Chat now with support
Chat with Support

Spotlight on DB2 6.10 - Release Notes

Release Notes

Quest Spotlight® on IBM DB2

Version: 6.10.0

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

About Quest Spotlight® on IBM DB2

This document lists known issues in Quest Spotlight® on IBM DB2 6.10.0. It describes workarounds for these issues, and specifies up-to-date system requirements.

Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW is a real-time monitoring solution from Quest. Designed to let DBAs keep watch on all critical DB2 components from a single interface, it features an accurate visual representation of the DB2 environment. From graphic overview screens, you can observe real-time activity across the Linux, Unix, and Windows databases in a DB2 instance. Various components show the changing status of connections, wait events, locking, memory, disk I/O, and performance bottlenecks. Alarms call attention to emerging problems based on thresholds you can specify. Drilldowns provide the information you need to diagnose these problems. You can use this information to quickly resolve performance issues as they occur.

New in This Release

Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW 6.10.0 is a maintenance release with fixed internal bugs. See Resolved Issues and Enhancements for more information.

Resolved Issues and Enhancements

Resolved Issue or Enhancement Defect ID
Spotlight on DB2 LUW is now FIPS 140-2 compliant. Enhancement
Spotlight on Unix: Fixed an issue where the disk metric does not show any data in some SUSE Linux versions. TMB-2639

Known Issues

The following issues are known to exist at the time of this release:

Feature Known Issue Defect ID
Alarm Log

The Alarm Log does not display alarms for connections to DB2 for LUW 9 databases under all circumstances. In order to display alarms for connection profiles for version 9 databases, you need to do one of the following:

  • Select the All Connections view from the list at the top of the drilldown.
  • Select the DB2 for LUW 9 database for which you want to view alarms in the Live Connections list. Then display the Alarm Log and select the connection profile for the database from the list at the top of the window.
N/A

The Alarm Log does not display alarms for automatically created connection profiles when the All Connections view is selected. (Connection profiles can be automatically created using by the UDB Auto Monitor Nodes option). In order to display alarms for these connection profiles, you need to:

  1. Select a database with an automatically created profile in the Live Connections list.
  2. Display the Alarm Log.
  3. Select the connection profile for the database from the list at the top of window.
N/A
Connection profiles

After an upgrade to Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW 6.2 or later, connection profiles from previous versions might no longer connect to their target databases. If you encounter this issue, try saving the profiles. If they still do not connect to their target databases, create new profiles using the Connection Manager in version 6.2 or later of Spotlight on IBM DB2 for LUW.

However, before creating new profiles, delete old profiles and their folders on the Spotlight client machine. (This requirement also applies when you delete connection profiles for which the DB2 Auto Monitor Nodes option is selected). Profile folders have the same names as their connections. To determine the path to the Folders profile that contains them, check the Spotlight console Options window. The path is shown in the File locations pane. The window is opened by selecting View | Options | Spotlight Console. The default path to the Profiles folder is as follows:

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Quest Software\Shared\Profiles

N/A

Database alias drilldown list is empty when the DB2 client is installed into a directory with a " " in its name, e.g. "C:\Program files\DB2" and an 8.3 short name is not specified for the directory.

Workaround:

Install the DB2 client into a directory without a space in its name or with an 8.3 short name.

SODL-232

Import DB2 Catalog window cannot load the catalog correctly on some non-English Windows.

Workaround: Add connection profiles manually.

SODL-231
IBM table function When Spotlight calls the IBM table function, the IBM table function contains a bug in handling a Unicode table name. Since Spotlight is based on the IBM table function, Spotlight might not display a Unicode table name. N/A
Installer Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW does not support limiter-user install or uninstall. ST92574

It is not possible to upgrade from an older Spotlight version.

Workaround: Uninstall the previous version of Spotlight prior to installation.

N/A
Integration

If you install two versions of Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW to different directories and then uninstall one version, the remaining version does not work correctly.

Workaround:

  1. Uninstall the second version of Spotlight.
  2. Reinstall Spotlight.
ST95606
Top SQL SQL does not display correctly when too many SQLs are returned and you select a dynamic SQL. ST94429
Unicode Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW does not support installation of a Unicode directory.  
User Access Control

An error message displays when you upgrade from an earlier version of Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW and enable User Access Control (UAC) in Windows.

Workaround:

  1. Disable UAC in Windows.
  2. Uninstall Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW.
  3. Reinstall Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW.
N/A
Windows 8

If you use a non-administrator windows account to run Spotlight, the login account must belong to the "DB2ADMIN" or "DB2USER" user group. Add the windows account you use to run Spotlight to the "DB2ADMIN" or "DB2USER" user group.

To run Spotlight on IBM DB2 in Windows 8

  1. Install an IBM DB2 client.

    Note: The Installer creates "DBADMIN" and "DB2USERS" user groups.

  2. Add a Windows account to the "DBADMIN" or "DB2USERS" user group.

Note: We do not recommend using a non-administrator windows account to run Spotlight.

CR105147

Third Party Known Issues

The following are known IBM® DB2® for LUW issues that affect Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW.

Feature Known Issue APAR Numbers
Circular loopback databases Spotlight encounters issues when it monitors a DB2 for LUW database that is cataloged as a circular loopback in the database directory. N/A
Counters

In DB2 for LUW 8 ESE (multiple-node) environments, you might experience some counters that show negative numbers. This is an intermittent problem, primarily affecting statistics counters in the Client Applications and Databases drilldowns.

68754.756
Event monitors

The DB2 UDB instance may crash after a trap in the function LOAD_DCS_APPLID_INFO. This happens more on Windows than on other platforms.

The crash occurs when the Event Monitor is trying to access an application that has not fully initialized or is in the process of terminating. In either case, the application client’s SETI pointer is NULL.

Workaround: Version 8, FixPack 11

IY76570
Percent of Max component When Spotlight monitors a DB2 for LUW 8 database, the Percent of Max component shown on the Client Apps panel of the database and node home pages might show inconsistent percentage values. These inconsistencies occur because the maxappls database configuration parameter in DB2 for LUW 8 can be a system-controlled value. The default setting of Automatic for this parameter in DB2 means that DB2 dynamically assigns resources as needed to support new applications. It is recommended that you turn off the default alarm for the metric behind the Percent of Max component in Spotlight. See Viewing and editing metrics in the Spotlight Basics online help for details on disabling the capture of a specific metric or on disabling its thresholds that can generate alarms. N/A

Upgrade and Compatibility

If you have a previous version of the Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW client installed on your machine, you can choose to upgrade the previous version to 6.10.0 or install version 6.10.0 in a different directory (the advanced option in the client installation wizard). If you install in a different directory, you can run the 6.10.0 version side by side with previous versions of Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW. In addition, you can run Spotlight on Oracle and Spotlight on SQL Server side by side with Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW.

System Requirements

To install and run Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW, ensure your system meets the following minimum hardware and software requirements. Refer to the Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW Installation Guide for detailed system requirement information, including recommended DB2 maintenance levels.

Operating System

Windows Server 2008 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Note: Recommended for monitoring local databases only.

Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows 7 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows 8 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows 8.1 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2012 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows 10 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Windows Server 2016 (32-bit or 64-bit)

Note: We recommend using an Administrator account to run Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW. If you use a non-administrator windows account to run Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW, the login account must belong to the "DB2ADMIN" or "DB2USER" user group. We do not recommend using a non-administrator windows account to run Spotlight.

Memory

512 MB RAM (minimum); 1 GB (recommended)

For multi-partitioned environments, upgrade memory as needed.

Hard Disk Space 100 MB of free hard-disk space
DB2 Client IBM DB2 for Linux, Unix, and Windows (LUW) Runtime Client 9.5 or later (32-bit or 64-bit), installed using the typical installation method.

Virtualization Support

Application Virtualization Limited testing has been performed for Citrix XenApp 6.5 on Windows Server 2008 R2.

Requirements for Servers with Monitored Databases

Database Server 9.5 or later

Required Authority or Privileges

To Install Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW

To install Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW on a Windows 2003 machine, the installer must be either a Standard user (belonging to the Power Users Group) or an Administrator.

To Run Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW

Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW invokes IBM table functions to collect the raw processing data that it then translates into meaningful performance information. To run Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW , you need any one of the following authorities on each DB2 instance you are monitoring:

  • SYSMAINT

or

  • SYSCTRL

or

  • SYSADM

or

  • SYSMON (or privileges equivalent to SYSMON authority)

Additionally, to monitor a DB2 for LUW 9.5 or later database, Spotlight requires that the user ID connected to the database must have EXECUTE privilege on the following table functions:

MON_GET_ACTIVITY_DETAILS (DB2LUW 10.0 or later)

WLM_GET_SERVICE_CLASS_WORKLOAD_OCCURRENCES_V97 (DB2 LUW 10.0 or later)

WLM_GET_SERVICE_SUBCLASS_STATS_V97 (DB2 LUW 10.0 or later)

WLM_GET_WORKLOAD_OCCURRENCE_ACTIVITIES_V97 (DB2 LUW 10.0 or later)

WLM_GET_WORKLOAD_STATS_V97 (DB2 LUW 10.0 or later)

WLM_GET_ACTIVITY_DETAILS

WLM_GET_QUEUE_STATS

WLM_GET_SERVICE_CLASS_AGENTS

WLM_GET_SERVICE_CLASS_WORKLOAD_OCCURRENCES

WLM_GET_SERVICE_SUBCLASS_STATS

WLM_GET_SERVICE_SUPERCLASS_STATS

WLM_GET_WORK_ACTION_SET_STATS

WLM_GET_WORKLOAD_OCCURRENCE_ACTIVITIES

WLM_GET_WORKLOAD_STATS

Note: Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW installation does not create any database objects. Therefore, aside from the required user authority, Spotlight does not grant or require any additional privileges on objects.

Global Operations

This section contains information about installing and operating this product in non-English configurations, such as those needed by customers outside of North America. This section does not replace the materials about supported platforms and configurations found elsewhere in the product documentation.

This release is Unicode-enabled and supports any character set. It supports simultaneous operation with multilingual data. This release is targeted to support operations in the following regions: North America, Western Europe and Latin America, Central and Eastern Europe, Far-East Asia, Japan. The release supports Complex Script (Central Asia – India, Thailand).

This release has the following known capabilities or limitations: The installation is not Unicode supported so Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW cannot be installed in a path with non-English characters.

Contents of the Release Package

Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW 6.10.0 release package contains the following products:

  1. Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW 6.10.0
  2. Product Documentation, including:
    • Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW Getting Started Guide
    • Online Help
    • Release Notes

Installation Instructions

Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW 6.10.0 has its own installation executable. This is available on the Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW installation CD or can be downloaded from support.quest.com. For additional information, refer to the Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW Getting Started Guide. The guide includes instructions for installing Spotlight.

After you install Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW , you can run it as a standalone product, as a component of Quest Central for DB2, or as a component of Toad for DB2.

MSI Installation of Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW

MSI installers are available on Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW. These installers can be run silently, and produce an installation that can be captured and re-used via automatic deployment techniques.

Contact Quest for more information about Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW MSI installation.

Toad Community

Get the latest product information, find helpful resources, and join a discussion with the Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW team and other community members. Join the Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW community at http://www.toadworld.com/products/toad-for-ibm-db2.

Product Licensing

To license Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW, you need a license key and the site message.

Obtain the License

The required license key is delivered in one of three ways:

  • If you purchase Spotlight from a Quest web site and have downloaded the product, you should receive an email with the license key and the site message shortly after the download has completed.
  • If Spotlight was delivered in a package, the license key and site message are included with that package.
  • If Spotlight was delivered as part of a trial, your sales representative should provide you with a license key.

If you do not get a license key, contact your sales representative.

Specify the license to authorize your use of Spotlight

After you have started Spotlight, you can authorize your use of Spotlight in one of two ways:

  • If you attempt to open a feature from the Spotlight console, Spotlight displays a message window that states that Spotlight on IBM DB2 LUW is unlicensed. You can launch the authorization process from this message window.
  • You can launch the authorization process from the About Spotlight window.

To authorize your use of Spotlight from license message window

  1. From the message window that states you need to license Spotlight, click the Authorize button.
  2. On the Product Authorization window, provide the authorization (license) key, and then the site message.
  3. Click OK.

To authorize your use of Spotlight from the About Spotlight window

  1. From the Spotlight console, select Release Notes | About Spotlight.
  2. On the Installed products tab, click View/change product license for Spotlight on IBM DB2 for LUW.
  3. On the License Viewer window, click Change this license for the installed version of Spotlight whose license you want to update.
  4. On the Product Authorization window, provide the authorization (license) key, and then the site message.
  5. Click OK to save the license information.
  6. Close the remaining windows.
Self Service Tools
Knowledge Base
Notifications & Alerts
Product Support
Software Downloads
Technical Documentation
User Forums
Video Tutorials
RSS Feed
Contact Us
Licensing Assistance
Technical Support
View All
Related Documents

The document was helpful.

Select Rating

I easily found the information I needed.

Select Rating