Release Notes

Troubleshooting Guide

18.1 Starting DB2 on Windows 95 and Windows 98 When the User Is Not Logged On

For a db2start command to be successful in a Windows 95 or a Windows 98 environment, you must either:

Log on using the Windows logon window or the Microsoft Networking logon window
Issue the db2logon command (see note (NOTE1) for information about the db2logon command).

In addition, the user ID that is specified either during the logon or for the db2logon command must meet DB2's requirements (see note (NOTE2)).

When the db2start command starts, it first checks to see if a user is logged on. If a user is logged on, the db2start command uses that user's ID. If a user is not logged on, the db2start command checks whether a db2logon command has been run, and, if so, the db2start command uses the user ID that was specified for the db2logon command. If the db2start command cannot find a valid user ID, the command terminates.

During the installation of DB2 Universal Database Version 6 on Windows 95 and Windows 98, the installation software, by default, adds a shortcut to the Startup folder that runs the db2start command when the system is booted (see note (NOTE1) for more information). If the user of the system has neither logged on nor issued the db2logon command, the db2start command will terminate.

If you or your users do not normally log on to Windows or to a network, you can hide the requirement to issue the db2logon command before a db2start command by running commands from a batch file as follows:

Create a batch file that issues the db2logon command followed by the db2start.exe command. For example:
```
  @echo off
  db2logon  db2local /p:password
  db2start
  cls
  exit
```
Name the batch file db2start.bat, and store it in the /bin directory that is under the drive and path where you installed DB2. You store the batch file in this location to ensure that the operating system can find the path to the batch file.
The drive and path where DB2 is installed is stored in the DB2 registry variable DB2PATH. To find the drive and path where you installed DB2, issue the following command:
```
  db2set  -g  db2path
```
Assume that the db2set command returns the value c:\sqllib. In this situation, you would store the batch file as follows:
```
  c:\sqllib\bin\db2start.bat
```
To start DB2 when the system is booted, you should run the batch file from a shortcut in the Startup folder. You have two options:
- Modify the shortcut that is created by the DB2 installation program to run the batch file instead of db2start.exe. In the preceding example, the shortcut would now run the db2start.bat batch file. The shortcut that is created by DB2 installation program is called DB2 - DB2.lnk, and is located in c:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\Start\DB2 - DB2.lnk on most systems.
- Add you own shortcut to run the batch file, and delete the shortcut that is added by the DB2 installation program. Use the following command to delete the DB2 shortcut:
```
  del  "C:\WINDOWS\Start Menu\Programs\Startup\DB2 - DB2.lnk"
```
  If you decide to use your own shortcut, you should set the close on exit attribute for the shortcut. If you do not set this attribute, the DOS command prompt is left in the task bar even after the db2start command has successfully completed. To prevent the DOS window from being opened during the db2start process, you can create this shortcut (and the DOS window it runs in) set to run minimized.
  Note: As an alternative to starting DB2 during the boot of the system, DB2 can be started prior to the running of any application that uses DB2. See note (NOTE5) for details.

If you use a batch file to issue the db2logon command before the db2start command is run, and your users occasionally log on, the db2start command will continue to work, the only difference being that DB2 will use the user ID of the logged on user. See note (NOTE1) for additional details.

Notes:

The db2logon command simulates a user logon. The format of the db2logon command is:
```
  db2logon userid  /p:password
```
The user ID that is specified for the command must meet the DB2 naming requirements (see note (NOTE2) for more information). If the command is issued without a user ID and password, a window opens to prompt the user for the user ID and password. If the only parameter provided is a user ID, the user is not prompted for a password; under certain conditions a password is required, as described below.
The user ID and password values that are set by the db2logon command are only used if the user did not log on using either the Windows logon window or the Microsoft Networking logon window. If the user has logged on, and a db2logon command has been issued, the user ID from the db2logon command is used for all DB2 actions, but the password specified on the db2logon command is ignored
When the user has not logged on using the Windows logon window or the Microsoft Networking logon window, the user ID and password that are provided through the db2logon command are used as follows:
- The db2start command uses the user ID when it starts, and does not require a password.
- In the absence of a high-level qualifier for actions like creating a table, the user ID is used as the high-level qualifier. For example:
  1. If you issue the following: db2logon db2local
  2. Then issue the following: create table tab1
    The table is created with a high-level qualifier as db2local.tab1.
  You should use a user ID that is equal to the schema name of your tables and other objects.
- When the system acts as client to a server, and the user issues a CONNECT statement without a user ID and password (for example, CONNECT TO TEST) and authentication is set to server, the user ID and password from the db2logon command are used to validate the user at the remote server. If the user connects with an explicit user ID and password (for example, CONNECT TO TEST USER userID USING password), the values that are specified for the CONNECT statement are used.
In Version 6, the user ID that is either used to log on or specified for the db2logon command must conform to the following DB2 requirements:
- It can be a maximum of 8 characters (bytes) in length.
- It cannot be any of the following: USERS, ADMINS, GUESTS, PUBLIC, LOCAL, or any SQL reserved word that is listed in the SQL Reference.
- It cannot begin with: SQL, SYS or IBM
- Characters can include:
  - A through Z (Windows 95 and Windows 98 support case-sensitive user IDs)
  - 0 through 9
  - @, #, or $
You can prevent the creation of the db2start shortcut in the Startup folder during a customized interactive installation, or if you are performing a response file installation and specify the DB2.AUTOSTART=NO option. If you use these options, there is no db2start shortcut in the Startup folder, and you must add your own shortcut to run the db2start.bat file.
On Windows 98, an option is available that you can use to specify a user ID that is always logged on when Windows 98 is started. In this situation, the Windows logon window will not appear. If you use this option, a user is logged on and the db2start command will succeed if the user ID meets DB2 requirements (see note (NOTE2) for details). If you do not use this option, the user will always be presented with a logon window. If the user cancels out of this window without logging on, the db2start command will fail unless the db2logon command was previously issued, or invoked from the batch file, as described above.
If you do not start DB2 during a system boot, DB2 can be started by an application. You can run the db2start.bat file as part of the initialization of applications that use DB2. Using this method, DB2 will only be started when the application that will use it is started. When the user exits the application, a db2stop command can be issued to stop DB2. Your business applications can start DB2 in this way, if DB2 is not started during the system boot.
To use the DB2 Synchronizer application or call the synchronization APIs from your application, DB2 must be started if the scripts that are download for execution contain commands that operate either against a local instance or a local database. These commands can be in database scripts, instance scripts, or embedded in operating system (OS) scripts. If an OS script does not contain Command Line Processor commands or DB2 APIs that use an instance or a database, it can be run without DB2 being started. Because it may be difficult to tell in advance what commands will be run from your scripts during the synchronization process, DB2 should normally be started before synchronization begins.
If you are calling either the db2sync command or the synchronization APIs from your application, you would start DB2 during the initialization of your application. If your users will be using the DB2 Synchronizer shortcut in the DB2 for Windows folder to start synchronization, the DB2 Synchronization shortcut must be modified to run a db2sync.bat file. The batch file should contain the following commands to ensure that DB2 is running before synchronization begins:
```
  @echo off
  db2start.bat
  db2sync.exe
  db2stop.exe
  cls
  exit
```
In this example, it is assumed that the db2start.bat file invokes the db2logon and db2start commands as described above.
If you decide to start DB2 when the application starts, ensure that the installation of DB2 does not add a shortcut to the Startup folder to start DB2. See note (NOTE3) for details.

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