Quick Beginnings

Chapter 2. What's New in DB2 Connect Version 5?

• New easier to purchase packaging:

  • A single DB2 Connect Personal Edition package that contains OS/2, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT versions of the product. This package contains everything that is needed to get started, including a complimentary copy of Lotus Approach.

  • A single DB2 Connect Enterprise Edition package that contains OS/2, Windows NT, and all UNIX versions.

• Capability:

  • New Level 3 ODBC driver with many improvements

  • Updated JDBC driver for better Java support

  • Support for stored procedures that return multi-row result sets and multiple result sets (requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

  • Built-in replication support

  • Generic bind option: you can specify any bind option supported by the host database.

  • SYSPLEX exploitation (DB2 Connect Personal Edition only; requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

• Usability:

  • New installation method

  • TCP/IP database connections are much easier to configure (requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

  • Integrated SNA support with point-and click configuration (DB2 Connect Personal Edition only)

  • New point and click configuration utility for configuring host connections.

  • Much easier process for connecting desktop client systems to DB2 Connect Enterprise Edition servers. Clients can discover DB2 Connect servers and all of the databases that are defined on each server

  • Improved ODBC traces with detailed information for performance analysis

  • Control Center and other GUI tools that simplify several DBA tasks

• Security:

  • DCE security (requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

  • Ability to run ODBC applications without having to authorize each user to base tables. Users can now bind their ODBC driver in such a way as to allow applications to run under the authority of the person that bound the ODBC driver.

• Performance:

  • Faster access to the DB2 catalog for ODBC applications

  • Reduced network traffic:

    • Early close for cursors

    • Deferred prepare

    • Reduced byte count on Compound SQL

    • Several other network flow enhancements

    • Support for ASCII storage on the host (requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

• Connectivity:

  • Support for DRDA over TCP/IP connections to other IBM DRDA Application Servers, as they introduce support for TCP/IP. (Native TCP/IP support currently requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

  • SNA over TCP/IP via integrated MPTN support (requires AnyNet on the host).

  • Support for additional SNA connectivity options:

    • IBM Communication Server for Windows NT

    • IBM Personal Communications

• Other:

  • Ability to initiate 2-phase commit transactions over TCP/IP (requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1)

  • Ability for desktop applications to participate in a 2-phase commit transactions without the need for a gateway (TCP/IP only, requires DB2 for OS/390 V5.1)

  • Ability to use DB2 for OS/390 for added reliability of transaction coordination (requires DB2 for OS/390 Version 5.1 and TCP/IP)

  • Numerous other enhancements and fixes affecting all aspects of system performance, reliability, and usability.

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