Peter, thank you so much for taking your good time to work on my problem, I am truly humbled by your knowledge.

Your break down makes perfect sense now, as I could not get how a single field could actually be an array.

The four part naming convention is causing me some trouble, as I can not get it to work with the IBM provider. If I use the MSDASQL provider, I can use it if I leave level zero only unchecked, and omit the catalog. The problem here is that I cannot see the objects. If I use the IBM provider, I can not get 4 part name to work regardless of the level zero value. There is somewhat of a language barrier between the dba's and me, because they do not know SQL Server, and I don't know DB2, so I don't even get what the catalog is. I scripted out my linked server, and tweeked it a bit for others to easily use, maybe you could Identify what I am doing wrong?

--==== Declare the local variables needed to make the connection. You will need to run this script

-- every time your mainframe password changes.

DECLARE @user VARCHAR(100),

@pwd VARCHAR(100),

@connection VARCHAR(100),

@local VARCHAR(100),

@LinkedServer VARCHAR(20),

@dsn VARCHAR(20)

--==== Set the values of the local variables

SELECT @user = '#######' --<<<< change this to your EID

SELECT @pwd = '#######' --<<<< change this to your mainframe password

SELECT @connection = 'Password=' + @pwd + ';Persist Security Info=True;User ID=' + @user

SELECT @local = '#######\' + @user --<<<< change to your domain

SELECT @LinkedServer = '#######' --<<<< change to your preference

SELECT @dsn = '#######' --<<<< change to your dsn

--==== Drop the linked server if it already exists.

IF EXISTS (SELECT srv.name

FROM sys.servers srv

WHERE srv.server_id != 0

AND srv.name = @LinkedServer)

EXEC master.dbo.sp_dropserver @server= @LinkedServer, @droplogins='droplogins';

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedserver

@server = @LinkedServer,

@srvproduct = 'DB2',

@provider = 'MSDASQL', -- can use 4 part name is catalog omitted, level zero only not checked

--@provider = 'IBMDADB2', -- 4 part name does not work, don't know what is catalog

@datasrc = @dsn,

@provstr = @connection;

EXEC master.dbo.sp_addlinkedsrvlogin

@rmtsrvname ='MIRROR',

@useself ='False',

@locallogin = @local,

@rmtuser = @user,

@rmtpassword = @pwd;

Again, thank you for your help.