that allows you to analyze the data collected by the Event Monitor. An Event Analyzer is invoked by typing db2evmon from a DB2 command line.
• Visual Explain function. The visual explain function lets you view the access plan for SQL statements as a graph so that you can tune your SQL queries for better performance. Prior to Version 6, you used the Visual Explain tool to view the access plans. Now, Visual Explain is no longer a separate tool; the function is available on pop-up menus from various database objects in the Control Center, and also from the Command Center.

In addition to these tools, another useful tool for database administration that is not part of the Control Center is the Client Configuration Assistant. The Client Configuration Assistant is a tool that contains Wizards to help users set up clients to communicate with remote servers.

All these tools are described in greater detail later on. The following section gives an overview of features found in the tools.