Massively parallel processing (MPP) holds the key to making many inexpensive computers work together to solve a large problem. Some problems are very difficult to break into pieces and farm out to a cluster of machines. We are fortunate that relational databases lend themselves to parallelization.

Partitioning and clustering are the keys to database scalability. You can get started now with low-cost technologies and refute any argument that “MPP” means “massive purchase price.” This article shows you how to get DB2® Extended Enterprise Edition (EEE) Version 7.2 running on Linux on your laptop. Then we’ll explore how to set up two database partitions on a single computer (known as multiple logical nodes) and create tables partitioned across these nodes.

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