Chapter 41. DRDA

IN THIS CHAPTER

• What Is DRDA?

• DRDA Functions

• DRDA Architectures and Standards

• The Five DRDA Levels

• Putting It All Together

• Distributed DB2

When speaking about distributed DB2 data, it is necessary to first understand DRDA. DRDA stands for Distributed Relational Database Architecture. It is an architecture , developed by IBM, that enables relational data to be distributed among multiple platforms. Both like and unlike platforms can communicate with one another. For example, one DB2 subsystem can communicate to another DB2 subsystem ( like ). Alternatively, a DB2 subsystem can communicate with a third-party RDBMS ( unlike ). The platforms need not be the same. As long as they both conform to the DRDA specifications, they can communicate. DRDA can be considered a sort of "universal, distributed data protocol."

This chapter will describe DRDA. Keep in mind that no vendor, not even IBM, has implemented a RDBMS that fully supports all DRDA functionality. Chapter 42, "Distributed DB2," will describe the components of DRDA currently supported by DB2.