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Quick Beginnings for DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition for UNIX


Chapter 3. Introduction to DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition

A database is simply a collection of data. A database manager is the software that allows users to store and access data in a database. It achieves this function by using system resources, including CPU, memory, disk, and communications. In a partitioned database system, a single database manager and the collection of data and system resources that it manages are referred to collectively as a database partition server. A partitioned database system is the collection of all the database partition servers that you create to handle data requests.

In DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition, the quality, functionality, reliability, and robustness of the database manager is extended to the entire partitioned database system.

In a partitioned database system, multiple database partition servers can be assigned to a machine (or to multiple machines), and the database manager at each machine is responsible for a portion of the database's total data (each database partition server houses a portion of the entire database). This portion of the database is known as a database partition. The fact that databases are partitioned across database partition servers (or even machines) is transparent to users of SQL statements.

The system can maintain very large databases, and open opportunities for new applications. DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition provides a fast response for both decision-support (DSS) and online transaction processing (OLTP) applications.

DB2 Extended Enterprise Edition can be configured to execute on a shared-nothing hardware architecture, in which machines do not have to compete for resources. Each machine has exclusive access to its own disks and memory, and the machines communicate with each other through the use of messages. For a database system to exploit shared-nothing architecture, typically one database partition server is assigned to each machine. Another possible configuration is running multiple logical nodes, in which more than one database partition server runs on a machine. For more information, see "Multiple Logical Nodes".


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