Setting up Db2 environments: an overview

This topic describes the high-level process for adding Db2 environments, linking Db2 instances to the Delphix Engine, and provisioning virtual databases.

Delphix for Db2 architecture

Delphix uses a Standby server model along with Db2s High Availability Disaster Recovery feature to ingest data and stay in sync with the source database. The standby server is then snapshotted by the Delphix Engine and the snapshots can be provisioned out to one or more target servers.

The snapshot and provision process occurs on the instance level, all databases that exist on the standby server will be provisioned out to the target machines. Similarly, actions such as bookmark, rewind, and refresh will simultaneously apply to all the databases in the instance.

Block diagram of linking architecture between Db2 environments and the Delphix engine

The linking process sets up a database inside an instance on the standby server and uses this as a HADR standby for the primary database. The staging instance must have access to a recent backup copy of the database that will be used to restore the initial copy of the dSource. Once the restoration process is complete, Delphix will issue the HADR standby commands for the given database and ensure that the health of the HADR connection stays within the acceptable threshold values.

Db2 staging instance set up

The database level feature enables you to have 1-many mappings between instance and databases. It is also possible to set up databases from multiple primary hosts to use the same standby instance.

The choice of databases on the staging server should also take into account the expected network traffic that HADR will create between the source and staging environments.

Db2 DPF block diagram

While using DPF, the DPF environment for Db2 staging and target should be configured on separate hosts. Also, staging and target should be configured with the same number of logical partitions as the number of partitions in the source node.