1. Introduction

1.1. Why a DB2 installation HOWTO?

Ever since DB2 Version 5.2 was ported to Linux in 1998 and made available as a beta download, there has been a lot of interest in DB2 on Linux. The beta represented one of IBM's first dips into the waters of Linux, and it generated a lot of feedback. In fact, if you read through the newsgroups, you still see occasional questions from people who are trying out the Version 5.2 beta. (I don't know where they're getting it, but they're out there.) And, not surprisingly, they run into problems. It was a beta product, after all.

Anyway, I've been trying out DB2 on Linux since Version 5.2, so I've had a chance to witness the improvements over the past couple of years. I've also made a lot of use of the Linux Documentation Project in that time, and wanted to contribute something to the LDP. So I decided to write about the one thing that I really know something about on Linux, and hope that it helps someone else out there.

DB2 on Linux has come a long way since Version 5.2. The first supported release of DB2 on Linux was Version 6.1 in 1999, which removed many of the installation hurdles faced by the Version 5.2 beta testers.

DB2 Version 7.1 is the second major release that supports Linux, and since it's a new release I'm expecting that a new wave of people curious about DB2, as well as people migrating from Version 6.1, are going to try installing this new release on Linux. To that end, I'm writing this HOWTO to share my experiences and help smooth your installation. One of the big boosts comes from the standardization on the IBM Developer Kit for Java, which improves the stability of the DB2 Control Center and enables application developers to write stored procedures and UDFs in Java. DB2 Version 7.1 also introduces the ability to write stored procedures in SQL.

As time permits, I hope to provide hints and tips for improving the performance of DB2 on Linux, and for configuring the environment on various Linux distributions to be able to build DB2 applications in C, C++, and Java.

1.2. Who should read this HOWTO?

If you plan to install DB2 Version 7.1 on one of the Linux distributions supported by IBM, this document is for you. The distributions that IBM officially supports are:

Caldera OpenLinux 2.4
Red Hat Linux 6.2
SuSE Linux 6.2 and 6.3
TurboLinux 6.0

For Debian and Slackware, I have included very basic installation instructions or links to other resources in Section 5. If you have any other installation success stories, please forward me the details and I'll try to expand the section. As time permits, I plan to try to duplicate and confirm these installation instructions.

If you install DB2 Version 6.1 for Linux and DB2 hangs on the db2start command, see db2start hangs on Linux distributions built with glibc 2.1. I don't include any other DB2 Version 6.1 information in this document. If you plan to install DB2 Version 5.2 on Linux, don't! (Have I emphasized that point enough? All right, I'll stop now.) The Personal Developer's Edition of DB2 Version 7.1 is available as a free (beer) download from IBM, at the DB2 Universal Database download site. Registration is required, and, of course, your copy of DB2 is only free as long as you don't use it in a production environment.

This document is really meant to help you install DB2 Version 7.1 on the previously listed Linux distributions. I've installed DB2 on all of the distributions supported by IBM and noted the prerequisites and quirks for each of them. I don't go into detail about the various features of DB2, or what each installation option means, but I do cover the basics that you need to know to get it installed.

1.3. New versions of this document

I like my friends at the Linux Documentation Project, so you'll always be able to find the most up-to-date version of this document at the LDP web site.

1.4. Copyright and License

This document is free documentation; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version. This document is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details. You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with this document; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place - Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307, USA.

1.5. Credits

Dan Scott is the originator and current maintainer of this HOWTO. Please send all suggestions for improvement, criticisms, or more-or-less related questions to me at <daniels@REMca.ibm.com> (remove REM in my email address before sending). Please send all spam or hate mail to /dev/null.

Feedback and suggestions for improvement have been provided by Susan Williams, Serge Boivin, Darin McBride, and Xiaoyan Zhao. Ronnie Seagren did an awesome job of editing the original version for style and consistency.

Additional thanks to:

Andika Triwidada for contributing instructions to install DB2 V7.1 on Debian using the rpm utility.
Michael Naughton for braving Red Hat 7 and figuring out the libncurses.so.4 prerequisite.
Christoph Shmitz for resolving license problems with DB2 installed via alien.

1.6. About the author

Dan Scott has been employed by IBM Canada as an Information Developer since 1998—approximately when DB2 was first ported to Linux. It's probably just coincidence. He has documented and tested DB2 application development for the bulk of that time. In his spare time he can occasionally be found mourning for his dearly departed motorcycle, abusing his body on his mountain bike, or contemplating how to upgrade his Linux distribution at home (which started life as Mandrake 5.3 and has mutated wildly ever since) without suffering the wrath of his girlfriend.