The 'IBM standard' way of working is a logical name. That same name can be found in the '/etc/services' file and a tcp-ip portnumber is assigned there. I'm afraid this is concidered the 'neat & correct' way to configure.

You can also put the portnumber directly in the SVCENAME yourself and override the '/etc/services' file. For me, as a DBA, this looks better. You control everything yourself and you do not have to bother those other guys if you do not have enough authorities for that file. Also, when you configure the db2-clients, you cannot use that logical name and have to use the actual portnumber anyway, so....

Can anyone explain the added value when you configure like a good boy and go thru the '/etc/services' file?

TCP ports are not something DBA should control, and /etc/services contents are more important than you might think.

You can use same symbolic names on the clients as well, provided that /etc/services files on these clients have the same entries for the service name.

Hi,

i use the Portnumber in SCVENAME, but i also maintain the /etc/services. For me it's easier just to look up dbm cfg compared to search etc/services (especially on windows).

Since we use a lot of JAVA-Applications it's easier for the Developers to use Portnumbers aswell.
We have dedicated DB2-Servers, so there's no other Applications that may interfere with the TCP-Ports.