32-bit and 64-bit considerations for security plug-ins

In general, a 32-bit DB2® instance uses the 32-bit security plug-in and a 64-bit DB2 instance uses the 64-bit security plug-in. However, on a 64-bit instance, DB2 supports 32-bit applications, which require the 32-bit plug-in library.

A database instance where both the 32-bit and the 64-bit applications can run is known as a hybrid instance. If you have a hybrid instance and intend to run 32-bit applications, ensure that the required 32-bit security plug-ins are available in the 32-bit plug-in directory. For 64-bit DB2 instances on Linux and UNIX operating systems, excluding Linux on IPF, the directories security32 and security64 appear. For a 64-bit DB2 instance on Windows on x64 or IPF, both 32-bit and 64-bit security plug-ins are located in the same directory, but 64-bit plug-in names have a suffix, "64".

If you want to upgrade from a 32-bit instance to a 64-bit instance, you should obtain versions of your security plug-ins that are recompiled for 64-bit.

If you acquired your security plug-ins from a vendor that does not supply 64-bit plug-in libraries, you can implement a 64-bit stub that executes a 32-bit application. In this situation, the security plug-in is an external program rather than a library.