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In DB2 12 for z/OS, DRDA Applications and Application Compatibility Part Two Gareth Copplestone-Jones provides guidance on the implementation of server-side configuration.

Server-side configuration

When considering how to manage managing Application Compatibility – APPLCOMPAT – for your distributed applications which use the NULLID packages, the main alternative to client-side configuration (discussed in the previous article) is server-side or DB2-side configuration. Although not without its challenges, the advantage of server-side configuration is that much of the necessary configuration is done in one place, using system profiles. Continue reading part two. 

Introduction

This, the first of two articles on how to manage the Application Compatibility level for DRDA applications, provides an introduction to the subject and considers two of the ways of doing this. In the second article Gareth Copplestone-Jones will concentrate on perhaps the most promising method and discusses its drawbacks.

A very brief history of Application Compatibility

With the release of DB2 11 for z/OS, IBM introduced Application Compatibility, which is intended to make migration from one DB2 release to another less burdensome by separating system migration from application migration, and by allowing you to migrate applications individually once system migration has completed. Application migration is managed using two controls: the APPLCOMPAT BIND option, with a default option provided by the APPLCOMPAT system parameter; and the CURRENT APPLICATION COMPATIBILITY special register.

The original announcement was that DB2 11 would support the SQL DML syntax and behaviour of both DB2 10 and DB2 11, and that DB2 12 would support that of all three. Then along came DB2 12 with Continuous Delivery and Function Levels.

Application Compatibility was extended in DB2 12 in two ways: to support function levels as well as release levels; and to support SQL DDL and DCL as well as DML. It still supports an Application Compatibility setting of V10R1.

One of the big practical issues with Application Compatibility has always been how to manage dynamic SQL packages, and in particular how to manage the NULLID packages used by DRDA clients connecting via DB2 Connect or the IBM data server clients and drivers. That’s what this article is about. Continue reading