Installing and configuring DB2 Express-C 9.7 on Ubuntu 9.04 Server

DB2 Express-C 9.7 can easily be installed on Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop edition by simply issuing sudo ./db2setup. This will open up a launchpad and you’ll be able to install the product through a wizard. But what about setting up DB2 Express-C 9.7 on Ubuntu 9.04 Server edition? When you are ssh-ing into your VPS or dedicated sever, there are no GUIs to help you out. IBM provides all the information on how to proceed...

Improve the speed and security of your SQL queries

An easy way to improve the performance and security of SQL queries is to replace literals with parameters. By replacing literal values with parameters, advanced relational databases will be able to compile your queries and have their execution plans cached. This saves time and precious resources when the same query (minus the actual values) is executed over and over. Consider the following series of...

Enabling support for DB2 and Python/Django/SQLAlchemy on Mac OS X Snow Leopard

This article is obsolete. Please refer to the following articles for up do date instructions: Ruby/Rails and DB2 | Python/Django and DB2. Thank you! This is the Python version of a post I made about Ruby a few days ago. Now that Mac OS X 10.6 is out, it’s time to leave the world of 32 bit computing behind. The pre-installed Python interpreter will run in 64 bit mode by default, so you may need to pay attention...

Installing the Ruby driver for DB2 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Now that Mac OS X 10.6 is out, it’s time to leave the world of 32 bit computing behind. The pre-installed Ruby interpreter will run in 64 bit mode by default, so you may need to pay attention when installing some C-based gems. The ibm_db Ruby gem for DB2 can easily be installed or updated to the latest available version by following these simple steps: $ sudo -s $ export...

DB2 on Mac OS X Snow Leopard

Earlier today I headed over to the local Apple Store to purchase a copy of Snow Leopard, the newest version of Apple’s operating system. There was a decent line up, as I expected. Not the kind of line up you’d encounter with the launch of a new iPhone, but it was fairly busy for a Friday morning. When I arrived, I took my place at the end of the queue where rumors were swirling around about the store...

The DB2 adapter now supports Django 1.1

This article is obsolete. Please refer to the following articles for up do date instructions: Ruby/Rails and DB2 | Python/Django and DB2. Thank you! I’m glad to announce that the API team has just released version 1.0.2 of the adapter for Django. And on my birthday to boot, what a nice present. This version extends its support to the recently released Django 1.1, as well as incorporating the feedback that was...

Reasons to switch to DB2 9.7

IBM recently put out a video with a few quotes from customers who’ve had a chance to try DB2 9.7 in production. At times the editing is a bit cheesy, but what our customers are saying is factual. DB2 9.7 is quite a breakthrough and it can save millions of dollars for large companies. If your needs are more modest, like a demanding Web application or a point of sale server, DB2 Express-C can still give you most...

DB2 Express-C 9.7 and the Django adapter released

This is a great day for those of us who love DB2, as DB2 Express-C 9.7 has just been released. As mentioned before, this is the best DB2 ever, and an extremely important release. To learn more about what’s new in this release, please check out the recording of our latest webinar: If you run Linux, Unix or Windows, download it while it’s hot. DB2 9.7 on the Cloud Another great aspect of this release...

Do Androids Count Electric Sheep with DB2 or MySQL?

Counting rows is an ubiquitous operation on the web, so much so that it’s often overused. Regardless of misuse, there is no denying that the performance of counting operations has an impact on most applications. In this post I’ll discuss my findings about the performance of DB2 9.5 and MySQL 5.1 regarding counting records. For those of you who are not into science fiction, let me clarify that the odd...

TextMate bundle for DB2

Before leaving on a recent business trip to Italy I begun working on a TextMate bundle for DB2. Here I’ll introduce it in the hope that it will interest some TextMate and DB2 users. Installation There are two simple prerequisites for using this bundle: 1) Install DB2 as a regular user (not root); 2) Source the db2profile by, for example, adding . ~/sqllib/db2profile to your shell profile (e.g., in ~/.profile)....

Screencast on how to install DB2 Express-C on Mac OS X

Over the weekend I recorded a screencast on how to install DB2 on Mac OS X. You can watch it below: Installing DB2 on Mac OS X from Antonio Cangiano on Vimeo. The blog post I reference within the video can be found here. Yes, that’s an Italian accent. I hope you don’t mind it. ...

The Best DB2 Ever

Over the past few days the spotlight has certainly been on Sun’s acquisition by Oracle, but today IBM made a remarkable announcement of its own. DB2 9.7 (code-named “Cobra”) will be GA (generally available) in June. This new version of DB2 is loaded with interesting features and is undoubtedly the best DB2 ever. Within IBM we consider this to be the single most important release of DB2 since the...

IBM Cloud Computing Webinar

Photo by Kevin Dooley The IBM Toronto Software Lab periodically runs webinars on information management related topics, which are called DB2 Chat with the Lab. These tend to be highly informative sessions, which wrap up with a Q&A time that enables attendees to openly ask questions on the subjects that were discussed during the talks. Best of all, these sessions are absolutely free to the general public and...

IBM’s Python driver is out of beta

This article is obsolete. Please refer to the following articles for up do date instructions: Ruby/Rails and DB2 | Python/Django and DB2. Thank you! There’s a new release of the Python driver/wrapper for DB2 and Informix in town. Version 0.7.0 is officially the first stable, production ready release. It includes fixes for a few known bugs and fully supports Unicode. This driver, and the DB-API 2.0 wrapper it...

DB2 support for Django is coming

This article is obsolete. Please refer to the following articles for up do date instructions: Ruby/Rails and DB2 | Python/Django and DB2. Thank you! Online Surveys & Market Research A few weeks after DB2 Express-C for Mac OS X was announced, I’m here to let you in on another great scoop. DB2 support for the Django web framework is going to be available soon to the community, under the...

Install DB2 on Mac OS X and give us feedback

A little over a week ago IBM released a new version of the DB2 beta for Mac OS X Leopard, following up on valuable feedback that we’d received in response to earlier versions. This version is important because it resolves a reported issue that was occurring when building drivers for languages like Ruby and PHP. Hence, I highly encourage you to download the latest DB2 for Mac now and save yourself the hassle of...

DB2 on Mac officially released

As pre-announced in my two previous posts, DB2 for Mac OS X Leopard is finally available for download. It’s now official, DB2 on Mac is here. Reflections on DB2 on Mac Several people, including myself, would happily ditch their virtual machines and start introducing DB2 into their native Mac development stacks. But this milestone represents much more than the immediate implications would have us believe. A few...

Download DB2 on Mac

I’m glad to announce that DB2 Express-C 9.5.2 for Mac OS X Leopard is available for download. Later tonight, I will provide further details. Meanwhile, enjoy!

DB2 on Mac to ship before Christmas

This is not an official announcement, but I must share the news with you. DB2 Express-C for Mac OS X Leopard will finally be shipping out (before Christmas), in all likelihood it could be as soon as early next week. You may recall how more than a year ago I blogged about how the work on porting DB2 to the Mac had started. It took admittedly longer than expected but DB2 on Mac is coming, and is absolutely free of...

IBM’s XML Challenge (lots of prizes inside)

IBM is holding a series of challenges centered around XML. The whole event is labeled The XML Challenge (subtitle: Search for the XML superstar). Rockstar references aside, this is a pretty cool initiative that can provide you with some freebies as well as high quality prizes if you win any of the available contests. The Contests What I say below applies to US and Canada, as the contest is being held worldwide in...