Using DB2Connect instead of Data Direct

[rhys.jones@target.com]

Has anyone used DB2Connect in a Unix hosted Analysis Server, instead of the supplied Data Direct ODBC drivers? I want to connect to a mainframe DB2, and can do this using the Data Direct ODBC drivers. However there are 3 advantages I can think of in using DB2Connect:

1) It requires me to buddy up to my dba for heightened authority to run the bind20 for Data Direct, whereas DB2Connect has already taken care of the package creation/binding. It's always fun nowadays since SOX to ask for dba-like authority...
2) My DB2Connect admin already has catalogued all known DB2 instances, so there's no need of me having to administer a different set of DSN's - I just point to the logical name and the connection information is taken care of for me.
3) DB2Connect is highly available, and supports automatic failover if an LPAR is down, whereas the Data Direct drivers won't do this.

Any thoughts?

[rhys.jones@target.com]

Just in case others were curious, the official word I got from Ascential was they wouldn't support using drivers other than DataDirect for ProfileStage. This isn't to say it's not possible, it's just not supported. I'm still waiting to hear back from them in regards to whether this will change with Information Analyzer, but I have to assume it will.

[kprama]

I have a similar requirement and thinking about using db2connect? can you please share your experiences of db2connect vs. DataDirect for profilestage on Unix environment....
I am assuming if I use db2connect I have to add the variables to Analysis server MGXPgmInit.ctl is this correct?

[rhys.jones@target.com]

If you're familiar with the dsenv file for DataStage, all you need to do is copy the environment variables pertaining to your DB2 connect installation location. You're correct, they go into the .ctl file for the analysis server. Make sure you restart the analysis server in order to make the changes take effect. You will also need to add entries into your .odbc.ini file that point to the correct DB2 Connect library file. Then you can reference that DSN name in the .odbc.ini file and all should work (provided your .odbc.ini database name corresponds to a catalogued alias in your DB2 Connect installation). Good luck!

[kprama]

Jones-

Thanks for your guidance so far. I am testing this connectivity and facing issue while testing with example program from branded_odbc from Datadirect and here are my odbc.ini entries for the db2.

[ODBC Data Sources]
dsntest=libdb2.so

[dsntest]
Driver=/home/host/user/db2inst1/sqllib/lib/libdb2.so
Description=DB2DSNPSYA1
Username=db2_test
Password=
DB2DIR=/home/host/user/db2inst1
DB2INSTANCE=db2inst1
INSTHOME=/home/host/user/db2inst1

Am I missing any additional entries to the odbc.ini file for db2?

when I run the example program i get the below error.

SQL State : 'S1000'
Error Number: '-1'
-- Error text --
[IBM][CLI Driver] SQL10004C An I/O error occurred while accessing the database directory. SQLSTATE=58031
(SQL-S1000)(DBD: db_login/SQLConnect err=-1)

Any pointers are appreciated.

[ray.wurlod]

The DB2-Connect software is very similar, under the covers, to the ODBC API, at least for the data access parts, so you can probably get it to work. But, as "they" say, it won't be supported. If (when) you do get it to work, their spin doctors will then tout it as a feature!