IBM has released DB2 v8.1 for Linux, HP, AIX, Solaris, os390 and Windows today. New features include multi-dimensional clustering (queries and analytics nearly 100% faster), self-configuring, self-healing, self-optimizing, self-protecting, and the ability to consolidate Web Services queries through a single SQL statement.
Huh? Why did they bother with Windows version??? MS SQL is king in that area. Ah IBM… La compagnie qui se sabotte elle-même. =)
Goooo Linux!
ciao
yc
It’s about time DB2 reached this level of ‘conveniance’ as a DBMS. This is good news for me. I love MS SQL for it’s ease of use during developement. But nothing beats a well configured and clustered DB2.
my 2 cents.
Hey, I’m new to real databases and I have a few questions about DB2
(1) Is it free?
(2) What are the advantages over, say, MySQL on a unix platform (FreeBSD and Solaris in particular)
(3) Is there a good site for newbies to databases to learn about DB2?
> Huh? Why did they bother with Windows version??? MS SQL is
>king in that area. Ah IBM… La compagnie qui se sabotte elle-même. =)
have you ever heard of the words “market share” and “competition”, or maybe “development”?
“have you ever heard of the words “market share” and “competition”, or maybe “development”?
There are more OS/2 installations than Linux ones. What was your point again?
DB2 actually often breaks performance records on the Windows version, though, it is usually then stolen after MS releases a new version of MS SQL.
so just because there are more OS/2 than Linux installations, the money that could be made from the Linux/Windows/HP should be discarded, right?
you sound like you have just bought a computer, did you know that AOL isn’t the whole internet?
>There are more OS/2 installations than Linux ones
Hey, are you living in 1995 still?
DB2 is a database that people use in servers, not in their bedroom’s iMac. Linux has a large number of the server market today and it makes perfect sense to have DB2 for Linux.
OS/2 in its hey day used to have 600,000 active users, but today they are a few thousand left. Linux has a few millions today.
I like OS/2 a lot (it is extremely fast on my AMD K6-2 300). But let’s be realistic here.
*sigh* Forget the kiddy stuff. In installations I MEant Corporate penetration. OS/2 is used all over in Banks. Not just the ATM stuff too. Forget the desktop wars blah blah blah. OS/2 lost that one. But that doesn’t MEan it’s dead. A month ago, I saw one of my client still running an MS OS/2 1.3 pc running some telephony gear. They still had the diskettes in a plastic box near the PC. Do you actually think corporations ‘dump’ money at will? What do you think the Disney theme park runs on? Linux? Get real! Some car company up here also has OS/2 servers. Yes, I agree with you here, let’s be realistic! I see weird stuff each month. Guess what? The PC medias are always off target. Thank God they don’t do my taxes.
1) No.
2) You get tools to backup/restore the database live. You get the ability to Load/balance cluster the database, you get some support via phone/mail/web. Support has to find solutions. You can migrate your VM database to Unix ….
3) ????
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http://islande.hirlimann.net
Having a linux version does not make sense imho :
most people that uses linux in Corporate and production enviroenement use inux because its free (as in beer) and it’s a way to lower the computing cost.
People using linux elsewhere do not buy linux software (remember loki ?), so who would buy DB2 for linux ? no one.
But IBM, went inux because some of it’s customers wanted it so now they support it, but I doubt people having neither VM,AIX or some commercial Unix will buy DB2 on linux, they’ll use the free alternatives postgres and My.
Just to make a few points here.
As to OS/2 in banks, I think that its days are gone. of course there are still a lot of installations out there, but they are getting replaced as the pressure to replace the applications running on them increases. here we’ve done that two years ago. other banks might be slower to upgrade, but it is definitely going away. it was good in its time, but things have changed.
as to db/2 on linux, i see several reasons why this is a good idea. first of all, i see companies moving from sun or rs/6000 hardware to intel based hardware a lot because of proce/performance ratio. this does not necessarily mean they move to windows though. but they still need a corporate grade database, be it db/2 or oracle. this has to do with manageability, support, performance, clustering support etc. and in case someone argues for mysql or postgres having equal or better performance, from what i have experienced this is true for fairly simple i/o bound operations. in complex dynamic environments it is hard to beat db/2 or oracle.
just my two euro-cents.
stefan
Just because someone uses a free operating system doesn’t mean they’re going to go with free alternatives to commercial software. Linux in particular runs stable for a lot of people (stability being based on the quality of the hardware) and they don’t need support for it. However, they may need support for the other software so they are willing to pay for it.
If only DB2 was more affordable, I could ditch MySQL and Postgresql. But I really cannot afford the price of the license 🙁
aargh. its a shame we cant updeate to the new version, snice DB2 is embedde into the OS in OS/400, we have to wait for a new v5r?? os version from IBM.
hopefully the new 8.1 stuff will trickle into the as400 os patches soon
(2) What are the advantages over, say, MySQL on a unix platform (FreeBSD and Solaris in particular)
While db2 is a database server mysql is simply a file system with an sql-like query langauge.
IBM makes hardware and does consultant services. The OS is no way a real revenue and thus IBM gladly supports Linux, chipping in when need be. The more that starts to use linux, the more can migrate to IBMs powerhouses they want to sell.
Try migrating from one DB to another, not fun. Buying the DB software and the OS is nothing then. To hire me for one week is more expensive than WinXP after all. So if you are already running DB2, you can migrate to another system running DB2 more easily. IBM charges for DB2 and service. So for them it does not matter if it is run on Linux or Windows. The OS is not a revenue.
The hardware on the other hand is (as I stated before), that is why they support Linux.
And next, DB2 already runs on more than one platform, many which are very similar to Linux (Solaris for example), so it is not too much of a deal to convert it to Linux (I guess they do mean Red Hat or something though). Super, very low development costs for supporting a free OS that helps people migrate to their huge expensive hardware.
This is so logical of a move that it is almost painfully obvious.
As part of a secondary/post-secondary education institution, I received DB2 v7.1 free. This obviously isn’t available for everyone. Students can qualify for the reduced purchase prices. I think the program is still active:
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/info/university/members/benefits.html
“If only DB2 was more affordable, I could ditch MySQL and Postgresql. ”
Have you looked at FireBird? It is the open source version of Borland’s Interbase.
Transaction support, triggers, etc right out of the box…multi-platform also.
the links for this story are shitty
I used to work at EDS where many of our accounts were with major banks. At least a year and a half ago…. OS/2 is still alive and well. I believe the banks made a huge investment in OS/2 and alot of client-side development used in the branches was made with them. Their in-house branch related stuff was mostly OS/2. Most stuff that was outsourced were their backend applications (this is where we and IBM Global Services came in) and support stuff.
The Iron used for the backend systems was usuallly IBM RS/60000 (AIX) or Sun UltraSparcs (Solaris)… Windows NT would be used if one of the 3rd parties being integrated chose that platform. Never saw a Linux box.
Okay… so DB2…. it was beginning to be evaluated… but most of the installations I saw were always Oracle or Sybase. Rumour was that most of the new sales for databases are now going to DB2, though.