Docs / IBM Db2 and ODBC (Windows)

IBM Db2 and ODBC (Windows)

Db2, and any database with an ODBC driver or a data source (DSN), are reached through the system's ODBC driver manager. This works on Windows only for now: on macOS and Linux a Db2 or ODBC connection says that ODBC drivers are reached on Windows only.

First use: IBM's ODBC driver (Db2)

When you choose IBM Db2 for a new connection and no IBM ODBC driver is registered on this machine, a popup opens over the form: IBM Db2 needs IBM Data Server Driver for ODBC and CLI. It shows the package (version 12.1.4), its size, IBM's terms and where it comes from, and checks the download against a SHA-256. Download and install fetches it into the app's data folder and registers it with db2cli install -setup; Windows asks for administrator permission (User Account Control) to do that. Cancel leaves the form usable, and the offer returns at Test connection and at the first opening.

A driver already in the system counts: the app looks for one named IBM DB2 ODBC DRIVER… or IBM DATA SERVER…, whether its own registration or a full IBM client made it, and takes the newest by name. The connection's driver option replaces that choice. Settings › Drivers lists and removes the downloaded driver, and shows the ODBC drivers and data sources of the system.

Connect

IBM Db2: host, port (50000 by default), database (both host and database are required), user and password. The app builds the connection string itself (DATABASE, HOSTNAME, PORT, PROTOCOL=TCPIP, UID, PWD). TLS: the modes disable and prefer connect without it; require and above add Security=SSL, and sslrootcert becomes SSLServerCertificate. Db2 servers listen for TLS on another port than the plain one, so set the port. Through an SSH tunnel the tunnel's local end is used.

Other ODBC driver (the generic choice): give one of

a data source (DSN) the system knows, typed or taken from the suggestions;
a driver name (suggested from the system's ODBC drivers) with a connection string holding the rest, such as Server=host;Database=sales;
a connection string on its own, used as written (it may name its own DRIVER=).

The user and password fields are added as UID and PWD unless the string already has them. A pasted ADO.NET or ODBC string with Driver={…} is read into the matching form when the driver is SQL Server, PostgreSQL, MySQL/MariaDB or ClickHouse; any other driver or a DSN= becomes a generic ODBC connection with the string as it is.

Privileges

Whatever the database login has. The navigator uses ODBC's catalog calls (SQLTables, SQLColumns, SQLPrimaryKeys, SQLForeignKeys). There are no administration tabs.

What works

Queries and results, with the types the driver reports.
Manual commit and rollback.
Cancel: ODBC's cancel call is not reachable, so a statement that has not started yet is given up with its session (the app opens a new one); one that is returning rows stops when its stream is dropped.
The navigator, from the catalog calls. SQL for Db2 is written with Db2's quoting (bare names fold to upper case, rows are capped with FETCH FIRST); the generic driver writes standard SQL.

What does not

No explain, no object DDL, no administration tabs, no bulk loading (imports use INSERT).
Text and binary values longer than 64 KiB are an error, rather than a huge buffer.
Data editing in the grid is not tested on these databases. The grid does not block it, but without savepoints a failed save in manual-commit mode rolls the session's whole transaction back and says so.
Terminal mode is not available.

Agents

Read-only agents rely on the statement check alone. See Agents and the CLI.

Known limits

Windows only.
Db2 has no container in the test setup, so the Db2 connection string and driver detection are checked by unit tests only.

Tested on

The generic ODBC driver is run against SQL Server 2022 through Windows' own SQL Server driver: types, long results, errors with their SQLSTATE, metadata, commit and rollback, cancel of a waiting statement, SQL Server's own literals and types, and imports. IBM Db2 is not tested against a server.