IBM Db2 Database Reviews

We use DB2 HADR to replicate data on LAN to another site. It is easy to takeover to the other site. There is easy integration with TSM.

We replicate TSM servers' databases to the other sites with the HADR feature. We use HADR takeover to switch the TSM service to the other site.

• Automatic upgrade process (e.g., from v9.7 to v10.5) often fails.
• Error messages are rarely unusable (e.g., I/O error -> instance upgrade was unsuccessful. You must issue an instance upgrade manually).
• The same issue with the dialog messages, independent from LOGLEVEL.
• A lot of irrelevant information (hexdumps, etc.)

There were no issues with stability.

There were no issues with scalability.

Technical support, works, but they are slow to get to the real experts, Level-2, who can really help. Level-1 support often asks for irrelevant data.

The initial setup was complex. There are InfoCenter Pages and TechNotes, but these only cover the "usual" cases. You need a lot of experience and/or support.

It depends on the customers. Often, DB2 is more expensive than Oracle on the same environment. There are those with more experience with Oracle, and it is hard to find DB2 DBAs, engineers, and experts.

We did not evaluate other options from a TSM server point of view, as there was no other way. From other way, we evaluated Oracle, which is cheaper and there are more people with Oracle-experience.

Use InfoCenter, then DeveloperWorks, and the TechNotes. :) Do this in order to get experience.

I have benefitted from many features including:

1. Product is built on RDBMS principles and principles of Normalization. Have benefitted by the normalization capabilities built into the product;
2. SQL Query capabilities, Tools such as SPUFI, QMF, BMC Catalog Manager,DB2 File-Aid make it easy to query the data,
3. Programming capabilities (such as host variables, cursors ) provided by languages such as COBOL to invoke DB2 DML statements to query, modify the DB2 Tables;
4. Ability of DB2 rows to be presented to CICS screens, Batch Jobs, Web Programs;
5. Entire 4 GL Tools such as Cool:Gen, Advantage Gen Encyclopedias implemented as DB2 tables;
6. Entire Advantage Gen / Cool:Gen / IEF components viz. programs, program components are modeled as DB2 tables. Thousands of programs, program components built, accessed by thousands of programmers are stored as DB2 table entries. These are easily queried, extracted, modified, loaded to other regions by customized programs. Entire models can be created by copying DB2 tables. These are done reliably, consistently, and scalability is provided. This speaks about the power and capability of DB2;
7. Entire Cool:Gen components / DB2 entries can be queried by IBM Websphere with ODBC connection and the results can be web enabled. This means DB2 is programmable for the web as well;
8. DB2 entries can be extracted, modified and loaded to other regions and datawarehouses. IBM DB2 Unload, Load Utilities, products such as IBM Optim, IBM Websphere Datastage, IBM Websphere all enhance the capabilities and features of IBM DB2.

The product has improved our organization in many ways. IBM DB2 has been used in many client projects. These projects are used for a number of years (more than 20-30). Entire Enterprise Applications in the IBM Mainframes have been built with the capability of IBM DB2. Many applications have thousands of DB2 tables and millions of rows. These are accessed for Batch Programming via COBOL, for online / CICS programming via COBOL. Some entries can be accessed by IBM Websphere for Web Programming. This has provided the organization the ability to implement millions of business functions through online / batch / web programs.

It should be easier for web enablement. It is currently easy, but the more web products use the tool, the better it is.

I have been using IBM DB2 (Mainframe Version) for more than ten years.

No. Occasional bind problems would occur, but were resolved through proper configuration management tools, such as ENDEAVOR or CHANGEMAN.

No

No

Customer Service: We didn't have to contact customer service. Our DBAs would contact customer service if and when needed. However, the near-100% availability of DB2 and Advantage Gen Encyclopedia that was housed in IBM DB2 speaks of the reliability of the product and its customer service.Technical Support: Very Good. When I contacted my DBAs, they were able to resolve the binding errors, authorizations etc. quickly and efficiently.

We switched from VSAM to DB2. DB2 is much more sophisticated and advanced than VSAM and provides a number of features which make it easier to access the data and present it, as well as use it.

It was straightforward and easy. Many of the utilities provided by the vendor functioned very well. We were able to upgrade the Gen Encyclopedia easily.

Through an in-house expertise.

It is enormous. We were able to implement many business projects on an ongoing basis without any issues.

I was not involved in the pricing negotiations. I would say it was cost effective based on the number of successful projects.

No, IBM DB2 has been used by the clients for a number of years; in some cases more than 20-30 years.

I would say that IBM DB2 is one of the topmost Database products. It has very high availability and scalability just like the other products from IBM, such as IBM Websphere server, IBM Websphere MQ Server, and IBM Websphere Datastage. IBM is the king of servers and infrastructure. You will do well going with IBM products such as DB2, Websphere. I would say that these are very stable and scalable and available products and provide much needed reliability for businesses.

- For me an advantage was that it uses Java technology - It has reduced administration costs, autonomic features reduce the time needed to tune and administer the database system - I noticed that DB2 provides a secure and safe environment - It has IBM support, when I had a question, I just asked the IBM support and they responded me in a short time

- For me and the company that I work for was expensive - When I bought it, it required complicated licensing

DB2 is a very good, reliable and solid database server with many functionalities. It may be overpriced, compared to MySQL, if the user is not using a lot of its functionalities. I believe functionality may be the primary differentiator. In my opinion, DB2 is comparable to Oracle or MSSQL in terms of features and performance.

• The structured query language dialect of DB2 is more powerful than other databases. It has features like object tables, java method support and multiple user defined functions. Data can be accessed directly via the database management interface of DB2 using SQL. • DB2 offers multiple platform support. It runs on all available platforms rather than just windows based platforms. This multiple platform support brings flexibility to the table that other database engines do not offer.• Self-tuning memory management feature of DB2 version 9 optimizes performance with no human intervention by allowing the database to automatically change the memory allocation when there is a change in the work load.

• Learning and understanding DB2 is a difficult process because no more resources are available for knowledge base.• DB2 is not a full graph database because it lacks inference engine.• Finding a database Administrator of DB2 is difficult.

IBM’s DB2 is a robust relational database management system (RDBMS). Due to several advantages that DB2 offers, it continues to enjoy strong market presence. DB2 is very useful because its development environment is very simple and supporting multiple technologies with improves security other than database application. DB2 provides secure and safe environment and more improved development to enhance audit ability and security in key areas. DB2 provides hybrid data management for both relational and XML data and supports variety of platforms including, Linux, UNIX, Windows and can be used to power a variety of solutions including Web, SOA, data warehousing, ERP and other business and operational database applications.