But apparently a free database, free drivers and full support is not enough. This post is about RoR in the Enterprise i.e. large scale commercial organizations. We are not talking about non-profits or students here. This is about companies that run midrange/mainframe systems. Is your point that these enterprises somehow should be getting everything free of charge?

Btw, IBM does make DB2 Connect available to developers free of charge. So, if you are a developer of a commercial application, you do not have to pay anything.

I also have Client Access and MS SQL Server. SQL Server lets you connect to the iSeries DB2 database using the Client Access ODBC interface without any additional software. So naturally I though that the IBM Ruby & ActiveRecord drivers would work similarly. This is not the case.

Antonio claims most customers who own the iSeries also own DB2 connect. This is not the case and I find this to be an unfair assumption. If IBM wants to help Ruby make more inroads into the enterprise, then IBM should make things easier, not more difficult, for developers trying to bring IBM’s own ‘enterprise’ iron into the Ruby ecosystem.

It’s hard to justify purchasing expensive licenses for development when building proof of concept or prototypes to show management examples of Ruby’s power. Microsoft’s .NET connects to iSeries DB2 out of the box with Client Access installed on any PC. Just try an get management to buy into Ruby under these circumstances.

IBM has an opportunity here, but it’s midrange/mainframe group is shooting itself in the foot.

I don’t think the licensing claim is valid either. Granted IBM is turning into MS when it comes to going after licensing revenue in existing shops. IBM gives you the choice of doing the licensing tracking manually or using their automated method. We track it manually – a good business partnet can make this relatively easy. This is a problem with IBM and not specificallhy with IBM Connect. However, I will admit that the IBM audit process (performed by a 3rd party who gets commision like $ for finding previously unlicensed products) is not pleasant.

I would guess for development purposes from my Windows box I would need it though? Or can that somehow use Client Access? I have the Windows Client Access for iSeries, allowing me to push or pull data from the iSeries.

That is correct, Brandon. DB2 Connect is only needed when you are trying to connect from LUW (Linux, Unix, Windows) to System i or z. If your database and web server are running on a mainframe, DB2 Connect is not needed.

Antonio,

Are you suggesting that no license would be necessary if the iseries was the database and the web server?

Hi Robert,

sorry to hear about the issues you encountered. Could you point to a specific instance in which you requested help but didn’t receive it or it was sub-par? We’d love to rectify that.

For DB2 specific questions you can normally get good assistance from the DB2 Express-C Forum. For Rails specific issues, you can use the RubyForge forum.

I’m not sure what you mean by “DB2 stuff isn’t up to date with libc”, because I routinely install DB2 Express-C on Windows, Linux, Unix and Mac OS X (technically a Unix too).

John, DB2 Connect is only needed if you are running a mainframe server (e.g., System i and z) as your backend and you’re running your web server on a different, non-mainframe server. Also, most companies who have System i or z deployed, have already purchased DB2 Connect licenses. We are talking Enterprise after all. It’s a very specific case, so your generalization and scare tactics are unnecessary.