Heavy but lightning fast
September 13, 2022

Heavy but lightning fast

Sean Ford | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Db2 on-premise

Overall Satisfaction with Db2

We use Db2 and LUW in our environment for almost everything; about a 90/10 split with some form of Db2 vs SQL Server. We use it exclusively for its horsepower, especially on z, leaving the smaller workloads to MsSS. We run our large, demanding OLTP applications on Db2 and it never seems to break a sweat.

Pros

  • transactional workloads at high volume
  • encryption at rest and in flight
  • manages large objects LOB/BLOB/XML well

Cons

  • everything about Db2 is 'heavy', even the Community edition and some of the clients
  • difficult to configure for beginners /option overload
  • LUW and z platforms have minor inconsistencies that really should be a non-issue
  • support seems to be declining in terms of quality/quickness of responses
  • Performance is definitely unrivaled in my opinion
  • It is an expensive tool, but with throughput I believe you get that back and then some
  • Encryption is relatively easy to incorporate, so data security as well
I give a 10 because it really can handle gigantic workloads, but for my other points up to this one it's because you're starting on level 50 instead of level 1 - heaviness of install, options galore, etc. It scales up well, but down only to a certain point.
With HADR and some other options (again!), it's more than possible to never have an unplanned outage. HA rolls over on its own and can roll back to primary automatically, if configured properly. On its own, it is just as susceptible as other DBs, and depends on where it's running and how it's setup, etc.
It's almost not comparable because they all do the same job in varying degrees. There are some things I like about Db2 that I don't enjoy about Oracle, but it mostly comes down to how it works and where it stores everything like SYS tables in Db2. MySQL is probably the fastest database I've ever used, but that falls off after you get any kind of size to your DB/tables. As with most corporate things, I think Db2 is the best because I've had to use it more and am therefore more familiar with it - that's about it.

Do you think Db2 delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Db2's feature set?

Yes

Did Db2 live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Db2 go as expected?

I wasn't involved with the implementation phase

Would you buy Db2 again?

Yes

Suited exceptionally well for Enterprise, not as much for the individual just needing a database. Not exactly beginner friendly but, I believe that is just tied to how complex a database really is, so I don't see it as a positive or negative. There are free tools for use with Db2, including IBM Data Studio. It's adequate, but not as intuitively put together as MsSS, nor most other 'consumer friendly' databases out there.

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