The database manager maintains a set of tables containing information about objects in the database. These tables and views are collectively known as the catalog. The catalog tables contain information about objects such as tables, views, indexes, packages, and constraints.
Tables and views in the catalog are similar to any other database tables and views. Any user that has the SELECT privilege on a catalog table or view can read the data in the catalog table or view. A user cannot directly modify a catalog table or view, however. The database manager ensures that the catalog contains accurate descriptions of the objects in the database at all times.
The database manager provides a set of views that provide more consistency with the catalog views of other IBM® SQL products and another set of catalog views that provide compatibility with the catalog views of the ANSI and ISO standard (called Information Schema in the standard).
If a schema is created using the CREATE SCHEMA statement, the schema will also contain a set of views that only contain information about objects in the schema.
For more information about catalog tables and views, see Appendix F. DB2 UDB for iSeries catalog views.