IBM Db2 Database Reviews

We're using the solution for an e-commerce project. 

It has a HADR availability, and we have a TSA as well. Whenever the primary database goes down, automatically, the primary database will be moved to standby. There will be minimum downtime in the case of a HADR setup, and it provides great performance. 

Db2 is coming on Kubernetes as well. Once you start using that, everything will be good. I'm currently learning Kubernetes as well.

The solution can scale.

It is stable. 

We need some time to improve the performance. We have to perform a weekly REORG, or else RUNSTATS for the databases.

In Oracle's 19.1 version, there are many ways to automate things. However, in the case of Db2, we have less scope. As of now, my understanding is they have a separate tool called Pacemaker. It's similar to the HADR, TSA, which is Tivoli System Automation. 

The initial setup is difficult. 

In terms of OS-level information, we won't be able to capture database entries. There are bugs. If the bugs are fixed in that, it'll be easier. Whenever there is an OS-level error or the logs are attached to the database, we have to reach out to the OS team to get the information. 

I've been using the solution for the last ten or more years. 

This is a stable product. It doesn't crash or freeze. 

We're currently using the solution for multiple projects. We have more than 100 people on the solution. 

It's very scalable. You can size it down or up. 

If we need to, we can contact IBM and get assistance. They have been okay for the most part.

Neutral

I'm also familiar with Oracle solutions. Oracle is more expensive.

It's hard to set up the solution. The setup could be easier in Db2. However, we have to work with the AX engineers to set up the Db2 file system. For that, we have to install the Db2 binaries, and we have to create the instance and create the databases. It takes around 30 to 45 minutes to deploy. That's pretty fast, at least.

We can handle the setup, for the most part, our own way, in-house. 

While the solution is less expensive compared to Oracle, it is still pretty expensive. 

We're an IBM customer. We're using it in a Windows environment. 

The reason to use Db2 depends upon the application team. Basically, we have the Db2 running in an older version as well. However, whenever we check with the application team, they don't want to upgrade since their applications also need to be supported. 

If a person is using the solution for the first time, they need to learn the architecture of Db2 and how Db2 works. After that, they would need an overview of the tables, the configurations, how the buffer pools, and how the data is fetching from the tables. 

I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. 

I'm helping customers migrate from Oracle to Db2. I am also assisting with business intelligence using Db2 Database.

One of the benefits of the solution is efficiency. One of our biggest clients is a bank based out of Brazil. As their data grew, fetching data became slow, and they did not have a good banking experience. By moving to Db2, they get better efficiency in managing and accessing the data. They have a good experience with the application.

IBM DB2 pureScale Feature is valuable. It is used for scalability. Customers with huge growth potential would really benefit from having a database that enables them to scale their business without the fear of having a redundant database.

The product’s user interface is not easy to use. I did one implementation of pureScale at Welsh Bank. It was very, very complex to deploy the feature. It took us more than six weeks. It has specialized hardware for you to use, and specialized switches are required to have that functionality in place. Over the years, it has improved, but nine years ago, it was a nightmare. The product should make the implementation of pureScale easy. It could give a seamless experience.

I have been using the solution for about ten years.

The solution is quite stable. It's not a simple database, but it comes with the territory. The product has existed for a long time, since the late 80s. The team has experience in databases, and maintaining them is a breeze for them. The tool is a futuristic database. I witnessed teams in IBM do time travel queries in 2012. The tool’s version 10 had already implemented time travel queries. Years later, we saw the features in other databases.

The product is years ahead of technology and architecture. It helps software developers have very good features that are years ahead. Now people are really focusing on the cloud. I'm sure they have features that help software engineers or developers work or code with the cloud in mind.

I've used SQL Server for a very long time. Microsoft SQL Server is quite easy to use from a beginner’s perspective. Its user interface is very intuitive and quite easy to use.

The ease of setup depends on the instances. In some instances, it's quite complex. Compared to SQL Server, MySQL, and PostgreSQL, Db2 is not easy to deploy. It is quite complex compared to other databases. However, the complexity comes with the territory. Companies that have complex requirements benefit from it.

Depending on the features we are deploying, deployment would take a couple of days to months. IBM DB2 pureScale Feature is quite complex. Deploying it is not easy unless you have somebody who's very, very experienced. While deploying pureScale, we need staff to help with the deployment. I was working with IBM at the time, so I could ask my colleagues, who were quite experienced, to help me. They were from the worldwide team in Toronto. They're quite happy to help.

From a customer’s perspective, we would need a very experienced business partner if we get support from a business partner to assist with the deployment. If we have money, we can contact IBM. IBM is quite expensive. IBM is always ready to assist, and the team is quite experienced. As long as you have knowledgeable database administrators who have the experience and are ready to learn, it's quite easy to maintain daily. For upgrades, we need someone who's very, very experienced to do an actual migration. SQL Server is quite easy to migrate. For Db2, we need experienced people to help out with the migration.

Compared to other databases, Db2 is relatively cheaper. Oracle is very expensive. Sometimes, it is ten times more expensive than what we pay for Db2. However, Db2 has more features as compared to Oracle. When we buy Db2, we buy all the features. When we buy Oracle, we just buy a few features. For example, for row access security, you have a different product that you need to pay to unlock that functionality. Things like storage are available on Db2 straight out of the box. You have to pay Oracle to unlock new features.

I work with huge enterprise customers such as banks who, at the moment, are not quite ready to take the data to the cloud. Db2’s SQL PL understands up to 85% of Oracle’s thought procedures. Many developers are unwilling to invest a lot of money and resources to migrate Oracle databases with huge thought procedures to Db2. However, with Db2, we don't have to migrate all the thought procedures or triggers. DB2 understands most of that language out of the box without changing anything. So it's quite easy to move from Oracle to Db2. This is what I would advise any enterprise customer that is ready to move to Db2. It’s very, very cheap in the long term compared to Oracle or any other database. Overall, I rate the solution a nine and a half out of ten.

We are using IBM Db2 Database for our data center.

The past year has been much easier and has required minimal downtime. We can take a snapshot of the database and restore it quickly if needed, offering added convenience to our organization.

The most valuable feature of the IBM Db2 Database is the ease of use, and the ability to do query writing of any SQL statement and have an output.

IBM Db2 Database could improve in the steps it takes for upgrades. It is not an easy process. The process of upgrading the version is lengthy and requires a lot of time. To make it more efficient, I suggest implementing some automation on the solution side. This will greatly reduce the time required for the upgrade.

In the logging section, we can observe that we have two designated areas for secondary logs and logging. This is vastly different from the HANA database where lock identification and prompt action-taking are possible due to the instant notification feature. In our case, we have to manually create a query for the same result. However, in HANA, an alert ID is provided automatically. The same feature should be implemented here for the purpose of alerting.

I have been using IBM Db2 Database for approximately 10 years.

I rate the stability of the IBM Db2 Database a nine out of ten.

IBM Db2 Database is a widely used application with over 200 regular users.

I rate the scalability of the IBM Db2 Database a seven out of ten.

The support has always been helpful.

I rate the support from the IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

Positive

I have previously used Oracle.

There are approximately 120 colleagues responsible for ensuring its smooth operation by providing support for the database.

If others are using a platform other than SAP to run their application, I would advise them to use this solution. If people are using IBM hardware, it would be better to implement this solution as the servers can be easily integrated. The IBM servers can easily integrate with any unit servers. This application runs on EX servers and I have noticed it works well with IBM Db2 Database and Linux. The AI functions run smoothly when used with IBM.

I rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

The primary use for our Db2 database is for OLAP (Online Analytical Processing). Our department is using it for data warehousing and data analysis.  

We are deploying some of our enterprise systems to Azure. We would like to migrate data there and most of the systems will be running on the infrastructure as a service, so we will have lots of servers. Migrating data from Db2 becomes an important matter.  

Our target currently is to create the infrastructure which would include the servers, the backup solutions, the databases, application servers and whatever else we need.  

Db2 enables us to analyze big amounts of structured data in DataWarehouse solutions.

The feature that is one of the most valuable in Db2 is the DPF, or the Database Partitioning Feature that use Massive Parallel Processing architecture. We have deployments where one database is deployed on multiple physical servers. It is not exactly like RAC from Oracle. The purpose is not the availability but the performance and scalability of the DPF.  

Integration with other services could use some improvement. Currently, we are using Informatica ETL (Extract, Transform and Load) and the data is not loading as expected between the Db2 database and Informatica. Our goal is to eventually migrate the data to Azure servers and evaluate how it will perform. Currently, we are doing a POC (Proof of Concept) on this migration, but the second step cannot be completed without a dependable data load.  

We have been using Db2 for a long time. Maybe 15 years.  

DB2 is very scalable offering multichoice of possiblities - massive parallel processing and also  clustering.

We have technical support from IBM. If I had to evaluate their services, the quality really depends on the person that gets the ticket. There are some very good specialists on the technical support team and some that are not so good.  

If the ticket is critical, it will go to a queue and the IBM team will help you out very quickly and efficiently. Of course, sometimes critical problems are difficult and take some time to resolve.  

If I had to rate technical support overall, then I would give them about an eight-out-of-ten.  

We are a typical enterprise with the typical array of databases. Primarily we use Db2 and MS SQL, and some others. We have reporting tools like Business Objects, Power BI and Micro Strategy. We also have data warehouses. So we have ETL tools and then we need to have the backups, scheduling, and monitoring. We are using more than one database type for different reasons, so it is not exactly that we have switched away from something else to Db2.  

The initial setup is straightforward. I think that installing the Db2 is not that complex and it should not be a problem for a skilled DBA.  

Usually, we use our own team to maintain our products and we do not require outside services from vendors.  

As we have experience with a variety of database types any one of them could play into our architecture. I was hoping to have PaaS backup solution for the Db2 that we plan to deploy to Azure. But current plan is to back up the Db2 database to storage instead to some service in cloud. Doing it this way we would need to do a work-around and manage the backups by scripting and manage the retention and the sizes and disk drives. It is not optimal and it would be better if we could just send the backup to some kind of API or service in Azure and just configure it to back up images and files. In our testing, that is currently not working with Db2.  

I was looking for this kind of migration solution for the Db2 database, but I could not find it — which surprises me. I looked at the Tivoli Storage Manager, which supports the Db2 backups to the API, but they do not have that kind of PaaS service in Azure.

I have experience working with both Oracle and Db2. Comparing the two products, I would recommend Db2. Both Oracle and Db2 have some unique features that separate them. Although they are different, in comparing the two databases, they are both enterprise grade databases with lots of good features. But from my point of view, Db2 is much better.  

On a scale from one to ten where one is the worst and ten is the best, I would rate Db2 as an eight. It is not rated higher because I think that there are things that can be improved. It is currently not perfect. The graphical tools are not good. It is very common for GUI interfaces in IBM products to be lacking. For the first-time user who has no experience with it, the GUI will not seem very straightforward. If you had to work with it for four years, then you get used to it. But for the first-time users, it is not that user friendly.  

If some of the user-interface features can be enhanced, it could be a nine. Db2 is a good database. It is for structured data and there is always room for improvement. It requires an experienced person to handle it.  

Our primary use case of Db2 Database is for online transactions.

The most valuable features are with the industrial side.

IBM Db2 Database could improve with better security.

I have been using IBM Db2 Database for three years.

The solution is very stable. In the past three years, we have only experienced one crash.

Db2 Database is scalable. One terabyte is sufficient and works perfectly to meet our needs.

We use IBM's technical support. It is a very good experience. 

We used and continue to use other RDBMS solutions other than Db2 Database. We use Microsoft Sequence Server, PostgreSQL and to a certain extent Oracle for different user systems. 

The initial setup of Db2 Database is straightforward. Any complexity is due to the seriousness of the case.

At first, deployment was done through a consultant, however, we now have the capability to deploy in-house.

Db2 Database is the best solution I have experienced with IBM. The return on investment has been very good.

We have a license for the Advanced Enterprise version of this solution.

I recommend IBM Db2 Database to anyone considering it as a solution for their organization.

Overall, I rate the product a 10 out of 10.

I was a heavy user of IBM Db2 Database. So, I used it for very complex queries because data extensively was with the mainframe database.

Considering the day-to-day activities in my company, around 30% of my work's contribution is possible because of IBM Db2 Database.

The solution's robustness is one of the most valuable features of IBM Db2 Database.

The solution's UI hasn't been upgraded. The solution’s UI is an area to improve because the solution was developed long ago. However, to date, they have been good at whatever they have been doing. But I feel that the solution's UI can be made more appealing.

Since the solution is functioning at its peak, there are no additional features that I would like to see in it.

I have been using IBM Db2 Database for four years. Also, it isn't the latest version that I use.

Stability-wise, I rate the solution an eight and a half out of ten.

Scalability-wise, I rate the solution a nine out of ten. Around 50 to 100 people in our organization are using the solution. We plan to increase the use of the solution because there are always new teams in our organization who install the solution for the new joiners and any other projects or contracts.

The initial setup was straightforward, especially if we compare IBM Db2 Database's setup phase with Toad for Oracle's setup process.

Even though I have seen a return on investment using the solution, I wouldn't be able to explain it with actual numbers.

The solution's pricing is fine.

I want to tell others who plan to use the solution that it is great for learning the heavy script and database queries. I can take on a couple of complex test plans, test procedures, and other related work. So, I think it's a very robust tool. Overall, I rate the solution a nine out of ten.

We are using it for our SAP system.

Db2 Database has given us good results since we have started to use it. We predominantly use IBM hardware, and this is one of the reasons why we started to use Db2 Database. 

Db2 Database has a very good HADR capability. High availability resilience is also good in this solution. It also has pureScale, which allows you to upgrade one node to get very good and high-level resilience. If you are using a database on five nodes, you can take one node down, upgrade that, and let that node up. You can then bring the second node down, upgrade that, and so on.

The only drawback that we see in Db2 Database is the crash recovery. When there is a crash and somebody has to do the recovery, Db2 Database first stops, and then it does any crash recovery. In Oracle Database, crash recovery happens within the database. The database is not shut down.

I have been using this solution for five or six years.

Initially, there were hiccups, but now, it is a robust database. The only limitation that we have found is crash recovery. In terms of bugs, every database will have some bugs that will hit you. I don't see much in terms of bugs in Db2 Database. Whatever known bugs are there, we get those issues.

They are really very good. Overall, if I have to give a rating, I will give them an eight and a half or a nine out of ten. Their response to our requirements is quite good. They have good resources at the technical end. They take us very seriously. It might be because we are one of the largest accounts. I don't know what happens with medium-scale industries or small-scale industries. 

We migrated from Oracle Database to Db2 Database because it was quite a good and cost-effective solution. Oracle Database was coming out to be expensive.

The initial setup was complex altogether. It was complex because we were moving from Oracle Database to Db2 Database. A lot of code changes were required. 

We did not buy it. It came with our hardware without any complimentary maintenance. If I compare Db2 Database with Oracle Database, its price is lower than Oracle Database.

I would recommend Db2 Database to others because, as time passed, they have made a lot of changes, such as crash recovery. The time of crash recovery is reduced by almost 60% to 70%. Db2 Database also has Db2 BLU, which actually is in-memory. We have not explored this particular feature, but I would recommend others to explore it. With Db2 BLU, it becomes equivalent to HANA. We are seeing it being used a lot in large banks etc.

Among Oracle, Db2, and SQL databases, I would rate Oracle first, Db2 second, and SQL third. I personally believe Oracle is the most robust database. Db2 is the second robust database.

I would rate Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

The value and impact of using IBM Db2 Database lie in its essential role in storing data. The benefits include enhanced performance, reliability, and effective data management compared to other databases.

The most valuable feature of IBM Db2 Database is its ability to perform automatic self-management, reducing the need for manual tasks such as managing logs and folders.

One area where IBM Db2 Database could be improved is its Java development environment. Similar to those found in competitors like Oracle, there could be more user-friendly tools with features such as drag-and-drop functionality, visual basics, and low-code capabilities.

We have been using the IBM Db2 Database for ten years.

The platform is stable. I rate the stability an eight out of ten.

The primary concern is related to the cost implications when scaling with multiple nodes in a database. The associated costs increase when additional nodes are added, each requiring separate storage space. We have approximately four or five Db2 instances being used in the organization.

It is a scalable platform. I rate the scalability an eight out of ten.

I have used MySQL and Oracle in my previous environments. We switched to IBM Db2 Database for auto-management features and reduced manual intervention.

The initial setup is straightforward. We have to install and register. The deployment process includes downloading the software from the vendor's website, having a customer account, copying the downloaded file to the machine, and executing the installation. It takes five to ten days to complete. We have around 50 executives working in the database administration team.

We implemented the product in-house.

We purchase the product's yearly license. Later, we have to pay support and license renewal fees. Its pricing is comparable to other database solutions such as Oracle and MySQL. If you choose to buy IBM Power Systems, there may be opportunities to receive Db2 licenses at a lower cost or even free of charge. However, if the installation is on servers other than open Power servers, standard licensing fees apply, similar to those of other database solutions.

The application has analytical tools to support day-to-day management and analytics needs. It is convenient to meet business needs objects.

Regarding integration with other tools and systems, Db2 can be integrated with comprehensive banking solutions involving various teams, including CVS, analytics, and importing teams.

As for recommendations for those considering Db2, it can effectively impact performance. If an organization predominantly uses Db2, individuals are more likely to choose Db2. However, there is a challenge related to training resources for Db2, which may be less readily available or focused on compared to other platforms like Oracle.

I rate it a nine out of ten.