DB2 caches your machine’s hostname in several places. If your machine is changing its hostname, or if you are somehow moving an existing installation to a machine with a different hostname, you will need to adjust the hostname stored by DB2. Hostname change is common in virtual and cloud environments, so even better than adjusting it would be writing a script that adjusts it for you.

Here’s my rudimentary stab at a such a script:

This doesn’t cover all cases. For example, if you use extended operating system security, you may also need to set the db2accountname and db2instowner parameters. A quick check with db2set -all should tell you if this applies in your case — if there is something that looks like a hostname in those parameters already, you need to change them.

I may also have missed other necessary changes. Please let me know if I did.:-)

References

• IBM Support | Changing hostname of DB2 server
• Fillmore Group | Changing the hostname of a DB2 server
• Diary of a Database Geek | The importance of db2nodes.cfg

Edit: Revised to use proper authorities, incorporate official instructions