I'm a partner of IBM. I used to be an IBM employee until August when I switched over to a partner company.

I'm not would say totally biased towards IBM. We do like to look at other vendors' hardware and software. For example, we use Oracle hardware on the mainframe environment for the tape. Oracle took over Sun which took over Storagetech, which is a mainframe and distributed tape solution. We do have a mixture of IBM and non-IBM software and hardware.

I'm a technical manager at the moment, and I'm supporting a team that's running Db2 across multiple sites within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

We are moving to the private cloud, however, at the moment, it's on-premise between multiple data centers dispersed within Saudi Arabia. They don't want to be looking at any cloud services from suppliers where they do not have control of the data. We are looking at maybe next year a private cloud infrastructure for the mainframe Sysplex environment.

I'd advise new users to make sure they know what you're doing. Don't guess. There's a lot of people working out there in IT that like to tell people that they know what they're doing. From my experience, they don't know what they're doing, and they can make a complete mess of it. I see it a lot over here in the Middle East. They need to be aware of what they're doing. They need to be following proper procedures and processes.

When they're upgrading to the production environment, they should be raising a high severity ticket with the supplier. For example, if we're changing the version of Db2 in our production environment on 50%, or one member, I would inform the team to raise a high severity ticket so that we've got IBM support on hand should we encounter any anomalies. I would be saying that the same to the Microsoft SQL team, to Db2 LUW, to Oracle, that sort of thing. That would mitigate risk.

They should also properly test it. They should make sure that they follow all the functional tests, which we call IVPs, which are scripted tests that you can run to prove that it looks okay. You should be engaging with the application team in non-production first to see that they're not having any problems with the application. You should try and see if there's a performance team or monitoring team that's able to look at the performance of it. You should be talking with the middleware team, like the webserver teams, the .NET, the KICKS, and making sure that all their processes are working with that database. And then you migrate it into production.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten. The product, the support of the product, the high availability that it offers, the active-active, plus how we're managing it, has been great. We're having fun with it.

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When it comes to Db2, integration is key. We integrate through various engines, and each engine integration requires both parties to have a communication layer, which we configure.

Overall, I would rate the solution a nine out of ten. 

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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.

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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.

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I'm not a database person. I'm a programmer. 

I'm using version nine in the company.

If a person wants to use the solution from a user perspective, I'd suggest they actually look at cloud programs, not IBM or on-premises. Cloud simplifies a lot of things. If I were starting from scratch, I'd go right to the could.

The reliability is excellent, and therefore I'd rate the solution eight out of ten. I only have issues with the user interface.

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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.

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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.

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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. 

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IBM Db2 manages a huge amount of structured business data and provides DB services for many different applications in banking, military, logistics, and other areas. Big organizations that are using IBM mainframe are using Db2 Database for providing the database services for various applications. Thousands of organizations in the world are using Db2 for managing their data—their most important asset. By using Db2, they can manage this huge amount of data by building an enterprise-wide data model, consisting of thousands of entities and tables. When built with a proper methodology, Db2 is a great asset for each and every organization.

IBM mainframe Db2 for z/OS would probably be the best platform if you need a database that is not limited to one specific area and can provide you with the following:

• Different DB services
• Different functional and application areas
• Parallel processing abilities with a big amount of relational structured data

It will be difficult to find a better solution for such a business.

I would rate it a nine out of ten. It is very good.

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IBM Db2 Database is a very standard and IBM-centric solution, so you need to be familiar with all the aspects of the product since it is not really an open product, meaning you can't run it on everything. IBM Db2 Database only runs on specific systems. I rate the overall product an eight out of ten.

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I would rate this solution 6 out of 10.

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I would rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of 10.

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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.

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I rate IBM Db2 nine out of 10. It's more expensive, but it's better than the competing solutions. I have to deduct a point for license costs. Everything else is excellent. We recommend Db2 to many clients, but few adopt it due to the high price tag. If a project has strict budgetary restraints, we typically don't recommend Db2. 

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I would recommend this solution to others who are interested in using it.

I would rate IBM Db2 Database a seven out of ten.

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If you're going to use it for the first time, you would need lot of training and some technical support. You would need support during development as well.

I would rate this solution at nine on a scale from one to ten.

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There is a lot of documentation available. I was, however, able to find what I needed through Google.

For our clients who have a large scale enterprise, we suggest DB2 and mid-scale enterprise customers we suggest SQL Server or others.

It's a better solution, it's better on the application. The purpose of DB2 is for a data warehouse or with data analytics.

I would rate this product an eight out of ten.

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I'd recommend the solution to others. However, I'd recommend other potential users try to find a cheaper option. I'd rate it overall at a seven out of ten. 

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Guardium can be used in confidential environments. There are many customization options available in Guardium. We purchased the solution in 2018. I will recommend the product for auditing. Overall, I rate the solution an eight out of ten.

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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.

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Stability, mobility, and security are rated a ten out of ten but the extreme cost changes my overall rating to a five out of ten. 

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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.  

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We are moving away from IBM products.

Everyone is now gravitating toward AWS and cloud computing. And this is a legacy monolithic platform. My advice will be ineffective. The legacy system was designed in the year 2000.

When we first launched our product, IBM hosted our client platform.

Our client insisted on using IBM products, but I believe we are now satisfied. However, the company where we started, has now been acquired by four different companies.

We are working on a different company that has Java-based products, department-based products, and many other products. It's obvious it's a trade. We will build a trading platform on which our clients and sponsors will trade.

I would rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

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I rate the solution a nine out of ten. The solution is good, but the initial setup can be improved.

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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.

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I would recommend IBM Db2 Database as a ten on a scale of one to ten. It is very powerful and responsive. 

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I rate IBM Db2 Database a six out of ten.

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We're not a software provider, we're an end-user.

When you start talking about Db2 on Linux and Unix, the current version is version 17.3 or 17.4. The IBM i, the versioning doesn't work the same way, it has to do with the operating system levels that you're running, as to which version of Db2 you're in. It's integrated in with the system, operating system. It's not actually an independent version of Db2, it's integrated in with the operating system on that platform.

Db2 is different in our architectural world than standalone Db2. It's not like standing up an instance of Db2 would be the same as it would in Oracle, or a Microsoft SQL instance, on a Windows 10 server or a Windows 2008 server or whatever it may be. It's the fact that it's bundled in with the software, with the operating system, with the hardware, when you buy that machine. Since it's all bundled inside of it, we're having to go out and independently do things with it. It's inherent, it's bundled. It's probably not the best example of Db2, because even when IBM goes out and talks about Db2, they talk about Db2 zOS, which is the Linux Unix installation. You very rarely see them talking about the IBM i installations. In fact, in even the documentation I was reading in the comparisons, it was comparing the Linux Unix IBM Db2 against Oracle, and against the Microsoft SQL Server.

If you're looking at an alternative to Oracle or to Microsoft SQL server, look at Db2, and then once you're in Db2's world, take a look at IBM i against the IBM Z, and compare the two of them. The stigma that the IBM i has, is that RPG language barrier. Since that barrier has now been removed, you can do everything that you can do on the IBM Z as well. The stability of the platform is what people need to look at. There is a trade-off of uptime and never been hacked operating system against versus Microsoft and Oracle in the news every single day. Microsoft cloud just made a comment in the last 48, 72 hours about their cloud services being hacked. That's just something you do not see happening with that IBM series architecture.

Since Db2 rides inside of very secure architecture, people should probably give it a very good, hard look, compared to Oracle and Microsoft, and say, "Hey it might not be as popular. It might not be as big a deal, but if my data is more secure, and I don't have downtime and I have performance, is it something that we should be looking at?" 

I've been at companies that have looked to move off of that, and when they've looked at the Oracle solution, and, no matter how you power it, and no matter how you scale it, whether you scale it up or you scale it wide, the performance is simply just not there compared to what the IBM systems offer through their Db2, whether it be the i or the Z through what they offer internally in their performance capabilities. Your iOS, your throughputs, your performance cycles, you cannot touch it with Microsoft or with Oracle scalability-wise. That is far and away the most scalable systems and the highest performing systems of the set of them.

I'd rate the solution at a ten out of ten.

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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.

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The solution is intuitive and easy to use once you know how to build up queries. I rate it a nine out of ten.

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I rate the solution as a seven.

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On a scale from one to ten (where one is the worst and ten is the best), I would rate IBM Db2 Database as a seven-out-of-ten.  

Most of the time recommending Db2 is harder than recommending Oracle because of the situation in our country. Whenever I propose Db2 to a customer, the customer will ask what they need to have to develop applications on Db2. I have to say to them that they need to have a Java developer to work on that. If the customer already has some Oracle databases, this makes introducing Db2 even more difficult because they already have the resources for Oracle development. Suggesting Db2 is difficult in our country because most of the people already have Oracle now. So suggesting Db2 is difficult because development on Db2 is not as easy as Oracle and finding the resources to work with it is not as easy. The question we have to answer all the time is who will do the development if the customer does not have a Java developer resource already.  

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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I rate this solution an eight out of 10. 

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I would recommend this solution to others if they have the proper application, otherwise, it might not fulfil their needs. We plan on using the solution in the future.

I rate IBM Db2 Database a seven out of ten.

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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.

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This is a robust and stable product but it's expensive.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

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If your computing budget allows you to get automated security and audit products for your mainframe environment and the applications that run on it, you are fortunate. It is then your responsibility to maximize the software investment to insure all resources on the mainframe platform are adequately protected.

Truth be told, companies using mainframes spend a lot of money on not just hardware, but the software (DB2/RACF/etc.), that runs on it. It goes without saying that any mainframe installation with DB2 and RACF needs reliable security products to administer the environment provide security and audit reporting and streamline efforts to safeguard the environment.

From personal experience, I submit that software that enhances and automates security administration efforts for the mainframe and it isn’t cheap either. It’s important for a mainframe organization to maximize the financial investment in such tools.

In addition, an installation running DB2 and RACF needs to make an important decision. That is, who will be responsible for securing the environment. If RACF or another external security manager is not used than internal DB2 security will need to be employed for safeguarding resources. It’s important to have a security process in place to:

• Determine what DB2 resources need protection and identify who the users or groups are that need access, and the type of access (inquiry, update, etc.).
• Audit settings: What type of violations are being monitored and what is the process for reporting them.
• Security reporting: Periodic re-certification of security rules and access lists, etc. Things (access requirements) change over time.
• Change control: Security updates which need to be applied in the event of employee hiring, transfers and terminations. Managing a mainframe environment is difficult enough without having to also worry about security clutter.

Incidentally, this is only a partial list of things to consider when securing a DB2 environment. For example, this write-up doesn’t even address backup, recovery, and/or restoration issues (process/procedures).

In the many years I have been administering RACF and other security, I have come to conclude that there perfect security does not exist for any application or specific resource. A practitioner I once observed at a security conference summed it up by saying, "Computer security is a journey that never ends..." Ever changing new technological developments and access requirements mean you have to adapt accordingly from a security perspective.

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I rate this solution a seven out of ten. I would recommend this product to customers. Most solutions have some environments requiring an enterprise database, so if a customer uses an IBM solution, the database should be Db2. Some customers may be using SQL Server, and if we have the solution for the Microsoft environment, we will recommend them to another database. But if the proposed solution is AIX or Unix system, we recommend they use the Db2 database on that platform. So it depends on the environment.

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I would rate Db2 eight out of ten.

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I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate IBM Db2 Database a nine out of ten.

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We're currently IBM partners. 

I use the solution extensively. 

I'd like other companies to know it's quite easy to set up and maintain. If they are looking for something fairly easy to jump into, this may be it.

I'd rate the solution seven out of ten.

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I would definitely recommend this solution to somebody considering it. I would advise that if you are looking to install it, you should have internal competence and internal skill, don't only use external support that is provided by IBM. You should have internal knowledge and competency for Db2 management.

The performance is very critical. The software developer needs to have good knowledge of the programming technique in order to avoid the problem on the performance side. 

The performance of Db2 depends on the system, on how you installed it. From the application part, it depends on how you developed code, how you wrote the code because if you write bad code you will have a serious performance problem. 

Db2 is a very old product, but also a very stable product. It's really difficult to imagine something different from the actual configuration from the actual functionalities of its operation.

I would rate it a nine out of ten. 

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I recommend the product to medium enterprises. I would rate the solution a seven out of ten. 

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I would rate Db2 Database eight out of ten.

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I don't think that we will be changing solutions within the next year.

I would rate this solution a seven out of ten.

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In summary, this is a good solution and one that I recommend. However, there is room for improvement in terms of performance and scalability.

I would rate this solution an eight out of ten.

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If you are creating a small budget project, DB2 could be your first option. You have almost no limits with the Community-C edition (the free one), and then you can scale up to a supported version. Instead, when you have a very big infrastructure, I recommend you to check what you need, then DB2 could be a very good option.

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Prototype any use of fringe functionality, XML-specific handling, JSON Processing, NoSQL Extensions, etc. 

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If somebody is looking for stability then I recommend this platform, although it depends on whether they want a Data Lake or are looking for analytics.

I would rate this solution a nine out of ten.

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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. View full review »

I recommend it to medium-to-large enterprise applications

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If you don't know IBM i OS, just use it for DB2 for i, and scalability, reliability, and security. Then consider using partitions for Linux for your business logic.

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I'd rate the solution a six out of ten.

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

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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.

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I would recommend this solution to others.

I rate IBM Db2 Database an eight out of ten.

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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.

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

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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. View full review »

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. View full review »