Database Reference
In-Depth Information
Overview of DB2
This chapter provides an overview of the DB2 DBMS. The chapter proceeds under the
following captions:
•
Introduction
•
Main Components of the DB2 Suite
•
Shortcomings of DB2
•
Summary and Concluding Remarks
17.1 Introduction
DB2 is another leading RDBMS suite in the software engineering industry (Oracle being
its main arch rival). Developed by IBM Corporation, the DB2 RDBMS was first introduced
for MVS/370 and MVS/XA in 1983 and for MVS/ESA in 1988. In 1996 The DB2 Universal
Database, the industry's first fully scalable, Web-accessible database management system
was announced by IBM. It is called “universal” because of its ability to sort and query
alphanumeric data as well as text documents, images, audio, video, and other complex
objects. Also, DB2 supports the two dominant database models — the relational model
and the object-oriented model, hence the term universal DBMS (UDBMS). Like Oracle,
the DB2 suite is quite comprehensive.
DB2 Universal Database (UDB) offers many database and information management
enhancements. The most recent version of the product is DB2 UDB version 9.7. It is the
database of choice for the development and deployment of critical solutions in areas
such as:
•
E-business
•
Business intelligence
•
Content management
