db2Dean’s Favorite Links

21 January 2007

Updated 19 December 2022

 

There are a lot of useful tools for the DB2/LUW DBA on www.ibm.com and other web sites, but finding what you need can be frustrating and time consuming.  Therefore, I have created a catalog of links that I frequently use to answer customer questions.  If there are any that you like that I have not included, please send me a note at dean@db2dean.com and I’ll try to include it.  Also please let me know if any of my links have stopped working.

 

Web Pages

Manuals and Reference Material

Fix Pack, DB2 Client and Driver Downloads

All Fix Packs for All Versions on One Page

Down load all DB2 fix packs, clients including Admin and Runtime, and for v9 you can get JDBC, SQLJ, ODBC and CLI drivers and also Federation and DB2 Connect fixes.  To use this site first pick “Information Management” in the Product Group drop down and then “DB2” from the Product drop down.  The rest is pretty self explanatory.  The Fix Pack Links below may stop working after July 10, 2009.

 

Security Patches

See the last of known security Vulnerabilities and available patches at this link.  These are the newest security patches and may not be in the latest fix pak or mod pak. 

 

DB2 Clients and Drivers (Most Up to Date)

Down load any of the most recent DB2 clients including the Data Server Client (Includes Control Center) and the Data Server Runtime Client, plus get packages for JDBC and ODBC drivers along with Visual Studio plug-ins and driver packages for several other languages including C++.

 

Download Central

We finally have a central location for down loading all available trial and other free software.  So if you want to tryout DB2/LUW ESE, for example, this is the site for you.  Unfortunately they did not put the link for DB2 Connect Developer’s Edition for Windows or DB2 Connect Developer’s Edition for Linux there, so click this link for those.

 

FREE DB2 Community Edition

Get a free, permanent copy of DB2 for your laptop or development server.  Want to try out the pureXML feature before buying?  Then this is the site for you.  It has lots of great information and links to down load the software.

 

FREE Data Studio

Get a free, permanent copy of  the IBM Data Studio  for your workstation.  This client will be replacing control center sooner or later, so you might as well get started.  It works for ALL DB2 platforms including LUW, Z and I.

 

V11.5 Features by Edition

V11.1 Features by Edition

V10.5 Features by Edition

V10.1 Features by Edition

 This page contains a very easy to use chart showing which major features are included in each edition (Workgroup, ESE, etc.) of DB2 

 

V10.5 Edition Comparison

V10.1 Edition Comparison

V9.7 Edition Comparison

V9.5 Edition Comparison

V8 Edition Comparison

Which edition --Express, Workgroup, ESE, etc.-- is right for you?  Compare and contrast them in these great articles by Paul Zikopoulos.

 

Operating System Levels For DB2/LUW

Shows the OS level, patch level and other prerequisites for Db2..  For Linux it also shows which distributions/architectures are recommended and validated for DB2.  Use the drop down to change versions if you are not using 11.5

 

SQL and XML Limits

Did you ever need to know the maximum length of a table, column or other object name?  What about needing to know the size limit for a CHAR column or the biggest number that you can put in an integer field?  All of these maximums and more are listed on this link for v11.5. 

 

APARS

APARS are, shall we say, the less desirable features of DB2/UDB.  This page shows the APARS by DB2 Version.  Just click the tab relating to the version that interests you and you can see the APARS.  There is no longer a page that provides just one long list of all of them DB2.

 

End of Support by Version

Every version of software eventually goes out of support.  Review this page periodically to make sure that you don’t get a nasty little surprise in the middle of the night when you call for support for DB2/LUW.

 

Version Upgrades

This page contains links to many DB2 Version upgrade resources.

 

DB2/LUW Training

Check out the Db2 Learning Journey.

 

Open a PMR or ESR

To get support for problems and questions 24X7 you can open a PMR or ESR.  Call 800-426-7378 to open a PMR, but make sure to have your CUSTOMER NUMBER handy.  An ESR is a PMR opened on the web.  I prefer this method because I can paste detailed error messages right into the ticket and attach supporting files.  See my ESR page to learn about registering for the ESR site and how to open them.

 

Subscribe for Fix Notifications

Get automatically notified about mods, fixes, security bulletins and other important updates by subscribing at this link.

 

 

NOTE:  The following links only have older fix packs:  Please use Fix Central instead!

V9.5 Fix Pack, DB2 Client and Driver Down Loads

V9.1 Fix Pack, DB2 Client and Driver Down Loads

V8 Fix Pack and DB2 Client Down Loads

V7 Fix Pack and DB2 Client Down Loads

  

All Products Knowledge Center Selection

V11.5 DB2 Knowledge Center Center Search

V11.1 DB2 Knowledge Center Center Search

V10.5 DB2 Information Center Search

V10.1 DB2 Information Center Search

V9.7 DB2 Information Center Search

V9.5 DB2 Information Center Search

V9.1 DB2 Information Center Search

V8 DB2 Information Center Search

Search for information about DB2.  I frequently access the information centers, now called knowledge centers to answer customer questions.

 

V11.5 DB2 Manuals

V11.1 DB2 Manuals

V10.5 DB2 Manuals

V10.1 DB2 Manuals

V9.7 DB2 Manuals

V9.5 DB2 Manuals

V9.1 DB2 Manuals

V8 DB2 Manuals

V7 DB2 Manuals

Book mark these links for the DB2 versions that you are using.  I use these manual as my primary reference for answering customer questions.  It is well worth reviewing the list of manuals to see what is available.  You should note that the Information Centers are updated with the latest information more regularly and should be consulted if you need the most current information.  If you want one book mark for all manuals, then this is the page for you.

 

DB2 v11.5 Features Summary

DB2 v11.1 Features Summary

DB2 v10.5 Features Summary

DB2 v10.1 Features Summary

DB2 v9.7 Features Summary

DB2 v9.5 Features Summary

These links show a nice summary of the new features of DB2 with enough detail to make them useful.  These are links to the announcement letters.

 

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v11.5 Servers

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v11.1 Servers

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v10.5 Servers

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v10.1 Servers

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v9.7 Servers

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v9.5 Servers

DB2 Clients Compatible w/ DB2 v9.1 Servers

These links show which DB2 Client versions work with which each DB2 Database Server and DB2 Connect Servers.

 

DB2 Best Practices

This is a great page with links to a variety of “best practices” papers.  Topics include. Physical Database Design, Database Storage, Virtualization, Performance and several others. 

 

 DB2 DeveloperWorks

This is a great site for learning about how to do things in DB2 and joining discussion forums.  Click the “DBAs” or “Developers” tab depending on the content that you want to see.

 

Redbooks (Data Related)

Search for practical guides for implementing solutions such as DB2 on Linux or implementing a Data Warehouse.

 

 db2commerce.com

An awesome source of practical how-to information by Ember Crooks, IBM Gold Conslutant. 

 

db2ude

An excellent source of information about the newest features of DB2 v9.  I know the author personally and I know that he really knows his stuff.

 

World of DB2

These guys are doing a good job of pulling together a single place to get all the current DB2 information.

 

DB2 Product Family

This is the home page for all of the major DB2 Products including DB2/LUW, DB2/zOS, tools, DB2 connect, etc.

 

DB2 Product Support

Site has a lot of good links for DB2 related down loads, technical articles, APAR listings, fix packs and allows you to search support documentation.

 

Chris Eaton’s BLOG

What does a guy out of the Toronto Lab think about DB2 features?

 

Processor Type vs. Processor Value Unit (PVU) Tables

DB2 and many other software brands can be licensed by Processor Value Unit (PVU)  This page shows a number of tables that show how many PVUs you have to license for each core of a particular processor type.  

 

JDBC Version by DB2 Version and Fix Pack

Most new DB2 versions and even most new DB2 fix packs contain newer versions of JDBC drivers.  See this link to see which version of the JDBC driver ships with which fix pack or version.  

 

JDBC Drivers and DB2

Java Application Deployment Considerations

Overview of JDBC programming with DB2 and descriptions of the JDBC types 1-4 with DB2.

 

Connectivity Cheat Sheet

Connectivity Cheat Sheet for z/OS

Summary of DB2 Client Connections

This summary lists the various types of client connections, both Java and non-Java and provides examples.

 

IDUG

International DB2 User Group home page.  They have lots of great information from other users and IBM and they have an awesome conference every year.

 

 

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