Good experience with DB2 with IBM Spectrum Control
What do you like best about the product?
It´s easy to use, the DB2 is easy to upgrade and manage, all instructions are well documented on the IBM knowledge portal and also the support of the software is awesome, they solve your problems when you have them.
What do you dislike about the product?
I had an issue after a reboot, where the domain of the server changed and the DB2 wasn´t functioning correctly, so we had to change the domain and the device was up and running, we didn´t why that happened.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
It help us with the software IBM Spectrum Control, it´s a good way to manage the software data for monitoring devices.
Support improves setup and maintenance while pricing influences decision
What is our primary use case?
We work at the banks. The bank has many IBM products. IBM Db2 Database is just one of them. It is mostly mainframes, but there are still some relational databases, such as IBM Db2 Warehouse, that we are interested in purchasing for financial companies.
Because we are a big client, we have a good price with IBM Db2 Database.
Based on my use case and understanding, performance-wise, Oracle is probably better because they may have better technology. However, for us it is acceptable since we do not use it extensively, so there is no real difference for us.
What is most valuable?
We mostly use the core Oracle database.
IBM Db2 Database is perfect and leading in this area.
Regarding how IBM Db2 Database can improve, I do not have anything in mind as our use cases are not complicated. There is PostgreSQL and SQL Server available. IBM Db2 Database, because of enterprise performance and support, is why banks still maintain their relationship with it. I am uncertain whether other companies do the same, but banks do.
What needs improvement?
IBM is implementing some release improvements. It might be slightly slower than other database vendors, but it works well since banks typically do not move quickly with leading-edge technology.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
We have no complaints, and I would rate it between eight and nine.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
There is not much maintenance required.
How are customer service and support?
Since the bank is a big client of IBM, we normally receive very good support and substantial discounts on the price.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
We have some Oracle products. Oracle performs well but is becoming very expensive. The major concern is the cost, and there are other products that are much cheaper replacements with minimal performance degradation. That is why many companies are moving away from Oracle, at least for relational database use cases.
What other advice do I have?
If you have a similar use case and the same deal with IBM as our company, it is definitely a good option and choice. The company I work with has more than 50,000 people and more than 500 support staff. We are not locked into one database vendor. We typically work with multiple database vendors simultaneously, selecting the top choice based on the deals we make and other considerations.
We do not use IBM Db2 Database related to AI at this moment because our AI project PLC is still very small scale. We may consider it in the future if we have enough scale.
Overall rating for IBM Db2 Database is 8.5 out of 10.
DB2 management
What do you like best about the product?
Many utilities that facilitate use, in addition to improving the performance of some tasks.
What do you dislike about the product?
Some tasks like traces are a bit complicated beyond the need for IBM for reading and understanding.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Optimization of business processes.
Db2: High Availability and OLTP Powerhouse
What do you like best about the product?
IBM Db2 is excellent for high availability and disaster recovery strategies particularly with HADR and Q replication for near real-time failover. The row-level locking mechanism optimizes OLTP workloads, ensuring efficient concurrency control without excessive blocking.
What do you dislike about the product?
Db2’s cloud-native integration lags behind modern cloud-first databases like Aurora or Spanner. Although IBM provides Db2 on Cloud, its Kubernetes operator lacks the automation maturity seen in competitors like CockroachDB or YugabyteDB.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
The native columnar storage for analytical workloads allows for hybrid OLTP and OLAP processing, reducing the need for separate analytics databases.
Data access is simplified with key identification but outdated interface needs revamping
What is our primary use case?
The data resides in Db2, and the application is linked to Db2. My job is to pull the data through the Talend tool from Db2 and load it into Snowflake. At the Snowflake level, I handle the data for reporting purposes.
What is most valuable?
Db2 is an on-premises solution. I only use SQL over there. It's very easy to figure out how the data is present. I can check what the keys in the table are. I can easily export that to further work on it in Snowflake. For data modeling and other tasks, I have to pull the information from Db2.
What needs improvement?
The user interface is old and needs to be improved. It doesn't match the responsive and suggestion-rich UI of cloud solutions. New functions don't come to mind.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have been working with Db2 for around one and a half years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
In terms of stability, I would rate it as seven out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
Scalability is not always good in on-premises solutions. I would rate it five out of ten. The difficulty in scaling on-premises solutions is one reason we moved to the cloud.
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I used Postman previously, which I worked on when I was involved in mobile development. Now, at IBM, I have switched to the data engineering stack.
How was the initial setup?
The setup is not difficult; it's simple.
What other advice do I have?
Overall, I rate Db2 as six out of ten. I can recommend it if someone wants to go to IBM stack. If someone is willing to adopt IBM's stack, then definitely they will be using IBM Db2.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Efficient access path optimization and performance excellence with helpful support
What is our primary use case?
IBM Db2 for zOS serves as the central database for all the core business applications in the two banks I work with. All applications use Db2 as a data server. We fully implement and utilize most of Db2's functionalities and capabilities for core banking business applications.
How has it helped my organization?
IBM Db2 has integrated well with open systems and additional applications on the zOS platform, providing a robust DB service for all core business applications. It offers great stability and scalability, which has positively impacted the operations.
What is most valuable?
The valuable features include access path optimization, excellent performance, a robust locking mechanism, parallelism, and effective buffering in memory. The database leverages hardware capabilities for z machines, contributing to its efficiency.
What needs improvement?
The usage of Db2 could be simplified, as it is quite complex and requires substantial knowledge of Db2 and zOS. Modern features are being implemented, but further simplification and the inclusion of additional AI features could benefit future updates.
For how long have I used the solution?
I have worked with IBM Db2 for 35 years.
What do I think about the stability of the solution?
IBM Db2 is very stable. I would rate its stability as ten out of ten.
What do I think about the scalability of the solution?
The scalability of IBM Db2 is great. I am fully satisfied with its scalability, rating it nine out of ten.
How are customer service and support?
IBM technical support is responsive and helpful, but there is room for improvement. I would rate their support a seven out of ten.
How would you rate customer service and support?
Which solution did I use previously and why did I switch?
I work with other vendors like BMC, CA, Oracle, and Microsoft alongside IBM.
How was the initial setup?
The setup, installation process, and configuration take about two days.
What about the implementation team?
I worked on the deployment with two or three DBAs. The implementation involved multiple people rather than being entirely single-handed.
What was our ROI?
There is a financial benefit in the long run from using IBM Db2, despite it being expensive.
What's my experience with pricing, setup cost, and licensing?
IBM Db2 is an expensive solution. While I am not heavily involved with pricing, additional companies provide capabilities or products like those from BMC, which many installations might also purchase.
Which other solutions did I evaluate?
We chose IBM forty years ago. Even today, many companies would likely choose IBM for the banking business due to its robust platform.
What other advice do I have?
I would suggest simplifying the use of Db2 to make it more accessible.
I'd rate the solution nine out of ten.
Which deployment model are you using for this solution?
On-premises
Best and Stable RDBMS
What do you like best about the product?
Transaction processing, robust, secured.
What do you dislike about the product?
DB2 works on multiple platforms I like this.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Processing petabytes of data
I trust Db2 to be my business's system of record
What do you like best about the product?
Performance and security; customer support is top notch.
What do you dislike about the product?
We need new features delivered even quicker. IBM Z Skills training is also a major issue.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Db2 is enabling contractors to bid on and manage all highway and road construction project in the Commonwealth of PA.
db2 reliability
What do you like best about the product?
Db2 reliability and integration with other products
What do you dislike about the product?
that there are differences between the distributed and z/os versions.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
data warehouse for legacy vsam application on z/os
DB2
What do you like best about the product?
It is good to use with IBM products like Maximo i.e.
What do you dislike about the product?
It is not that popular and it is more difficult to get a specialist proficient with it.
What problems is the product solving and how is that benefiting you?
Data Integration
