Top 20 most-asked questions about Amazon RDS for Db2 answered

The
new

Amazon
Relational
Database
Service
(Amazon
RDS) for
Db2
offering
allows
customers
to
migrate
their
existing,
self-managed
Db2
databases
to
the
cloud
and
accelerate
strategic
modernization
initiatives.
In
our
recent webcast,
IBM,
AWS,
customers
and
partners
came
together
for
an
interactive
session.
In
this
session:
  

• IBM
  and
  AWS
  discussed
  the
  benefits
  and
  features
  of
  this
  new
  fully
  managed
  offering
  spanning
  availability,
  security,
  backups,
  migration
  and
  more. 
• AWS
  ran
  a
  live
  demo
  to
  show
  how
  to
  get
  started
  in
  just
  a
  few
  clicks. 
• A
  panel
  of
  IBM
  Champions,
  clients
  and
  partners
  such
  as
  Profile
  Centevo
  and
  The
  Fillmore
  Group
  discussed
  their
  experiences
  using
  Amazon
  RDS
  for
  Db2
  and
  their
  modernization
  use
  cases. 

Let’s
examine
the
top
20
questions
about
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
that
we’ve
received
from
our
audience,
customers
and
partners
alike:  

General 

1.
What
versions
and
editions
of
Db2
are
supported
on
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2? 

Answer: Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
supports
Db2
LUW
v11.5.9
for
Db2
Standard
Edition
and Advanced
Edition.
Future
versions
of
Db2
will
be
added
to
the
service
as
they
become
available. 

2.
How
does
Db2
differentiate
from
other
engines
on
RDS,
and
what
are
its
unique
features? 

Answer: Along
with
standard
RDS
features,
Amazon RDS
for
Db2
supports
key
Db2
features,
such
as
row
and
column
organized
tables
for
mixed and
analytic workloads,
the
Adaptive
Workload
Optimizer
to
for
better
resource
management,
and
rules-based
access
controls
for
advanced
data
protection.
Also,
it
supports
existing
configurations,
such
as
the
use
of
stored
procedures
(PL/SQL
and
Java-based),
with
the
ability
to
change
database
parameters
and
registry
variables
with
DBADM
access. 

3.
How
can
I
find
out
about
new
features
or
planned
technical
updates
for
RDS
for
Db2?
Where
can
I
provide
feedback? 

Answer:
To share
feedback
on
the
product
and
learn
more
about
new
features
or
technical
updates
planned
for
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2,
connect
with
your
IBM
or
AWS
representative
to book
a
meeting
with
IBM
Db2
experts.  

4.
Can Amazon RDS
for
Db2
be
used
for running data
warehousing
workloads? 

Answer:
Yes,
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
can
support
analytics
workloads,
but
it
is
not
a
data
warehouse. Amazon RDS
for
Db2
supports single-node
transactional,
mixed
and
analytics
workloads. Db2
Warehouse,
our
cloud-native
data
warehouse
for
real-time
operational
analytics,
business
intelligence
(BI),
reporting
and
machine
learning
(ML),
is
also
available
as
a
fully
managed
service
on
AWS
to
support
customer’s
data
warehousing
needs.  

Scalability 

5.
What
is
the
maximum
scale
of
an
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
instance?
For
example,
how
much
CPU,
memory
and
storage
are
needed? 

Answer: Instances
can
scale
up
to
128
vCPUs
and
4
TB
of
memory
with
RDS
for
Db2.
Refer
to
the

Amazon RDS
for
Db2
pricing
page
for
instances
supported.

6.
Are
there
any
constraints
on
the
number
of
databases
that
can
be
hosted
on
an
instance? 

Answer:
Currently,
we
support
one
Db2
database
per
instance.
If
you
require
hosting
multiple
databases
per
instance,
connect
with
an
IBM
or
AWS
representative
to
discuss
your
needs
and

request
a
proof
of
concept. 

7.
Does
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
support
32
KB
Page
size? 

Answer: Yes,
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
supports
32
KB
page
size. 

8.
Is
autoscaling
available
for
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2? 

Answer: You
can
use
automated
storage
scaling
to
automatically
scale
based
on
your
usage.
You
can
also
set
a
threshold
limit
for
automated
storage
scaling.
Compute
scaling
can
be
done
with a push
of
a
button. 

High
availability 

9.
What
solutions
does Amazon RDS
for
Db2
provide
for
auto
failovers,
such
as
Db2
HADR? 

Answer:
Amazon RDS
for
Db2
uses
Multi-AZ
for
HA
between
availability
zones
(AZs). Amazon
RDS
Multi-AZ deployments
provide
enhanced
availability
and
durability
for
database
instances
with
an
SLA
of up
to
99.95%,
making
them
a
natural
fit
for
production
database
workloads.
When
you
provision
a
Multi-AZ
database
instance,
Amazon
RDS
synchronously
replicates
your
data
to
a
standby
instance
in
a
different
availability
zone
(AZ). 

10.

How
does
Multi-AZ
failover
work? 

Answer:
If
a
planned
or
unplanned
outage
of
your
DB
instance
results
from
an
infrastructure
defect,
Amazon
RDS
automatically
switches
to
a
standby
replica
in
another
AZ
if
you
have
turned
on
Multi-AZ.
The
time
it
takes
for
the
failover
to
complete
depends
on
the
database
activity
and
other
conditions
when
the
primary
DB
instance
became
unavailable.
Failover
times
are
typically
60
to
120
seconds. 

Backup
and
restore 

11.
At
what
level
are
snapshot-based
backups
taken? 

Answer: Backups
in
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
are
taken
at
the storage level. By
default,
automated
backups
of
your
DB
instance
are
securely
stored
in
Amazon
S3
for
a
user-specified
retention
period.
Also,
you
can
create
snapshots,
which
are
user-initiated
backups
of
your
instance
kept
until
explicitly
deleted.
You’re
billed
only
for
incremental
storage
use,
and
you
can
restore
your
DB
instance
to
any
specific
time
during
the
backup
retention
period,
creating
a
new
DB
instance.
Restoring
your
database
instance
can
be
done
through
the
AWS
Console
or
Command
Line
Interface. 

12.
How
are
archived
logs
applied
for
point-in-time
restore? 

Answer:
We
refer
to
snapshots
as
storage-level backups.
When
automated
backups
are
enabled,
snapshots
are
taken
every
24
hours,
and
archive
logs
are
taken
every
5
minutes. You
can use
the
archive
logs
for
PITR. Also,
you
can
take
manual
snapshots
as
needed.  

13.
Will
snapshot-based
backup
solutions
support
activities
like
redirected
backups,
which
are
common
between
different
environment
levels,
such
as
production
to
test? 

Answer:
You
can
restore
a
snapshot
backup
to
a
new Amazon RDS
for
Db2
instance
when
migrating
between
production
and
testing
environments. 

Database
management,
monitoring
and
tools 

14.
What
monitoring
options
are
available
for
RDS
for
Db2? 

Answer: Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
provides
built-in
monitoring
and
health
checks
to
operate
the
service.
This
includes
capabilities
for
alarming
or
notifying
based
on
monitoring
metrics
and
log
collection
with
publishing
capabilities.
RDS
for
Db2
supports
integrations
with
CloudWatch,
RDS
Enhanced
Monitoring
and
the
IBM
Data
Management
Console. 

15.
Will
we
be
able
to
monitor
and
manage
the
Amazon
RDS
instances
from
the
IBM
Data
Management
Console? 

Answer: Yes,
you
can
use
the
IBM
Data
Management
Console
to
monitor
databases
on
RDS
for
Db2. 

16.
How
do
I
migrate
on-premises AIX/Db2
to Amazon RDS?
Can
data
capture
for
continuous
updates
still
be
performed? 

Answer:
You
can
use
the
Db2
Migration
Tool
(Db2MT)
or
the
AWS
Database
Migration
Service
(AWS DMS)
to
migrate
from
Db2
on
AIX
to Amazon RDS
for
Db2.  

17.
For data
replication,
what
would
be
the
scalable
and
optimal
tool
to
use
for
replicating
Db2
on-premises to Amazon RDS
for
Db2? 

Answer: You
can
use
IBM
Q®
replication
to
move
data
between
Db2 on-premises
and
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2.  

Deployment
and
licensing 

18.
How
are
Db2
licenses
used
with
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2? 

Answer: You
can
bring
your
existing
Db2
Standard
and
Advanced
Edition
VPC-based
licenses
to
use
in
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2. Contact
your
IBM
representative
if
you’d
like
to
discuss
how
to
use
your
Db2
licenses
in
Amazon
RDS.  

19.
With
the
“bring
your
own
license”
option,
how
is
license
consumption
reported? 

Answer: RDS
for
Db2
requires
the
use
of
the
AWS
License
Manager,
which
reports
similarly
to
the
ILMT
tool.
Contact
your
IBM
or
AWS
representative
if
you’d
like
to
discuss
this
further. 

20.
What
would
be
the
monthly
cost
of
running Amazon
RDS
for
Db2 with
primary
and
secondary
instances
in
two AZs? 

Answer: Refer
to
the

Amazon RDS
for
Db2
pricing
page
for
RDS
Multi-AZ
pricing.

Get
started
with
Db2
on
Amazon
RDS 

To
learn
more,
explore
the Amazon
RDS
for
Db2 website.  

Missed
the
webcast?

Watch
the
introduction
to
Amazon
RDS
for
Db2
on-demand
today.  

Schedule
a
live
demo
with
IBM
and
AWS
experts