Standby is maintained as a mirror image of the primary. Many aspects of the primary and standby databases need to be the same.
- Primary and standby must have the same DB2 major version. For example, both on V10.1.
- Standby database fix pack level must be same or higher than that of the primary (otherwise, primary could generate log records the standby cannot replay).
- Same fix pack level is recommended on primary and standby, to minimize compatibility risk. Different primary and standby fix pack levels usually only occur duringrolling update
- Primary and standby must have the same platform.
- "Platform" here is defined as the combination of OS type (software) and machine architecture (hardware). For example, the followings are considered distinct platforms: Windows-x86, AIX-power, HP-IA, Solaris-Sparc, Solaris-x86, Linux-PPC, Linux-Z, Linux-390, Linux-x86,
- Primary and standby must have the same endian (both big endian, or both small endian). This requirement is usually satisfied by the platform requirement already.
- Same OS version (major and minor) is recommended on primary and standby. Different versions usually only occur during rolling update. DB2 does not enforce any check on OS version. But you should keep the different-version window as short as possible, to minimize compatibility risk.
- The DB2 software on primary and standby must have the same bit size (both 64 bit, or both 32 bit).
- Same bit size on the host platform is recommended, to minimize compatibility risk.
- Host platform bit size could be different. For example, DB2 is 32 bit on both machines. Primary host is 64 bit, which can run both 64 bit and 32 bit applications. Standby host is 32 bit.
- Primary and standby must have the same paths for tablespace containers, to support tablespace replication.
- The container path requirement can often be satisfied with symbolic links. The standby devices should have same or larger capacity.
- Redirected restore is not supported when creating the standby. However, database directory (for database metadata files) and transaction log directory changes are supported during the restore. Table space containers created by relative paths will be restored to paths relative to the new database directory.
- Same hardware (CPU, memory, disk, etc.) is recommended on the primary and standby, so that standby has enough power for replay. Sufficient planning and testing should be done when deploying a less powerful standby.
- Same amount of memory is recommended on the primary and standby, so that buffer pool replication is less likely to fail.
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