Category Archives: sametime gateway

Using the DB2 Control Center to Connect to a Remote Database

DB2CCWhen using DB2 you might want to use the Control Center GUI to query or manage a database that resides on a remote machine, took me a little time to work out and I promised others I would share this.  I am sure there is more then one way to accomplish this, your mileage may vary.

Before you begin you need to collect the following information

  1. Fully Qualified Hostname where the DB2 database resides
  2. Services file entry for the database – this will include the instance name and port number (default is 50000, but could be different depending on your DB2 Configuration
  3. The Database Name to connect to
  4. The operating system of the DB2 Install
  5. Username & Password to connect to the Database

You can get this information from your friendly Database administrator or find it yourself.  If you have access to the physical machine where DB2 is installed you can get the instance name and port number from the services file on that machine.

Before you begin edit the Services file on the machine with the DB2 Client, simply cut and paste the entry from the DB2 host machine for example this would represent two unique DB2 instances

db2_LC3    50000/tcp
DB2_LC25  60000/tcp

From the DB2 Control center (on the client machine) launch the Configuration Assistant

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From the ‘Selected’ dropdown choose Add a Database Using Wizard

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Select Manually configure a connections to a database and click Next

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Select TCP/IP as the communications protocol

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Enter the FQHN of the DB2 server and the Service name (that you added to the services file above) use the “Retrieve” button to fill in the port number (from the services file)

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Fill in the database name (in this example I am connecting to an IBM Connections Profiles DB named PEOPLEDB.  Assign an Alias – Aliases must be unique, for example I might connect to a production and test PEOPLEDB, the aliases must be unique (aliases are also limited to 8 characters the first of which must be alpha).  Optionally you can add a descriptive comment.

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Simply accept the defaults on this screen

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Use the dropdown to fill in your operating system, and fill in the Instance Name, the instance name is the same value you put in the System file

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Fill in the system name using the same value as instance name above, the other fields should already be filled in

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Keep the default of Use authentication value in server’s DMB Configuration (unless you are using a different authentication method).  Click Finish when you are doneimage

Click on Test Connection to verify your work

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Enter your database username and password (username is most likely LCUSER for an IBM Connections database) and click Test Connections

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If you see this you have completed the setup successfully, if not go back and double check your work

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Once you have successfully created connections to DB2 databases you can back them up, or share them with others.  See Exporting a configuration profile using the Configuration Assistant and Configuring database connections using a client profile with the Configuration Assistant for details on importing and exporting.

Webcast on Sametime Client Yahoo Integration

I have previously chronicled Yahoo’s decision to end support for the Sametime Gateway, and the temporary extension of that service from January to June of this year.  Well check your calendar, it is almost June, and the Sametime Gateway will be losing it’s connectivity to Yahoo very soon.

IBM is hosting a webcast to talk about the new client integration for Yahoo.

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Technote 7021721: Webcast: IBM Sametime Client Yahoo! Integration feature – 7 June 2011

Open Mic Call: Sametime Gateway / Yahoo Interoperability Changes – November 10

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Yahoo has decided to make changes to some of their federation agreements which will impact the Sametime Gateway in 2011. On Wednesday November 10, 2010 IBM will be hosting an Open Mic call to share more information about these upcoming changes

IBM is hosting an Open Mic conference call on Wednesday, November 10, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. US Eastern Time (15:00 GMT) to share more information and address your questions about the decommission of Lotus Sametime Gateway interoperability with the Yahoo! Messenger service in 2011.

You can RSVP to attend the event here Technote 1450453: Open Mic: Changes in 2011 to IBM Sametime and Yahoo interoperability – 10 November 2010 Tehcnote 1449088: Interoperability with the Yahoo! Messenger service changes in 2011

Yahoo changes that will effect connectivity with the Sametime Gateway on April 24th

If you are using the Sametime Gateway and connected to Yahoo make sure you read Technote 1303292.  On April 24th Yahoo will be moving to new gateways, so you will need to adjust your firewall rules for the new Hostnames/IP Addresses which are documented in the technote. Thanks for the heads up Vinny.

AOL to support XMPP

A question that came up a number of times at Lotusphere was when MSN would be supported by the Sametime Gateway.  It seems clear from the responses that while there are technical issues, the business issues of Microsoft agreeing to the federation is the real blocker.  While this is going on it looks like AOL is moving to support XMPP.  According to a comment left by an AOL Architect

Thanks for blogging about our commitment to openness. We’ve been working really hard over the past few years in making all of our services more open and standards based, working with the SIP as well as the Jabber/XMPP communities. Our XMPP gateway at xmpp.oscar.aol.com, which we’ve been working on for a while now, is just one approach we’re tinkering with. As you pointed out, though, this particular server at xmpp.oscar.aol.com is a test server, so I wouldn’t count on it being reliable or even continuously available until we put some more work into it to bring it up to our standards.

So while MSN continues to be proprietary, and for now not willing to federate with IBM, AOL is moving to be more open and compatible.  If AOL moved to a stable XMPP implementation it could eliminate the need for provisioning for gateway connectivity to AOL.

Configuring the Sametime Gateway as a Windows service

The Sametime Gateway when installed is not a Windows service, and when started as an application must be started from a DB2 command prompt.  Here is the technote on how to configure the Sametime Gateway to run as a Windows service. A picture named M2