IBM Db2 Database Reviews

The solution is a major central relational database management system that maintains all of the data for our bank's core business.

The availability, reliability, consistency, security, performance, and methodology of the solution are all excellent. It's a proven product for many, many businesses in many, many different areas. It's probably one of the best products on the market.

The self-management and optimization features are probably the best on the market.

The ease of use, or ease of management, could be improved.

There are many improvements all the time on the solution. There is no one thing that I would mention. IBM invests a lot of money to improve the tool and maintain it. There are improvements all the time happening in different areas. 

I've worked with IBM products since 1989.

The solution is stable. No technical issues have ever occured.

Technical support is good.

The initial setup is quite complex. Nothing is simple on the platform. Deployment times depend on the extent of the organization. Different tests need to be done: unique tests, integration tests, user acceptance, performance, etc.

There are specialists on-premises that work for the bank and they handle everything themselves.

We use the on-premises deployment model.

The solution is suitable for big organizations, big financial institutions, government, ministries, the army, insurance companies, etc. It's not for small end-users.

I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.

The learning curve for the Db2 specialist is high. To become a specialist, under production level, takes two years. It's a complex product.

We use it to provide for back-end DB for many proprietary applications. The most valuable features are reliability, performance, and portability across different platforms.

We have moved a lot of our applications off zOS to distributed platforms and IBM UDB DB2 has been extremely critical in our solution to provide for a scale-able, cost-effective and reliable DBMS solution on distributed platform.

The other advantage is we don't have to make lot of changes in the application DB2 access layer in order for it to work with IBM DB2 UDB. These applications have been originally designed to work with the host database (IBM DB2 zOS).

I would definitely like to see a better interface to interact with the database. Performance monitoring tools which come out of the box don't need to come along with all the bells and whistles. They need to be effective and intuitive. There are ways to do that out-of-box even today, but it can be improved

We have used this solution for over 15 years.

There were no issues with stability.

There were no issues with scalability.

The IBM Technical Support model is satisfactory.

We used XDB (Micro Focus RDBMS equivalent to DB2) which used to have scalability and reliability issues in our development environments. We switched to IBM UDB DB2 in our DEV environments on account of its reliability and scalability.

The setup was straightforward. However, the Linux setup can be improved.

I love the way the product is licensed on zOS and zLinux (core-based). However, IBM needs to improve their licensing for cloud environment, as we are planning to leverage that platform extensively in the future. Right now, the setup for AWS/Azure licensing is very confusing and not cost-effective.

We evaluated Oracle, but the ease of application re-hosting with IBM DB2, as well as its comparable reliability and scalability tilted it in favor of IBM DB2 UDB.

For folks looking to re-host applications that are using zOS DB2, our advice is to strictly go with IBM UDB DB2. Do not consider other options, as they usually require extensive changes in the application layer.

Db2 is our primary database for applications in our two data centers. We have a large number of financial transactions that happen every day, and Db2 handles our transaction management.

The asset properties are solid.

The replication is being done well. We have two data centers and the replication that they provide has almost no lag. The maximum lag that we have seen in the past two or three years is one second.

When something goes down, the recovery process is very good.

We are dealing with millions of transactions a month and the performance is very good.

The management is very simple.

We need to have a cloud-based version of this database.

It would be helpful to have a hybrid data storage facility that includes NoSQL technologies.

I have been using DB2 for the past ten years.

We have observed some glitches with the database when the amount of data is growing quickly. This is why we are moving toward a microservices architecture, where each service has its own database.

At this time, because our data is growing, the glitches are frequent.

We have about 4,000,000 requests daily.

We have had contact with IBM for technical support and they are good. Most of our products are from IBM.

I also have experience with Oracle.

The initial setup is complex and not easy to do. It was handled by the database administrators so I do not remember exactly how long the deployment took.

We have an internal database team who took care of the deployment.

We are currently in the process of migrating some of our models to the cloud, and we are looking for a cloud-based relational database.

The suitability of Db2 depends on your environment and needs. If you want to implement an on-premises monolithic application that can handle all of your transaction management then Db2 is a good choice. 

The technical support is very good, and if you have multiple data centers, the applications are also good.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

The solution is running on top of IBM I proprietary hardware/software. It shows great stability. DB2 has improved the way our organization functions because we do not have to tune it. There is an autotuning function integrated into the OS, which is useful. On other databases, there is a need to do tunning from time to time.

Has a very good RDBMS with high throughput, customizable security features, and a reasonable licensing price.

The solution has many beneficial features, such as security, support, and stability.

IBM Db2 Database is not ACID compliant, which would improve it. Db2 lacks Isolation, so when two people are trying to update the same field at the same time it can become stuck. Other newer databases do not have this issue, such as Microsoft SQL, Oracle DB, PostgreSQL, and SAP HANA.

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

We did not have the need to scale the solution.

We are using the solution on a daily basis.

We have a good SLA contract with the vendor for support.

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

Positive

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

The deployment of the database took one day and the application took some time because of the testing and integration.

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

If someone is looking for a robust database with a reasonable price and security measures IBM Db2 Database is a good choice.

I rate IBM Db2 Database a seven out of ten.

We use IBM Db2 Database to monitor the deadlock's thread pool status of a particular DB or the particular process or whatever the corresponding DB instance is. We do this for the customer's requirement.

The most valuable feature of the IBM Db2 Database is security.

 I have been using IBM Db2 Database for two years.

IBM Db2 Database is stable.

I have found IBM Db2 Database scalable.

The technical support can be faster.

I have not used other solutions in this category other than IBM Db2 Database.

The initial setup of the IBM Db2 Database is straightforward. The full implementation took approximately one month.

We did the implementation of the IBM Db2 Database in-house.

I would recommend this solution to others. If some planning is done and things are in place then the solution will work as expected.

I rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

In terms of improvements, IBM Db2 can improve its interface and its functionality. Also, the embedded functions should be much richer than the current ones - the functions which are embedded in the engine itself.

For example, I can find more DEPTH functions in Oracle than in Db2. Also, SQL Server still has richer functions than Db2.

I'm working with Db2 for two years now, since we migrated to the Cloud and converted from the SQL Server.

I work with Db2, SQL Server, and Oracle.

I'm a specialist in the product, doing support. I received special training for it.

In terms of stability, I have some issues, but I cannot figure out if this is due to the database or the platform in the engine itself.

Additionally, sometimes I find the response is not good, meaning a reasonable response time. For a while the team was working fine in another engine. What I look for is the design and whether the syntax is different. I don't know. I'm really not certain about the holes.

Since it's on the Cloud, it's pretty much scalable with no limits.

We did get a specialist to help with the setup and deployment to the Cloud.

IBM Db2 was much cheaper as a package than using other products. This is because IBM supplied a package with its product. It's an application. So it was much more efficient and a stronger competitor in that regard.

Performance-wise, Oracle is the best solution. It is much more reliable. Regarding the end user administration and the functions available, SQL Server is much easier.

They have much more user-friendly interfaces. Regarding Db2, I'm a little bit in doubt. I don't see that it is significantly different when I went from SQL Server to Db2. I have not seen any significant improvements or changes.

The advice I would give is to have a good administrator. Have an administrator that is skilled in that field so he can tune the database's performance and understand the know-how of how to administrate that platform.

Overall, I would give IBM Db2 a 7 out of 10. 

For it to be higher, it needs a better interface. It is very important to have. I am very keen to have such an interface.

I am an ex IBM employee, and I used to be the brand ambassador for Db2 in Africa. So, I do understand how it works because I've used it with customers. Currently, I am mostly supporting some of the Db2 customers in Kenya.

I am now using version 11.1, but I used version 10.5 for the longest time. 

It has a good feature called pureScale, which is just for scalability. It is a perfect solution for environments where scalability is going to be an issue.

Microsoft SQL Server is comparatively very simple to use. I wish IBM would move towards making Db2 easy to use for both basic and advanced users. This is where I see room for advancement. Db2 is also more expensive than Microsoft SQL Server, and its price can be reduced.

The replication feature needs to be there in Db2. Microsoft provides similar functionality in SQL Server. IBM also has similar functionality, but it exists in a different product. So, to have the replication ability, you have to buy a different product. It makes sense to have this functionality within Db2 instead of a different product. It will also be helpful in terms of competition.

In Africa, the problem for Db2 is competition. Oracle Database and Microsoft SQL Server have been in this market for a very long time. These companies have built the ecosystem and the brand within this market for a very long time. So, they are very popular with users. Db2 or IBM came a little later in the game, and that's where the problem lies. They also don't do a lot of marketing for it, which is also a problem.

I have been using this solution since 2012. It has been nine years.

It is stable. The 10.5 Fix Pack One was not very stable. We also had Fix Pack 4, also called Cancun Release, which was very stable. As the product has evolved, it is more stable now than it was a couple of years ago.

It is a perfect solution for environments where scalability is going to be an issue. I am supporting two banks. They use Db2 for their core banking system. There are more than 500 users per bank who use this solution every single day.

I have worked with IBM, and I have seen their support teams. They are very passionate about supporting their users. Whenever there is a problem, they have a team that is there 24/7 to ensure that their customers are supported. They are very fast and very technical in solving problems.

I have used SQL Server, IBM Db2, and Oracle Database. Microsoft provides usability. SQL Server is very easy to use and adapt. The only problem is that it only lives within the Microsoft Windows operating system, whereas Db2 is available on Linux, Unix, Windows, and Linux for mainframes. 

When comparing IBM Db2 and Oracle Database, I would go for IBM Db2 because it has complete functionality. A lot of features available in IBM Db2 are not there in Oracle Database. IBM Db2 has time travel queries that are not available in any other solution. From the perspective of a software developer or a database developer, there are more functionalities in IBM Db2. It is more futuristic.

It is very technical to deploy, but once you configure and make it work, it is a perfect solution for an environment where scalability is going to be an issue.

Among Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and Db2, Microsoft SQL Server is the cheapest one, and Oracle is the most expensive one. Db2 is in the middle. As compared to SQL Server, its price could go down. It will be good for customers.

I would love to expand its usage in the future. We are looking to migrate the finance industry customers in Africa to Db2, especially from Oracle to Db2. 

I would rate Db2 an eight out of ten.

The only reason we are using IBM Db2 Database is that our client has an IBM setup for a data warehouse.

IBM Db2 Database could improve the user-defined functions. There are some user-defined functions that are missing, such as the spring functions. I used to have  Teradata for my projects and I was used to working in the environment. They had a good set of user-defined functions.

In a future release of the IBM Db2 Database, it could be helpful to have SQL assistance. Teradata had this feature and it was very useful to connect to warehouses.

I have been using IBM Db2 Database for approximately one year.

The stability of IBM Db2 Database is stable. We have not faced any downtime in one year. Our work is mostly during business hours and during that time, we haven't faced any downtime. However, we did see some performance issues when we are running multiple queries. The client's setup could be causing these performance issues. We are pushing that client to have the environment ready for multiple users so that they can query the database easily and faster data travel.

I have not used the support from IBM Db2 Database.

I have previously used Teradata and I started my career on it as a developer. I was doing migrations from Db2 or different databases to Teradata. The database of Teradata is very useful and is performance-based when it comes to data warehouse solutions.

We have three to four people in our DBA team for the maintenance of this solution.

I rate IBM Db2 Database a six out of ten.