Performance system values: Parallel processing for queries and indexes

The Parallel processing for queries and indexes system value is also known as QQRYDEGREE. You can use this system value to specify whether to use parallel processing.

Quick reference
Location From IBM® Navigator for i, select Configuration and Service > System Values. Right-click on Performance and click Properties, then select the Database tab.
Special authority All object (*ALLOBJ) and security administrator (*SECADM).
Default value Do not allow parallel processing.
Changes take effect Immediately.
Lockable No.

What can I do with this system value?

You can specify whether to allow parallel processing and specify the type of parallel processing. Parallel processing allows different processors to run at the same time so that the system can perform queries and indexes faster.

Types of parallel processing include input/output (I/O) parallel processing and symmetric multiprocessing (SMP). For I/O parallel processing, the database manager can use multiple tasks for I/O auxiliary storage processing for each query. Processing for the central processing unit (CPU) is still done serially. For SMP, the CPU and I/O processing are assigned to tasks that run the query in parallel. Actual CPU parallelism requires a system with multiple processors. SMP parallelism is used only if the system feature DB2® Symmetric Multiprocessing for i5/OS is installed.

This system value has the following options:

Do not allow parallel processing (*NONE)
No parallel processing is allowed for database query processing.
Use multiple processes for input/output (*IO)
The database query optimizer can use any number of tasks for I/O parallel processing for queries. SMP parallel processing is not allowed.
Use multiple processes for input/output, queries, and indexes (*OPTIMIZE)
The query optimizer can use any number of tasks for either I/O or SMP parallel processing for queries. If you select to use multiple processes for input/output, queries, and indexes, you can also select to Use all active memory in memory pool (*MAX). Using all active memory allows the query optimizer to choose an access plan that might consume more of the system resources, but would provide faster run time for a given query.