DataStage - DB2 version compatability?

[rmh3]

Has anyone had any problems using DS6.x with DB2 v8? We've been told the DBAs want to migrate all our DB2 7.2 boxes (running AIX 5.1 or 5.2 if that matters) to version 8, and we're not ready to do the DS upgrade just yet, as we're in a rather busy load time right now. If anyone knows of any "gotchas", I'd be very appreciative.

[fmartinsferreira]

I already did this and didn't have problems.
But in my project I used pluggins and not ODBC because ODBC doesn't work very well in UNIX.

Regards

Fernando Martins

[rmh3]

The project I've inherited uses a combination of the plug-in and ODBC, supposedly because the ODBC drivers were much faster over lengthy loads (of which I have many.) I see from Ascential's site that the latest version of the DB2 plug-in is designed to work with DS6 and DB2v8, but unfortunately, a majority of the jobs use the DS included ODBC. All Ascential support will give me is a quote from the ODBC docs about the versions supported and a recommendation to upgrade DS. Useless drones.

Anyway, I've used the IBM widows DB2 7.x ODBC drivers successfully to attach to a DB8 datasource in the past, but I'm not as comfortable with UNIX, and don't have admin rights on the box anyway. I can get the DBA to install whatever I need, but bugging him as little as possible is imparative if I want to continue to have that relationship. Also, there are multiple systems running on this box, so swapping ODBC drivers around willy-nilly isn't really an option. I'm hoping to find someone who's attempted this already to provide a little insight. Has anyone tried using the Ascential supplied version 4.2 ODBC drivers with DS6.x? Has anyone tried using the old 4.1 drivers to attatch to DB2 8.0? SO far I'm not having much luck with the latter, but I'm not comfortable enough with my UNIX skills to know if I'm not missing something.

I already did this and didn't have problems.
But in my project I used pluggins and not ODBC because ODBC doesn't work very well in UNIX.

Regards

Fernando Martins

[ogmios]

I'm still on DB2 V7, but from previous upgrades: if you just install the odbc driver delivered with db2 v8 in the branded_odbc directory of DataStage and "relink" some stuff (as in the DataStage manuals) I don't see an immediate problem.

In order to test your DBA's should set up an test DB2 V8 database.

Ogmios

[rmh3]

We have a test v8 database on another server, but only one datastage server installation, so testing becomes tricky, as we'll need to install the new ODBC drivers, test, then revert back to the old drivers until the upgrade is scheduled to happen. I know previous version upgrades went fairly smooth, but had heard there are some serious changes in v8 under the hood, and as such, i'm worried about ODBC compatability.

I'm still on DB2 V7, but from previous upgrades: if you just install the odbc driver delivered with db2 v8 in the branded_odbc directory of DataStage and "relink" some stuff (as in the DataStage manuals) I don't see an immediate problem.

In order to test your DBA's should set up an test DB2 V8 database.

Ogmios

[ogmios]

You're going to have to test sometime. And if you only have 1 DataStage server I would urge management to get at least 2: one for development and one for production.

There are some serious changes in v8 but all of it should be transparant to any ODBC functionality.

Ogmios