DB2 10 for Linux on System z Using z/VM v6.2, Single System Image Clusters and Live Guest Relocation

DB2 10 for Linux on System z Using z/VM v6.2, Single System Image Clusters and Live Guest Relocation

by Lydia Parziale, Dan Davenport, Eduardo Kienetz, Tito Ogando, Manoj Srinivasan Pattabhiraman, Srivatsan Venkatesan
Released November 2012
Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
ISBN: None

Read it now on the O’Reilly learning platform with a 10-day free trial.

O’Reilly members get unlimited access to books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.

Start your free trial

Book description

IBM® z/VM® 6.2 introduced significant changes to z/VM with a multi-system clustering technology that allows up to four z/VM instances in a single system image (SSI) cluster. This technology is important because it offers you an attractive alternative to vertical growth by adding new z/VM systems. In the past, this capability required duplicate efforts to install, maintain, and manage each system. With SSI, these duplicate efforts are reduced or eliminated.

Support for live guest relocation (LGR) allows you to move Linux virtual servers without disrupting your business or incurring loss of service, thus reducing planned outages. The z/VM systems are aware of each other and take advantage of their combined resources. LGR enables you to relocate guests from a system requiring maintenance to a system that will remain active during maintenance.

A major advantage for DB2 v10 customers is that using z/VM 6.2 does not require any changes to existing DB2 structures. This remarkable benefit is due to the fact that DB2 v10 is installed as part of the LInux guest on z/VM and is fully integrated into LGR. This allows you to smoothly move DB2 v10 when you move Linux virtual servers, without interrupting either DB2 v10 or z/VM operations and services.

This IBM Redbooks® publication will help you understand how DB2 10 on Linux for System z® behaves while running on a z/VM that is being relocated using z/VM’s 6.2 Live Guest Relocation feature.

In this book, we explore memory management, the DB2 Self-tuning memory manager feature, time synchronization, networking, and storage and performance considerations with regards to relocation. We also offer some best practices found during a live guest relocation for DB2 v10.

Table of contents

  1. Notices
    1. Trademarks
  2. Preface
    1. The team who wrote this book
    2. Now you can become a published author, too!
    3. Comments welcome
    4. Stay connected to IBM Redbooks
  3. Chapter 1: Overview of z/VM 6.2 and DB2 v10 autonomic features
    1. Virtualization overview
      1. z/VM introduction
    2. z/VM 6.2 features
      1. Single system image
      2. Live guest relocation
    3. Autonomic features - DB2 version 10
      1. Self-Tuning Memory Management
      2. Automatic storage databases
      3. Configuration Advisor
      4. Automatic statistics collection
      5. Automatic reorganization
      6. Utility throttling
  4. Chapter 2: Our lab environment
    1. Overview of our four-member cluster
    2. Overview of our two-member cluster
    3. Applications used for testing
  5. Chapter 3: General memory management
    1. Linux swap
    2. General memory configuration parameters
      1. User limit requirements
      2. Kernel parameters
    3. Large page support
      1. Database shared memory size configuration parameter
      2. Enabling large page support
      3. Testing relocation while DB2 is using large pages
    4. z/VM memory sizing considerations
      1. Memory and paging considerations for live guest relocation
  6. Chapter 4: DB2 Self-tuning memory manager and z/VM live guest relocation
    1. DB2 Self-tuning memory manager
    2. Determining DB2 memory configuration
      1. Fetching instance memory configuration
      2. Fetching database memory configuration
      3. Enabling the self-tuning memory manager
      4. Verification of enablement
    3. DB2 LGR on a memory-constrained target cluster member
      1. Verifying database sort heap size and bufferpool page size
      2. Varying database sort heap and buffer pool size
      3. Verifying new database configuration
      4. Load generation queries
      5. Analysis of the DB2 memory tracker report
      6. Relocating a Linux guest to a memory-constrained cluster member
      7. Verification of z/VM health after the relocation
      8. Load generation and database memory setup
    4. Test conclusions
  7. Chapter 5: Time synchronization
    1. Hardware clock
      1. Server time protocol (STP)
      2. Relocating DB2 when using the hardware clock (1/3)
      3. Relocating DB2 when using the hardware clock (2/3)
      4. Relocating DB2 when using the hardware clock (3/3)
    2. Network Time Protocol (NTP)
      1. Configuring NTP
      2. NTP and different hardware clocks
    3. Final Results
  8. Chapter 6: Networking
    1. System diagram of a two-system cluster
    2. Examining how virtual local area networks (VLANs) behave
    3. VSWITCH MAC ID
    4. Changing to jumbo frames and relocating DB2
      1. Environment
      2. Tests
  9. Chapter 7: Best practices for DB2 v10 during live guest relocation
    1. Processor sharing
    2. Dynamic processor allocation - share settings
      1. Share setting scenario
    3. Memory considerations
      1. z/VM paging
      2. Linux swapping
    4. Networking consideration
      1. Intraensemble data network
  10. Related publications
    1. IBM Redbooks
    2. Other publications
    3. Online resources
    4. Help from IBM
  11. Index
  12. Back cover

Product information

  • Title: DB2 10 for Linux on System z Using z/VM v6.2, Single System Image Clusters and Live Guest Relocation
  • Author(s): Lydia Parziale, Dan Davenport, Eduardo Kienetz, Tito Ogando, Manoj Srinivasan Pattabhiraman, Srivatsan Venkatesan
  • Release date: November 2012
  • Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
  • ISBN: None