IBM DB2

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DB2 is IBM's family of information management software products. Most often, though, when people say DB2 they are referring to IBM's flagship relational database management system, DB2 Universal Database (DB2 UDB).

Contents

1 History
2 Editions
3 Competition
4 Technical Information
5 Leadership
6 See also
7 External links

History

DB2 has a long history and was what some consider to be the first database product to use SQL.

The name DB2 was first given to the Database Management System or DBMS in 1982 where IBM released SQL/DS and DB2 on its mainframe platform. Prior to this the product was named System Relational, or System R, which launched in 1978. DB2 has its roots back to the beginning of the seventies where Dr. E.F. Codd, working for IBM, described the theory of relational databases and in June of 1970 published the model for data manipulation. To apply the model Codd needed a relational database language which he named Alpha. IBM didn't believe in Codd's idea's potential, leaving its implementation to a group of programmers who weren't under Codd's supervision, violating several fundamentals of the relational model; the result was Structured English QUEry Language or SEQUEL. SEQUEL was already a trademarked name, so IBM renamed the acronym to SQL, short for Structured Query Language. The acronym SQL still stands to this day.

Historically, it is interesting to note that when Informix acquired Illustra and made their database engine an object-SQL DBMS by introducing their Universal Server, both Oracle and IBM followed suit by changing their database engines to be capable of object-relational extensions. Moreover, in 2001, IBM bought Informix and in the following years incorporated Informix technology into the DB2 product suite. Technically, today, DB2 can be considered to be an object-SQL DBMS.

For many years DB2 was exclusively available on IBM mainframes. Later IBM brought DB2 to other platforms, including UNIX and Windows servers, then Linux (including Linux on zSeries) and PDAs. This process was mainly undertaken through the 1990s. DB2's implementation details inspiration came in part from IBM DL/1 and IBM IMS, both initially hierarchical and then later network (or CODASYL) databases. DB2 is also embedded in the i5/OS operating system for IBM System i (iSeries, formerly the AS/400), and versions are available for z/VSE and z/VM. An earlier version is available for OS/2 and is called DB2/2.

Over the years DB2 has driven numerous hardware enhancements, particularly on IBM System z with such features as Parallel Sysplex data sharing. In fact, DB2 UDB Version 8 for z/OS now requires a 64-bit system and cannot run on earlier processors, and DB2 for z/OS maintains certain unique software differences in order to serve its sophisticated customers. Although the ultimate expression of software-hardware co-evolution is the IBM mainframe, to some extent that phenomenon occurs on other platforms as well, as IBM's software engineers collaborate with their hardware counterparts.

IBM has begun talking about "Viper," the codename for DB2 UDB Version 9 on distributed platforms and for V9.1 on z/OS. IBM claims that the new DB2 will be the first relational database to "natively" store XML. Other likely enhancements include OLTP-related improvements for distributed platforms, business intelligence/data warehousing-related improvements for z/OS, more self-tuning and self-managing features, additional 64-bit exploitation (especially for z/OS), stored procedure performance enhancements for z/OS, and continued convergence of the SQL vocabularies between z/OS and distributed platforms.

On April 6, 2006, IBM made an early release of DB2 Viper (DB2 Viper Release Candidate 1) available ([www.ibm.com/db2/viper]) for evaluation purposes for various platforms. On May 2, 2006, [IBM announced] that the beta version of DB2 V9.1 for z/OS would be available on June 9, 2006. (Some software vendors had earlier access to DB2 V9.1 for z/OS.)

Also, according to this June 8 2006 [press release], "DB2 9 will begin shipping worldwide on July 28, with pricing starting at $4,874 per processor or $165 per user (minimum of 5 users) for DB2 9 Express."

Editions

DB2 is available in several "editions," i.e. licensing arrangements. By opting for a reduced-feature "edition," IBM allows customers to avoid paying for database features which they do not need. Sample editions include the Workgroup, Workgroup Unlimited, and Enterprise Server Edition. A high-end edition is called DB2 UDB Data Warehouse Enterprise Edition, or DWE for short. This edition is intended for mixed workload (OLTP and business intelligence) or business intelligence (BI) implementations. DWE includes several BI features such as ETL, data mining, OLAP acceleration, and in-line analytics.

DB2 UDB for z/OS is available under its own licensing terms. Starting with Version 8, IBM brought DB2 UDB for z/OS and for the other platforms into much closer alignment. (Previously there were significant differences in SQL vocabularies, for example.) DB2 UDB for z/OS has some exclusives — notably Multi-Level Security (MLS), extremely large table sizes, and hardware-assisted compression — owing to its special environment and the demanding needs of its customers. DB2 UDB for z/OS has always been known for its leading OLTP performance and capabilities, but the z/OS version is now starting to acquire BI features as well, such as materialized query tables (MQTs). Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison, in [a widely reported October, 2003, quote], commented that DB2 UDB for z/OS is the one competitive database he respects and admires.

On January 30th, 2006, IBM released a no-charge edition of DB2 called DB2 Universal Database Express-C. This was an expected response to the recently announced free versions of Oracle 10g and Microsoft SQL Server. Express-C will have no limit on number of users or database size. It's deployable on Windows and Linux machines with up to two processors and up to 4GB of memory.

Competition

Historically, prime position in the database management software market has tightly alternated between DB2 and Oracle. On May 3, 2004, IBM's head of database development and sales, Janet Perna, claimed their main competitors were Oracle in the context of advanced transaction handling and Teradata in the context of decision-making systems (e.g. data warehousing). However, there are competitors in smaller markets, including Microsoft SQL Server (which is only available for Microsoft Windows), open source products such as PostgreSQL and MySQL, and niche players such as Sybase.

DB2 UDB for z/OS arguably has fewer direct competitors, but Oracle is attracting customers to its Linux on zSeries products, although apparently not at the expense of DB2. CA-Datacom and Software AG's Adabas are competing relational databases for z/OS, and there are certain niche products as well (Model 204, SUPRA SQL, NOMAD, etc.) Oracle has a 31-bit RDBMS available for z/OS. Non-relational databases that "compete" include IMS, VSAM (arguably), and CA-IDMS, among others.

IBM and DB2 are frequently at or near the top of the TPC-C (OLTP) and TPC-H (data warehousing) industry benchmarks published on the Transaction Processing Council's website.

Technical Information

DB2, like Oracle, can be administered from either the command-line or a GUI. The command-line interface requires more knowledge of the product but can be more easily scripted and automated. The GUI is a multi-platform Java client that contains a variety of wizards suitable for novice users.

DB2 has APIs for .NET CLI, Java, Python, Perl, PHP, Ruby on Rails, C++, C, REXX, PL/I, COBOL, RPG, FORTRAN, and many other programming languages. DB2 also supports integration into the Eclipse and Visual Studio .NET integrated development environments.

Leadership

Janet Perna was General Manager of IBM Software Group's Information Management division until her retirement from IBM in July, 2005. She was replaced by [Ambuj Goyal].

External links

IBM

Annual Revenue: $91.1 billion USD (FY 2005) | Employees: 329,373 (2005) | Stock Symbol: NYSE: [IBM] | Website: [www.ibm.com]

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