DOMINO AND DB2
For more information about the Limited Availability program and other important information on this topic, see the URL http://www.ibm.com/lotus/nsfdb2.
For information about enabling the Domino and DB2 feature, see the topic DB2 key for access to Domino 7 with DB2.
An understanding of DB2 concepts is assumed before you attempt to configure Domino and DB2.
You can configure IBM Lotus Domino to run with DB2 databases and Notes databases. You can also access and view data stored in Notes databases as well as data stored in DB2 databases. When working with your data, there is no visible difference between the data stored in a Notes database and data stored in a DB2 database.
When you run Domino with DB2, there are three distinct interactions that occur between Domino and DB2. They are:
Note DAVs and Query Views are explained later in this topic.
Domino connects to DB2 using the Domino server user account assigned to it when you run the DB2 Server Enablement tool from the Domino Administrator. The DB2 Server Enablement tool enables a Domino server to communicate with a DB2 server.
For more information, see the topic "Enabling Domino access to a DB2 server."
DB2 Access Views
A DB2 Access view (DAV) is a shared resource that lets you define a DB2 view of Notes data. DAVs enable you to leverage the data that is stored in DB2. While the DAV actually exists in DB2, it is accessible by both Domino and non-Domino applications. Using DAVs is an option; you can set up your Domino and DB2 configuration to use DAVs if you choose to.
A Notes NSF can contain many notes that differ from each other, whereas DB2's relational database is organized in structured tables and columns that are similar to each other. To help resolve the issue of using two very different database structures, a DAV identifies a common set of notes in an NSF. This common set of notes can then be used by DB2.
For example, you can organize notes in DB2 based on the Notes form that is used to create the note. In this example, the form "Employee" contains the text fields FirstName, LastName, Street1, Street2, State, and Zip Code." Therefore, you can create a DAV in Domino Designer that instructs Domino to create a DB2 view that provides access to a specific set of notes that contain a specific set of fields.
Caution When creating a DAV, the designer must be sure that field names are entered exactly as they appear in the database. If a field name is invalid, no data displays.
Access to the DAV is managed by a the DB2 Access server installed on the DB2 server.
For more information about the DB2 Access server, see the topic Installing the DB2 Access server on the DB2 server.
The DAV makes the data available directly by SQL. Third-party applications that use Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) can read the data.
Domino stores NSFs as a set of tables in DB2. You cannot view this data, it is private to Domino. You can only view NSF data in DB2 by creating a DAV to expose that data.
For more information about DB2 Access Views, see the topic "DB2 Access Views" in the Domino Designer 7 documentation.
Query views
A Query view is another type of Notes view. Like other types of Notes views, query views are design elements that are part of Notes applications. A query view uses an SQL query to populate its data instead of using a view formula that selects notes from a Notes database. If you want to create a query view based on data in a Notes database that resides in DB2, you must first have defined and populated a DAV.
Data in DB2 databases is accessed and manipulated through System Query Language (SQL) statements.
When you create a Notes view that is based on an SQL query, keep the following tips in mind:
A benefit of using DB2 to access data is that Query Views are dynamic; you can re-execute them with different SQL statements to quickly access specific notes. Regular Notes views need to be rebuilt using the Update and Updall tasks, but Query Views do not; therefore, they do not take up space in the NSF. Query Views can do things that regular Notes views cannot do, for example, they can join data from multiple NSFs and they can access non-Domino data. Non-Domino data is any data visible to DB2.
For more information about Query Views, see the topic "Query Views" in the Domino Designer 7 documentation.
DB2 and Domino authentication
When accessing Notes data from a DAV or Query view, users need both a Notes user name and a DB2 user account name. For access to DAVs from SQL, the user connects as a specific DB2 user name. This DB2 user account uses the corresponding Notes user name to verify Domino access rights (ACLs) to the Notes data. For access to a Query View from Notes, the user connects to Notes using their Notes ID, and the Query View uses the corresponding DB2 account name to verify DB2 access privileges for the data being accessed.
Benefits of using Domino with DB2
Domino with DB2 offers benefits to Domino customers and to DB2 customers. Domino customers benefit from improved performance and scalability, the ability to use relational constructs, access to SQL-based views of Notes and non-Notes data, greater transaction processing speed, and fast access to DB2. DB2 customers benefit from improved XML/collaboration support, Domino services, Notes application development support, and integration of Domino data into DB2 applications. Domino with DB2 also offers full enforcement of Domino security.
Some key features of Domino with DB2 are listed here:
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