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.

The simplicity of installation/setup and the ability to run without requiring constant maintenance.

For applications, we have Oracle and Microsoft SQL deployed for application systems, but I prefer DB2 for my “systems” usage primarily due to its limited requirement for administration.

Not one that is relevant, it is used purely in a “systems infrastructure” setting rather than as a “business application system”.

In my limited use case, the only major thing would be improved reporting capability.

The first time was in 1989/1990.

Recently, from 2007 to the present day.

No, I had a DB2 instance running on an old IBM x3650 with Windows 2003, which ran continuously for eight years.

It was a performance data repository for our storage and fabric switches, with an average insert activity of several 1,000 per minute (had automatic record pruning setup).

No, but we never had it greater than 100TiB.

Can’t rate it as we never had to use it.

No, I selected DB2 based on previous experience with Oracle and after a brief look at MS SQL.

It was very simple to get up and running. The documentation is very good and the user forums, including IBM wikis, make it very easy to find out most things we did to it as far as setup/tuning are concerned.

As we already use Oracle and MS SQL for applications, I looked at the latest version of Oracle (at the time v9) to examine any differences pertinent to the last time I had looked at it.

MS SQL: I only briefly looked at it. IMHO, it was no match for DB2 or Oracle, as far as what I consider “Enterprise Databases” to be.

Define their use cases as exactly as they can, then look at what DB fits them.
I have seen the app/database team deploy Oracle/MS-SQL when something really simple like MySQL would have been a better option.

Also, before installing DB2 make sure full planning is done regarding scalability and performance requirements.

Definitely, use the planning worksheets and search the DB2 wiki’s and user forums to ensure the setup is optimal from the start, especially as far as layout is concerned.

I have found in the x86 world that products seem to be installed with very little pre-installation planning. With my mainframe background, you don’t install anything until you have examined all available documentation, so you are aware of all the key decision points in the install/setup/layout.

A4: Automatic storage. Disk space management is one of the biggest pain points for a DBA. Even Oracle 11g R2 cannot do better than IBM DB2 when it comes to this feature.

The old system (Wealth Management) was on Microsoft SQL Server platform, however, the performance and stability couldn't meet our requirements. After migrating to DB2, it's much better.

Absolutely -- centralized management tools with UI interface, like Oracle EM .

Three years.

Yes. We even encountered DB2 bug on the Version 9.7.0.9 and it's the reason why we upgraded to Version 9.7.0.11 .

Yes. Many tables or indexes can't be scaled up without reorg step. As an unbreakable system, it's a very bad design.

8 out of 10. IBM Lab is quite strong. The site technical support is good, too.

See my answer to the 'Stability' question.

It's quite complex. It cannot be done without reference.

The reference documents and education resources in the market might not offer as much as Oracle Database or Microsoft SQL Server.

It's still much more than open source databases such as PostgreSQL, but much less than Oracle and Microsoft.

Calculating the license fee is always very complicated and only the IBM sales can get the final answer. It's not a transparent way.

Yes. Oracle Database.

My primary use case is for media management purposes.

Some of the most valuable features are the scaling from a small very cheap installation to a very large enterprise installation. In addition, the backups and assistance are good.

It would be nice if it was easily available on all platforms because nowadays, it is not there as a general database.

More than five years.

It has been very stable.

It has been a very scalable solution for us.

The initial set up was complex, but that was a long time ago.

We considered Oracle. But, Oracle kept coming out with new versions and every time you had to change something in your application.

I suggest to anyone considering this solution to get hands-on experience with the solution, and run some tests and pilots. When evaluating a solution like this one, you must consider the product itself, the support available and how common or popular the product is. I find that if it is a popular product, that means there are a lot of people who know the product well, and it's easy to do work with that particular product.

HADR/TSAMP: It makes planned downtime very manageable, and allows us to handle unplanned outages with very little user impact.

We use IBM DB2 as part of a SAP implementation. DB2's performance and stability has been a key factor in the success of the SAP rollout.

The diagnostic log (db2diag.log file) could be a little bit more user-friendly.

I have used this solution for 16 years.

There were no stability issues.

This is not relevant for me, we have rarely needed to build on the initial server footprint.

Right now, I deal directly with SAP support for DB2 issues. But, when I previously worked for IBM, I found the DB2 support staff to be very helpful and knowledgeable. Due to the size of the company, there was a huge breadth of knowledge and experience.

The installation process and setup is fairly straightforward (assuming that you have a good working knowledge of the underlying OS and basic DB2 concepts).

Take advantage of the dedicated IBM teams that are in place to help with the migration process from other DBMS.

- 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 solution is used for database management.

The solution has very good data compression of up to 50%. For example, if you have 50 terabytes of data, it can be reduced to 25 terabytes.

The capabilities of this solution could improve.

I have been using this solution for many years.

In my experience, it has been stable.

The scalability is good. We have some clients that have over 9,000 users using this solution.

The technical support has been very friendly, responsive, and it is quick to escalate an issue.

I have used previously Cisco MySQL, SQL Server, SAP HANNA, and IBM DB2.

We have approximately 14 technicians doing the deployment and maintenance of this solution.

We normally handle large size businesses and as far as I am aware, the license is negotiable based on the number of users and the quantitative data.

I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

Hybrid Cloud

• 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.