Automated Continuous DB2 for i Replication to Amazon Redshift

Always-on applications rely on automatic failover capabilities and real-time data access. CData Sync integrates live DB2 for i data into your Amazon Redshift instance, allowing you to consolidate all of your data into a single location for archiving, reporting, analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence and more.

Configure Amazon Redshift as a Replication Destination

Using CData Sync, you can replicate DB2 for i data to Amazon Redshift. To add a replication destination, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select the Destinations tab and locate the Amazon Redshift connector.
3. Click the Configure Connection icon at the end of that row to open the New Connection page. If the Configure Connection icon is not available, click the Download Connector icon to install the Amazon Redshift connector. For more information about installing new connectors, see Connections in the Help documentation.
4. To connect to Amazon Redshift, set the following connection properties:
   • Connection Name: Enter a connection name of your choice for the Amazon Redshift connection.
   • Server: Enter the host name or IP of the server that hosts the Amazon Redshift database (for example, example.us-west-2.redshift.amazonaws.com).
   • Database: Enter the name of the database that you create for your Amazon Redshift cluster.
   • AuthScheme: Select the authentication scheme.
   • User: Set this to the username you want to use to authenticate to the Server.
   • Password: Set this to the password you want to use to authenticate to the Server.
   • Port: Set this to the port of the cluster.

   You can obtain these values in the AWS Management Console:

   1. Open the Amazon Redshift console.
   2. On the Clusters page, click the name of the cluster.
   3. On the Configuration tab, obtain the properties from the Cluster Database Properties section. The connection property values will be the same as the values set in the ODBC URL.


5. Once connected, click Create & Test to create, test and save the connection.

You are now connected to Amazon Redshift and can use it as both a source and a destination.

NOTE: You can use the Label feature to add a label for a source or a destination.

In this article, we will demonstrate how to load DB2 for i data into Amazon Redshift and utilize it as a destination.

Configure the DB2 for i Connection

You can configure a connection to DB2 for i from the Connections tab. To add a connection to your DB2 for i account, navigate to the Connections tab.

1. Click Add Connection.
2. Select a source (DB2 for i).
3. Configure the connection properties.
   
   

   Prerequisites

   Before setting up the DB2 for i source connector, configure DB2 for i for change data capture (CDC) using journal receivers. The following capabilities aren't supported in Sync:

   • Remote journals or failover functionality.
   • Large object types such as CLOB, XML, TEXT, and BLOB.

   Authenticate to DB2 for i

   Set the following required properties:

   • Server: The address or host name of the DB2 for i server. The default server is localhost.
   • Database: The name of your DB2 for i database.
   • Port: The port number for your server. The default port is 446.
   • User: The username that authenticates to the DB2 for i database.
   • Password: The password that authenticates to the DB2 for i database.

   For details on journal/schema selection and creating a CDC job, refer to the Help documentation.

   
4. Click Connect to DB2 for i to ensure that the connection is configured properly.
5. Click Save & Test to save the changes.

Configure Replication Queries

CData Sync enables you to control replication with a point-and-click interface and with SQL queries. For each replication you wish to configure, navigate to the Jobs tab and click Add Job. Select the Source and Destination for your replication.

Replicate Entire Tables

To replicate an entire table, navigate to the Task tab in the Job, click Add Tasks, choose the table(s) from the list of DB2 for i tables you wish to replicate into Amazon Redshift, and click Add Tasks again.

Customize Your Replication

You can use the Columns and Query tabs of a task to customize your replication. The Columns tab allows you to specify which columns to replicate, rename the columns at the destination, and even perform operations on the source data before replicating. The Query tab allows you to add filters, grouping, and sorting to the replication with the help of SQL queries.

Schedule Your Replication

Select the Overview tab in the Job, and click Configure under Schedule. You can schedule a job to run automatically by configuring it to run at specified intervals, ranging from once every 10 minutes to once every month.

Once you have configured the replication job, click Save Changes. You can configure any number of jobs to manage the replication of your DB2 for i data to Amazon Redshift.

Run the Replication Job

Once all the required configurations are made for the job, select the DB2 for i table you wish to replicate and click Run. After the replication completes successfully, a notification appears, showing the time taken to run the job and the number of rows replicated.

Free Trial & More Information

Now that you have seen how to replicate DB2 for i data into Amazon Redshift, visit our CData Sync page to explore more about CData Sync and download a free 30-day trial. Start consolidating your enterprise data today!

As always, our world-class Support Team is ready to answer any questions you may have.