On Wed, 21 Mar 2001, Matthew Tedder wrote:
>
> Question:
>
> Oracle has been a royal pain in the ass for us in a couple of
> projects recently done and I am considering switching to DB2. First,
> I need some opinions of feasibility (or, how difficult it'll be
> compared to Oracle):
I may be prejudiced, since I work for IBM, but DB2 is a very slick
product.
> The database itself is on an OS/390 mainframe and the front-end is a
> website based on Perl CGI scripts. Oracle required that the client
> software be installed, configured, and that a text file be updated
> manually. Oracle tables also do not resize themselves dynamically and
> our data is very dynamic, making this a critical need. Individual
> Table size requirements are highly unpredictable--growing and
> shrinking by wide margins in different tables each day.
>
> What all is involved with installing and configuring the drivers and
> Perl DBI modules for DB2? Do the whole clients need to be installed
> as with Oracle? Do I have to explicitly define each connection I will
> be making in config files for it? (That requirement also prevents us
> from using Oracle for another project--if DB2 works better, we'll be
> able to get rid of Oracle on the mainframe and migrate it to Solaris
> for the systems that still require it).
For better or for worse, DB2 requires a "thick" client install _except_ on
Win* and NT where you can have "thin" clients that load DLLs dynamically
from a master application server.
Connections are defined in DB2-ese by 'cataloging' remote nodes (machines,
basically) and adding databases within those nodes to a local database
directory. These operations can be performed either from the Control
Center (a nice Java GUI app) or by entering DML commands into the CLP
(command line processor, somewhat similar to Oracle's SQL> prompt).
The Perl DBD::DB2 driver is full-featured and solid. I think it's
maintained by a person in the DB2 software group in Toronto.
Also, AFAIK IBM does not enjoin you from publishing comparitive benchmarks
as a condition of licensing.
Steve
