Summary

DB2 Version 8 relies on the ability to store and retrieve data quickly and efficiently in order to respond as efficiently as possible to application requests. The main component of the storage and retrieval of the data is the manner in which the database is physically created on disk. Building a database to allow for maximum I/O parallelism by creating table spaces and containers on enough physical disks will help to ensure the performance of the system.

It is important to spend the time and attempt to build a database correctly the first time. However, if there are problems with performance or I/O at a later time, it is often worth the effort to rebuild the database, either by using a redirected restore or by exporting the data and reloading it into a database with a new table space definition.