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Appendix A. How the DB2 Library Is Structured

The DB2 Universal Database library consists of SmartGuides, online help, books and sample programs in HTML format. This section describes the information that is provided, and how to access it.

To access product information online, you can use the Information Center. You can view task information, DB2 books, troubleshooting information, sample programs, and DB2 information on the Web. See Accessing Information with the Information Center for details.

Completing Tasks with SmartGuides

SmartGuides help you complete some administration tasks by taking you through each task one step at a time. SmartGuides are available through the Control Center and the Client Configuration Assistant. The following table lists the SmartGuides.

Note:

Create Database, Index, and Configure Multisite Update SmartGuide are available for the partitioned database environment.

SmartGuide	Helps You to...	How to Access...
Add Database	Catalog a database on a client workstation.	From the Client Configuration Assistant, click Add.
Back up Database	Determine, create, and schedule a backup plan.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the database you want to back up and select Backup->Database using SmartGuide.
Configure Multisite Update SmartGuide	Perform a multi-site update, a distributed transaction, or a two-phase commit.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the Database icon and select Multisite Update.
Create Database	Create a database, and perform some basic configuration tasks.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the Databases icon and select Create->Database using SmartGuide.
Create Table	Select basic data types, and create a primary key for the table.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the Tables icon and select Create->Table using SmartGuide.
Create Table Space	Create a new table space.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the Table spaces icon and select Create->Table space using SmartGuide.
Index	Advise which indexes to create and drop for all your queries.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the Index icon and select Create->Index using SmartGuide.
Performance Configuration	Tune the performance of a database by updating configuration parameters to match your business requirements.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the database you want to tune and select Configure using SmartGuide.
Restore Database	Recover a database after a failure. It helps you understand which backup to use, and which logs to replay.	From the Control Center, click with the right mouse button on the database you want to restore and select Restore->Database using SmartGuide.

Accessing Online Help

Online help is available with all DB2 components. The following table describes the various types of help. You can also access DB2 information through the Information Center. For information see Accessing Information with the Information Center.

Type of Help	Contents	How to Access...
Command Help	Explains the syntax of commands in the command line processor.	From the command line processor in interactive mode, enter: ? command where command is a keyword or the entire command. For example, ? catalog displays help for all the CATALOG commands, while ? catalog database displays help for the CATALOG DATABASE command.
Control Center Help Client Configuration Assistant Help Event Analyzer Help Command Center Help	Explains the tasks you can perform in a window or notebook. The help includes prerequisite information you need to know, and describes how to use the window or notebook controls.	From a window or notebook, click the Help push button or press the F1 key.
Message Help	Describes the cause of a message, and any action you should take.	From the command line processor in interactive mode, enter: ? XXXnnnnn where XXXnnnnn is a valid message identifier. For example, ? SQL30081 displays help about the SQL30081 message. To view message help one screen at a time, enter: ? XXXnnnnn | more To save message help in a file, enter: ? XXXnnnnn > filename.ext where filename.ext is the file where you want to save the message help.
SQL Help	Explains the syntax of SQL statements.	From the command line processor in interactive mode, enter: help statement where statement is an SQL statement. For example, help SELECT displays help about the SELECT statement. Note: SQL help is not available on UNIX-based platforms.
SQLSTATE Help	Explains SQL states and class codes.	From the command line processor in interactive mode, enter: ? sqlstate or ? class-code where sqlstate is a valid five-digit SQL state and class-code is the first two digits of the SQL state. For example, ? 08003 displays help for the 08003 SQL state, while ? 08 displays help for the 08 class code.

DB2 Information - Hardcopy and Online

The table in this section lists the DB2 books. They are divided into two groups:

Cross-platform books

These books contain the common DB2 information for all platforms.

Platform-specific books

These books are for DB2 on a specific platform. For example, there are separate Quick Beginnings books for DB2 on OS/2, on Windows NT, and on the UNIX-based platforms.

Cross-platform sample programs in HTML

These samples are the HTML version of the sample programs that are installed with the SDK. They are for informational purposes and do not replace the actual programs.

Most books are available in HTML and PostScript format, or you can choose to order a hardcopy from IBM. The exceptions are noted in the table.

On OS/2 and Windows platforms, HTML documentation files can be installed under the doc\html subdirectory. Depending on the language of your system, some files may be in that language, and the remainder are in English.

On UNIX platforms, you can install multiple language versions of the HTML documentation files under the doc/%L/html subdirectories. Any documentation that is not available in a national language is shown in English.

You can obtain DB2 books and access information in a variety of different ways:

View

See Viewing Online Information.

Search

See Searching Online Information.

Print

See Printing the PostScript Books.

Order

See Ordering the Printed Books.

Notes:

1. The character in the sixth position of the file name indicates the language of a book. For example, the file name db2d0e60 indicates that the Administration Guide is in English. The following letters are used in the file names to indicate the language of a book:
   

   Language	Identifier
   Brazilian Portuguese	b
   Bulgarian	u
   Czech	x
   Danish	d
   Dutch	q
   English	e
   Finnish	y
   French	f
   German	g
   Greek	a
   Hungarian	h
   Italian	i
   Japanese	j
   Korean	k
   Norwegian	n
   Polish	p
   Portuguese	v
   Russian	r
   Simp. Chinese	c
   Slovenian	l
   Spanish	z
   Swedish	s
   Trad. Chinese	t
   Turkish	m

2. For late breaking information that could not be included in the DB2 books:

   • On UNIX-based platforms, see the Release.Notes file. This file is located in the DB2DIR/Readme/%L directory, where %L is the locale name and DB2DIR is:

     • /usr/lpp/db2_06_01 on AIX

     • /opt/IBMdb2/V6.1 on HP-UX, Solaris, SCO UnixWare 7, and Silicon Graphics IRIX

     • /usr/IBMdb2/V6.1 on Linux.

   • On other platforms, see the RELEASE.TXT file. This file is located in the directory where the product is installed.

   • Under Windows Start menu

Viewing Online Information

The manuals included with this product are in Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) softcopy format. Softcopy format enables you to search or browse the information, and provides hypertext links to related information. It also makes it easier to share the library across your site.

You can view the online books or sample programs with any browser that conforms to HTML Version 3.2 specifications.

To view online books or sample programs on all platforms other than SCO UnixWare 7:

• If you are running DB2 administration tools, use the Information Center. See Accessing Information with the Information Center for details.

• Select the Open Page menu item of your Web browser. The page you open contains descriptions of and links to DB2 information:

  • On UNIX-based platforms, open the following page:

       file:/INSTHOME/sqllib/doc/%L/html/index.htm
    

    where %L is the locale name.

  • On other platforms, open the following page:

       sqllib\doc\html\index.htm
    

    The path is located on the drive where DB2 is installed.

    If you have not installed the Information Center, you can open the page by double-clicking on the DB2 Online Books icon. Depending on the system you are using, the icon is in the main product folder or the Windows Start menu.

To view online books or sample programs on the SCO UnixWare 7:

• DB2 Universal Database for SCO UnixWare 7 uses the native SCOhelp utility to search the DB2 information. You can access SCOhelp by the following methods:

  • entering the "scohelp" command on the command line,

  • selecting the Help menu in the Control Panel of the CDE desktop or

  • selecting Help in the Root menu of the Panorama desktop

  For more information on SCOhelp, refer to the Installation and Configuration Supplement.

Accessing Information with the Information Center

The Information Center provides quick access to DB2 product information. The Information Center is available on all platforms on which the DB2 administration tools are available.

Depending on your system, you can access the Information Center from the:

• Main product folder

• Toolbar in the Control Center

• Windows Start menu

• Help menu of the Control Center

The Information Center provides the following kinds of information. Click the appropriate tab to look at the information:

Tasks

Lists tasks you can perform using DB2.

Reference

Lists DB2 reference information, such as keywords, commands, and APIs.

Books

Lists DB2 books.

Troubleshooting

Lists categories of error messages and their recovery actions.

Sample Programs

Lists sample programs that come with the DB2 Software Developer's Kit. If the Software Developer's Kit is not installed, this tab is not displayed.

Web

Lists DB2 information on the World Wide Web. To access this information, you must have a connection to the Web from your system.

When you select an item in one of the lists, the Information Center launches a viewer to display the information. The viewer might be the system help viewer, an editor, or a Web browser, depending on the kind of information you select.

The Information Center provides some search capabilities, so you can look for specific topics, and filter capabilities to limit the scope of your searches.

For a full text search, click the Search button of the Information Center follow the Search DB2 Books link in each HTML file.

The HTML search server is usually started automatically. If a search in the HTML information does not work, you may have to start the search server by double-clicking its icon on the Windows or OS/2 desktop.

Refer to the release notes if you experience any other problems when searching the HTML information.

Note:

Search function is not available in the Linux and Silicon Graphics environments.

Setting Up a Document Server

By default, the DB2 information is installed on your local system. This means that each person who needs access to the DB2 information must install the same files. To have the DB2 information stored in a single location, use the following instructions:

1. Copy all files and subdirectories from \sqllib\doc\html on your local system to a Web server. Each book has its own subdirectory containing all the necessary HTML and GIF files that make up the book. Ensure that the directory structure remains the same.

2. Configure the Web server to look for the files in the new location. For information, see the NetQuestion Appendix in Installation and Configuration Supplement.

3. If you are using the Java version of the Information Center, you can specify a base URL for all HTML files. You should use the URL for the list of books.

4. Once you are able to view the book files, you should bookmark commonly viewed topics. Among those, you will probably want to bookmark the following pages:

   • List of books

   • Tables of contents of frequently used books

   • Frequently referenced articles, such as the ALTER TABLE topic

   • The Search form

For information about setting up a search, see the NetQuestion Appendix in Installation and Configuration Supplement book.

Searching Online Information

To search for information in the HTML books, you can do the following:

• Click on Search the DB2 Books at the bottom of any page in the HTML books. Use the search form to find a specific topic. This function is not available in the Linux or Silicon Graphics IRIX environments.

• Click on Index at the bottom of any page in an HTML book. Use the index to find a specific topic in the book.

• Display the table of contents or index of the HTML book, and then use the find function of the Web browser to find a specific topic in the book.

• Use the bookmark function of the Web browser to quickly return to a specific topic.

• Use the search function of the Information Center to find specific topics. See Accessing Information with the Information Center for details.

Printing the PostScript Books

If you prefer to have printed copies of the manuals, you can decompress and print PostScript versions. For the file name of each book in the library, see the table in DB2 Information - Hardcopy and Online. Specify the full path name for the file you intend to print.

On OS/2 and Windows platforms:

1. Copy the compressed PostScript files to a hard drive on your system. The files have a file extension of .exe and are located in the x:\doc\language\books\ps directory, where x: is the letter representing the CD-ROM drive and language is the two-character country code that represents your language (for example, EN for English).

2. Decompress the file that corresponds to the book that you want. Each compressed book is a self-extracting executable file. To decompress the book, simply run it as you would run any other executable program. The result from this step is a printable PostScript file with a file extension of .ps.

3. Ensure that your default printer is a PostScript printer capable of printing Level 1 (or equivalent) files.

4. Enter the following command from a command line:

      print filename.ps
   

On UNIX-based platforms:

1. Mount the CD-ROM. Refer to your Quick Beginnings manual for the procedures to mount the CD-ROM.

2. Change to /cdrom/doc/%L/ps directory on the CD-ROM, where /cdrom is the mount point of the CD-ROM and %L is the name of the desired locale. The manuals will be installed in the previously-mentioned directory with file names ending with .ps.Z.

3. Decompress and print the manual you require using the following command:

   • For AIX:

       zcat filename | qprt -P PSPrinter_queue
     

   • For HP-UX, Solaris, or SCO UnixWare 7:

       zcat filename | lp -d PSPrinter_queue
     

   • For Linux:

       zcat filename | lpr -P PSPrinter_queue
     

   • For Silicon Graphics IRIX:

       zcat < filename | lp -d PSPrinter_queue
     

   where filename is the full path name and extension of the compressed PostScript file and PSprinter_queue is the name of the PostScript printer queue.

   For example, to print the English version of DB2 for UNIX Quick Beginnings on AIX, you can use the following command:

     zcat /cdrom/doc/en/ps/db2ixe60.ps.Z || qprt -P ps1
   

Ordering the Printed Books

You can order the printed DB2 manuals either as a set or individually. There are three sets of books available. The form number for the entire set of DB2 books is SBOF-8926-00. The form number for the books listed under the heading "Cross-Platform Books" is SBOF-8924-00.

Note:

These form numbers only apply if you are ordering books that are printed in the English language in North America.

You can also order books individually by the form number listed in DB2 Information - Hardcopy and Online. To order printed versions, contact your IBM authorized dealer or marketing representative, or phone 1-800-879-2755 in the United States or 1-800-IBM-4YOU in Canada.

[ DB2 List of Books | Search the DB2 Books ]