Understanding the IBM Traveler schema

Since the IBM Traveler server comes with two options for configuring the enterprise database, it is necessary to understand the basic differences in schema creation for each of the two options. This will help you choose the correct schema configuration for your environment, as well as how to customize it.

Your enterprise database can be either DB2 or SQL Server, and there are two options for configuring it. The first option is the 'autoschema' method. For this option, you will create a Database and a User, and then IBM Traveler will create, alter, and manage the Enterprise Database Schema. This is considered the 'hands-off' approach and is the default method used by IBM Traveler for schema creation and migration. The 'autoschema' method automatically migrates the IBM Traveler schema to the latest required version. If you are using the 'autoschema' method:
  • For DB2, the DB username specified in the configuration will be used as the schema name. However, if you want to use a customized schema name for your DB2 database, you will need to configure IBM Traveler with the setting NTS_DB2_SCHEMA and set the schema name.
  • For SQL server, IBM Traveler will use the "dbo" schema by default. However, if you want to use a customized schema name for your SQL server database, then the default schema for the IBM Traveler database user must be updated to refer to that schema name. Please refer to your SQL server documentation for information on configuring an SQL user.

The second option for configuring your enterprise database is to manually perform the Database Schema creation and migration using the supplied DDL's. This option includes SQL scripts that allow you to specifically customize and manage the database to your requirements. During an upgrade, the DDL schema migration scripts need to be applied to your database before starting the IBM Traveler server. If you choose to use this DDL option, either for your initial High Availability setup or schema migration, the 'autoschema' option needs to be disabled using the NTS_AUTO_DBSCHEMA=false configuration parameter in notes.ini. However, when you want to switch from DDL to 'autoschema' migration during an IBM Traveler upgrade, you must remove the NTS_AUTO_DBSCHEMA=false configuration parameter before starting the server. Otherwise, the IBM Traveler server may fail to start and/or keep waiting for the latest schema to be installed.

The IBM Traveler server provided DDL scripts creates the following:
  • "TRAVELER" as the database name
  • "LNT" as the schema name
  • "LNTUSER" as the DB username for both DB2 and SQL server

Both of these schema configuration options require different levels of permissions for the database user(s) that will be configured with IBM Traveler. For more information, refer to Database permissions.