DB2 UDB now makes use of LOB location specifiers (LLSs) when importing, exporting, and loading large object (LOB) information. This allows multiple LOBs to be stored in a single file.
An LLS is a string indicating where LOB data can be found within a file. The format of the LLS is filename.ext.nnn.mmm/, where filename.ext is the name of the file that contains the LOB, nnn is the offset of the LOB within the file (measured in bytes), and mmm is the length of the LOB (in bytes). For example, an LLS of db2exp.001.123.456/ indicates that the lob is located in file db2exp.001, begins at an offset of 123 bytes into the file, and is 456 bytes long. If the indicated size in the LLS is 0, the LOB is considered to have a length of 0. If the length is -1, the LOB is considered to be NULL and the file name and offset do not matter.
When exporting data using the lobsinfile modifier, the LOBs will not always be placed into separate files. There may be multiple LOBs in each LOB file, and multiple LOB files per LOB path. The data file will now contain LLS records instead of just file names.
The import and load functions have also been changed to handle the changes to the export function. When loading or importing data with the modified by lobsinfile option specified, LLSs will be expected for each of the corresponding LOB columns. If something other than an LLS is encountered for a LOB column, the database will treat it as a LOB file, and will load the entire file as the LOB.
There are three new IXF data types. These three types correspond to character large objects (CLOBs), binary large objects (BLOBs), and double-byte character large objects (DBCLOBs) when represented by LLSs. The values of these data types are 964, 960, and 968 respectively.
IXF files now require each LOB column to have its own D record. This is created automatically by the export tool, but must be created manually if you are using a third party utility to create the IXF files. Additionally, an LLS is required for each LOB in the table, and not just the non-null LOBs. If a LOB column is null, you must write an LLS representing a null LOB.