What's Up With DB2 Today?

I hope the title of today’s blog entry was suitably cryptic enough to arouse your curiosity. Just what the heck could I be talking about to warrant a title like "What’s Up With DB2 Today?"

Well, the purpose of today’s post is to look at the status of the DB2 for z/OS community. I thought it might be useful to examine what versions are available and will soon be available, and what it might mean for DB2 users. Of course, I’ll do all of this from the perspective of my opinion only. After all, I don’t work for IBM.

First of all, the most current version of DB2 is still Version 8. Although IBM has begun discussing DB2 9, there has been no announcement yet. The beta announcement for DB2 9 was made on May 2, 2006. When will it become GA? Well, according to Roger Miller at IBM, DB2 9 will go GA (and I quote) "When it's ready." And that makes sense, doesn’t it? You wouldn't want to use it before it was ready!

So, when will it be ready? Probably sometime before July 2007, but that is just a guess on my part. If you want to learn about DB2 9 before it goes GA, check out the DB2 9 overview presentation and webinar from IBM and read the overview article from DB2 Magazine I wrote titled DB2 9 for z/OS Roars to Life!

What about the status of Version 8? Well, V8 went GA almost three years ago way back in March 2004. V8 is one of the biggest releases of DB2 for z/OS in the history of DB2. There are more lines of new code in V8 than there were total lines of code in V1 of DB2 back in 1985. So it is not insignificant to plan for and migrate your DB2 subsystems to V8. Of course, if you haven’t already, you’ll have to do just that very soon. Why?

The end of marketing for V7 (meaning it is no longer sold by IBM) occurred on March 5, 2007. And although DB2 V7 is still serviced and supported by IBM, it most likely will be withdrawn from service sometime this year. The IBM web site that tracks the lifecycle of DB2 V7 still does not list an end of service date, though, so you are safe for now. But if you check the DB2 V6 lifecycle it lasted 7 years – from June 1998 to June 2005. So if V7 follows a similar lifecycle it could go out of service as early as March 2008; but personally, I doubt that will happen. There are still too many shops that have yet to migrate to V8 for V7 to be sunsetted yet. But, of course, that is only my opinion – you’d be better served by keeping an eye on the IBM web site for the actual end of service date for V7.

So, what is up with DB2 today? Well, I’d say that for many users DB2 is ahead of them and they are struggling to keep up. Of sure, there are some shops that have had V8 in production for years now and are eagerly awaiting the next version. But this is the exception rather than the rule. If you are still on V7, you are behind the curve, and should complete your migration planning for V8 as soon as possible (if you do not already have a plan). And you really should make every effort to get DB2 V8 up and running in production this year.

Good luck!