Before Version 9.5, you could install products, apply and roll back fix packs, configure instances, add features, or uninstall products only if you had root privileges. Now, if you are a non-root user, you can perform these tasks on Linux and UNIX operating systems.
The DB2® installer automatically creates and configures a non-root instance during a non-root installation. As a non-root user, you can customize the configuration of the non-root instance during the installation. You can also use and maintain the installed DB2 database product without root privileges.
The non-root installation of a DB2 database product has one DB2 instance with most features enabled by default.
Although non-root installations have most of the function of root installations, there are some differences and limitations. You can lift some of the limitations by having a root user run the db2rfe command.