Creating and setting up databases

The IBM® Control Center engine uses DB2®, Oracle, or Microsoft SQL Server production and staging databases to store statistics and other information collected from monitored servers. In addition, Cognos® Business Intelligence server uses a reports database to generate IBM Control Center reports.

IBM Control Center supports the following database server types:

DB2 on Linux, UNIX, and Microsoft Windows
DB2 on z/OS®
Oracle on UNIX, and Microsoft Windows
Microsoft SQL Server on Microsoft Windows servers

For more information on supported platforms, versions, and editions, see the Detailed System Requirements.

IBM Control Center uses the following databases:

Production database - To store activities and configuration information for monitored servers.
Staging database (optional) - To offload the data from the production database.
CAUTION:
A database with partitioned IBM Control Center tables is the preferred database setup over a staging database for performance reasons. If you set up database partitioning, do not set up a staging database. However, if your database does not support partitioning, it is a best practice to use both production and staging databases.
Reports database - To generate IBM Control Center reports.

For optimal performance, use a different database configuration for IBM Cognos than the production and staging databases.

Keep the following general requirements in mind when choosing and creating IBM Control Center databases:

You must use the same database server type for all IBM Control Center databases.
The databases must be created on a database server that the IBM Control Center engine can communicate with.

Before you install IBM Control Center, complete the following high-level tasks to create and setup databases for use with IBM Control Center:

Review all topics related to database requirements and configuration and create databases/schemas for IBM Control Center with the required settings.
Tip: Use the production, staging, and reports database worksheets to record database information.
After you create the required databases, provide the database server details such as host, port, user ID, password, and database name during the IBM Control Center installation and configuration process. IBM Control Center creates the required tables, views, and indexes during the installation and configuration process.
Ensure IBM Control Center database users are given the required permissions to access the created databases.

Important: The database servers should be used by IBM Control Center only and should not be shared with other applications. It is also recommended that the production database and reporting database are separated.