DB2 Overview

IBM's DB2 Server is a collection of products which provide powerful database management on a variety of platforms including OS/2, Windows NT, AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris and LINUX operating systems. It is a true client-server architecture allowing the databases to exist on a server machine with application development from a client toolset.

IBM introduced its first relational database system SQL/DS in 1981 supported by the database language SQL (Structured Query Language). SQL/DS was followed in 1983 by the DB2 product under the IBM MVS mainframe systems. This product has grown over the years with a current version DB2 Common Server running on the above platforms and specifically on IBM's AIX Unix and Sun Solaris operating systems at VCU.

DB2 Universal Database (UDB) comes with some very powerful features that include:

• An expansion of the SQL language with new features such as recursive queries.
• A collection of object-oriented features to allow storage of complex objects up to two gigabytes to hold text, pictures, voice, and mixed media.
• Active data features such as constraints and triggers which allow restrictions on the database tables themselves. This provides an extremely useful methodology to define restrictions against a field or table or even a restriction on one table against another.
• Client interfaces through Open Database Connectivity (ODBC), thus allowing development and analysis through personnel computer interface programs such as Microsoft Access, Visual Basic, FoxPro, Powerbuilder, Delphi, SAS, SPSS or any other ODBC capable product.
• Web database access using CGI scripts written in Perl, "C", and other programming languages as well as support for Java and XML.
• At the server level, DB2 may be accessed from a variety of programs including: SAS, "C", Fortran, Cobol, and Perl.