Ask the average software professional about Lotus Notes/Domino 7, and you may well get an answer similar to the following: "Release 7? That's the release with DB2 integration, right?" Of course, Notes/Domino 7 offers many other features and functionality besides DB integration, as we explain in our book, Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 7. However, DB2 integration has gathered its fair share of press and publicity, and is therefore one of the better-known features in this release. And why not? This represents a major milestone: interoperability between two of IBM's most important and popular software offerings. For IBM customers, especially those with large installed bases of Notes/Domino and DB2 users, this is an important development, one that opens up numerous possibilities. DB2 Universal Database (commonly referred to as DB2 UDB) is a database management system that provides a database platform for building industrial-strength, on-demand business applications. DB2 supports a number of open standards, as well as popular development platforms such as J2EE and Microsoft.NET. For more information on DB2, see the DB2 Product Family home page at http://www.ibm.com/software/data/db2/. In Notes/Domino 7, it is now possible to use both DB2 databases and Domino databases as data stores. This allows Notes users (who don't need a DB2 ID) to access and view documents stored in either platform, with no user-visible differences between the Domino data and the DB2 data. Notes/Domino 7 even offers the ability to replicate a DB2 database, similar to the way you would replicate a Notes database. For sites that maintain significant installations of Notes/Domino and DB2, the Notes/Domino 7 DB2 integration functionality offers advantages to users of both products. DB2 can be used as an optional storage capability that allows Notes/Domino users to store the internal representation of their messaging and collaboration data in an enterprise relational database, maintaining full compatibility with NSF (ODS) functionalities. Notes/Domino provides DB2 users with features such as Notes/Domino security, Notes application development capabilities, Domino services, and better XML/collaboration support. In addition, Notes/Domino 7 introduces two new DB2-related features: DB2 Access Views (DAVs). Query Views, which allow Domino application developers to fully exploit relational capabilities with Domino and DB2 data.
In addition, Notes users gain access to DB2 features such as relational constructs and SQL-based views. (Note that you need DB2 8.2.2 for Windows or AIX to use with Notes/Domino 7.) One point to bear in mind, however, is that DB2 is not intended to replace the NSF file system as the primary data store for Notes/Domino. Instead, the DB2 integration features in Notes/Domino 7 are intended to provide interoperability between these platforms, especially for sites that already have DB2 installed and would like to leverage the time and investment they have made storing data on this platform. Notes/Domino 7 DB2 integration features now allow these sites to "get at" this DB2 data from within the Notes client, taking advantage of Notes features to provide a rich and seamless user experience. (Note that DB2 is a storage option for Domino 7 servers only. Databases on the Notes 7 client remain in NSF format.) In this document, we'll discuss some of the capabilities of Notes/Domino 7 DB2 integration. We'll take a high-level look at administration issues, such as installation and configuration. Then we'll examine the application development features you can use to incorporate DB2 integration functionality into your own applications. Note: In the first release of Notes/Domino 7, DB2 integration features are for test and evaluation purposes only. IBM does not support actual production work done with these features. Full support for DB2 integration features will be included in an upcoming release of Domino 7. Consult the Notes/Domino 7 release notes for the latest status of these features. DB2 Features for Notes/Domino 7 Trial Program If you're interested in trying out the new DB2 integration features (and if you're not, you can skip the rest of this document!), IBM offers the DB2 features for Domino 7 trial program (see http://www.lotus.com/ldd/d7db2.nsf). To enable the DB2 data store feature in Notes/Domino 7, you need a special software "key," which you can obtain when you join the trial program. The trial program also lets you provide feedback about your experiences using the DB2 integration features. This feedback can help IBM improve DB2 integration features for future releases of Notes/Domino. To obtain the software key that enables DB2 features in Notes/Domino 7, follow the download instructions at the trial program's home page. These instructions also explain the DB2 fixpacks you may need to apply to integrate with Notes/Domino, and also describe how to obtain a version of DB2 to run with Notes/Domino 7 if you don't already have one installed. 2
Notes/Domino 7 Administration for DB2 DB2 integration in Notes/Domino 7 does complicate things a bit for the Domino server administrator. For example, there's now the DB2 server to maintain (for sites that do not already have DB2 installed). Apart from that, there are a number of configuration issues you must address to ensure DB2 integration features run properly in your Domino 7 environment. To help with these tasks, Domino 7 offers a number of new server-administration tools to support DB2-based databases. These include: The previously mentioned software key to enable Domino 7 to run with a DB2 data store. A tool to allow configuration of a connection document from DB2 to Domino. DB2 support options in the Status and Analysis panels. An integrated API to allow DB2 user names/passwords to be added. DB2 management features available from the Domino Web Administrator client. These and other DB2-related administration features are described in the Domino 7 server administration documentation. A simple test configuration for working with Notes/Domino 7 DB2 integration features is illustrated in the following diagram: 3
In the preceding figure, we have two computers, one running Windows 2003, and the other running Windows 2000. On Windows 2003, we're running a DB2 server with the DB2 Admin Client (installed with DB2). We're also running a Domino 7 server (called Acme1), and a Domino 7 access server (called DB2Access). On Windows 2000, we're running a Domino 7 server (called Gateway) and the DB2 Admin Client, standalone install. Setting Up your Integrated Domino 7/DB2 Environment The following is a list of the high-level steps involved in setting up your Domino 7 and DB2 environments to take advantage of the Domino 7/DB2 integration features. Before you start, read the Domino 7 release notes for all the latest news, status, and issues involving Domino 7. You can view the release notes by visiting http://www.lotus.com/ ldd/notesua.nsf/e18d5eb0b8be97d9852567e50052ad16/ec099861d91381fc85257036 4
0051903c?OpenDocument. Also, make sure you have the Notes/Domino 7 and DB2 product code on hand. To use a DB2 server remotely, the computer on which the Domino server resides must also have one of the following DB2 components installed: DB2 Run-Time Client (where DB2 is installed on one computer, and Domino is installed on another). DB2 UDB Enterprise Server Edition (contains all components of a DB2 server and connects to a remote DB2 server). DB2 Workgroup Edition (not provided, but supported if the customer already has this installed). Then proceed as follows: 1. Create the Domino server IDs you'll need for your configuration. In the example illustrated in the preceding figure, we used three server IDs, one each for servers Acme1, DB2Access (which must be set up as an access server), and Gateway. 2. Install DB2. Refer to the product documentation for information about how to do this. You can also consult the IBM DB2 Universal Database Installation and Configuration Supplement, Version 8.2 (see ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/ ps/products/db2/info/vr82/pdf/en_us/db2iye81.pdf). 5
3. Create the DB2 Sample Database. (This step isn't required, but it's good practice to have the Sample Database available for any "quick and dirty" testing you may need to do along the way.) 6 4. Install the DB2 Admin client. You can use the DB2 Run-Time Client as the Admin client. However, be sure you don't confuse the DB2 Run-Time Client with the DB2 Run Time Client Lite (RTCL). Notes/Domino 7 integration does not support the DB2 Run Time Client Lite. 5. Install the Domino 7 servers. Consult the Domino 7 server documentation for instructions about how to do this (see http://www.lotus.com/ldd/ notesua.nsf/0/de2da7b609c6cb038525703b005e2f59?opendocument). When configuring the Domino 7 servers, be sure to enable Transaction logging. Also, you must add the DB2 Key for Domino (Ndb2Key.dll) into the Domino executable directory. 6. Establish communication between the Domino and DB2 systems. If you are using a remote DB2 server, verify you can access the Sample Database. To do this, verify that IP and TCP ports are set up correctly. (Test with telnet as necessary.) Then obtain the instance name, as displayed in the DB2 administrator client.
7. Update the operating system accounts, and enable DB2 with these accounts. Create or update the operating system group, as needed. Then update the SYSCTRL_GROUP (via either the Admin client interface, or the DB2 command line). 8. Use the Domino 7 Administration client to enable DB2. Refer to the product documentation for information about how to do this. Then restart Domino server, and verify that DB2 is working on Domino 7. 9. Install the Domino DB2 Access Server. When installation is complete, enable this server. You are now ready to incorporate DB2 features such as DAV views and Query Views in your Notes/Domino applications! 7
DB2 Application Development Features in Domino Designer 7 Lotus Domino Designer 7 offers two new types of views to assist you in managing data contained in DB2-enabled Domino databases: DB2 Access Views (commonly referred to as DAVs) and DB2 Query Views. A DAV is a shared resource that lets you define a DB2 view of Notes/Domino data. A Query View is a new Notes/Domino NSF view that is populated by using the SQL language queries. Basically, DAVs help organize your data in a way that allows you to leverage DB2 features in Notes/Domino. To do this, DAVs define a common set of notes in a Domino NSF file, which can then be used by DB2. Query Views employ an SQL query to populate its data, instead of a Notes/Domino view formula that selects documents from within the NSF database. This lets Notes client users to access DB2 content. The Domino 7 server stores a DB2-enabled database as a set of tables in DB2. A DAV is needed to expose this data, by making it available via SQL. Domino 7 also creates a schema for the database; the schema name is based on the database's file name. For effective SQL access to the database, create DB2 views that define the fields you want to access via SQL. Before you can use DAVs and Query Views to work with DB2-enabled databases, you need to do the following: 8 You must have successfully DB2-enabled your Domino server, as explained in the previous section. The DB2 Access Server (also called DB2 Access for Lotus Domino) should be installed on the same machine as the DB2 server that hosts Notes data. To run Query Views, you will need a DB2 operating system account name, in addition to your Notes user ID. These IDs must be linked in the Domino Directory via your DB2 account name in your Person document (Administration tab). This maps your Notes ID to a DAV or Query View. You must run the Set DB2 user name tool in the Domino Administrator client. The NSFs on which you will be working should be migrated to DB2. Only NSFs that are stored in DB2 can be accessed using SQL. (Consult the Notes/Domino product documentation for help on how to do this.) The only Notes/Domino file type stored in DB2 is NSF (as opposed to NTF). DAVs and Query Views are supported only in DB2-enabled NSF databases. Templates, for example, cannot contain DAVs. If you want to create a Query View based on data in a Notes/Domino database that resides in DB2, you must first have defined and populated a DAV for that database.
The following sections describe the basics for how DAVs and Query Views work, and how you can use them. DB2 Access Views (DAVs) As explained earlier, a DAV is a shared resource that lets you define a DB2 view of Notes/Domino data. A DAV allows you to expose Notes/Domino documents for other database applications. The following figure illustrates how a DAV works: You must create a DAV before you can use a Notes/Domino Query View. The DAV allows you to pull Notes/Domino information into the Query View in the Notes client, by creating entries that will be displayed in the Query View's columns. The following is a high-level procedure for creating a DAV. For more details on these steps, consult the Domino Designer 7 documentation by visiting http://www.lotus.com/ ldd/notesua.nsf/0/5130904a82cbab128525703b006440ea?opendocument. 9
Note: A DAV typically consumes a significant amount of disk space. To avoid potential performance issues due to lack of disk space, we recommend that you create only one DAV to contain all the fields you'll need in all Query Views that reference that database. 1. Make a list of all the fields referenced in the columns of all the Query Views you plan to create. 2. In Domino Designer 7, select DB2 Access Views in the Shared Resources section. 3. Select New to create the DAV. Fill in all the required information in the Properties box. 4. At the top of the list of DAVs, click Create/Update in DB2. Then click Populate in DB2. When the DAV is ready for you to use, to use, you will see a checkmark to the left of its name. When the DAV is complete, you can create Query View as explained in the next section. Query Views A Query View is a new type of Notes/Domino database view introduced in Notes/Domino 7, specifically to accommodate DB2 integration. Query Views allow Notes users to view data stored in a DB2 database, using SQL. This is done seamlessly from the user's perspective; the DB2 data appears as it would in a Notes/Domino database. In fact, the user may not even be aware which platform Notes/Domino or DB2 is storing the information being viewed. For sites with existing DB2 installations containing large amounts of corporate documentation and knowledge, this lets Notes serve as the single client for viewing both Notes/Domino and DB2 databases. This allows users to use a single UI to work with both formats, while taking advantage of the strong security features offered in Notes. A Query View lets you create a Notes/Domino view with a result set based on an SQL query. This allows the Notes/Domino application to pull information (via join) directly from DB2, or from another DB2-enabled Domino database (via its DAV). As we mentioned previously, a Query View uses a formula that evaluates to an SQL query to populate its data. Note that you must define a new Query View when you create it; you cannot convert an existing Notes/Domino view into a Query View. To use a Query View with a DAV, Domino 7 must be enabled to use DB2. Also, the Notes/Domino (NSF) database referenced by the Query View must be stored in DB2 (see the previous figure). In addition, the DB2 Access Server must be running and configured correctly. For more details on these and all other associated requirements, see the 10
Domino 7 administration documentation. (To determine whether a database is DB2- enabled, open the database and select File Database Properties. Then open the Information tab in Database properties. If the database is DB2-enabled, you will see the message Database is DB2-enabled. To create a Query View, do the following: 1. Open Domino Designer 7. Click Copy From, and select the appropriate view. 2. Choose By SQL Query. Then enter the SQL Query formula, enclosed in double-quotes. The "heart" of this formula is the Select statement. The Select statement must include all the fields referenced in the view's columns; these fields must be separated by commas. Within the Select statement, both the DAV and/or DB2 Schema must be referenced properly. 3. Click Save and Customize. After you save the view, you can identify via the grey and blue icon that appears to the left of the view name in Domino Designer. When you edit the new SQL Query View, a new event called SQL Query is displayed in the Domino Designer 7 programmer's pane. Writing the SQL Query is similar to writing a "regular" view selection formula. Conclusion This concludes our "quick tour" of DB2 integration features introduced in Notes/Domino 7. We have briefly explained the two new DB2-related features in release 7, DB Access Views (DAVs) and Query Views. Even though these features are still in the non-production stage, we recommend that all developers interested in bridging the gap between the Notes/Domino 7 and DB2 platforms to give them a try. This can give you a good head start towards developing a seamless "best-of-both-world" solution that combines the DB2's relational capabilities with the security and power of Notes/Domino a potentially unbeatable combination. 11