JDBC drivers for different database versions are not compatible, neither are they compatible across fixpacks. I love to help people get started with ODBC and open source on IBM i.DB2 iSeries is the database which has the most connection issues. Thanks, Steph! Any other words of wisdom? My testing with Neoload shows better performance with less CPU than the older proprietary drivers! For best speed, I recommend either connection pooling, or persistent connections if your language supports it.

We often refer to the list of IBM i ODBC Driver Connection String Keywords. There are a ton of options, and best of all, they are well documented.

And INI files (odbc.ini and odbcinst.ini, both in /qopensys/etc/) are what unixODBC gives us. Official installation instructions:Īs a programmer who likes to dive right in, I love simple INI files where I can try all the options. You’ll need your IBM user ID to log in to the Access Client Solutions site and download the package. The package has two parts: the unixODBC driver manager and a specific Db2 for i driver. They can use their “local” development tools while programming, then deploy to the i. They love being able to run the same code from their PCs and on IBM i, connecting to Db2 for i from both. What do other developers say about ODBC being available on IBM i?

Oh, and let me know if you’d like to see how I produced beautiful graphs based on IBM i data with the R language and RODBC. We have also been developing APIs with Node.js and node-odbc. I love Python (let us know if you need Python code developed or need training!) and use pyodbc. For example, PDO_ODBC can read output parameters from Db2 for i stored procedures. Not only is PDO_ODBC compatible with other PDO database extensions, but it does more than the old ‘odbc’ extension. PHP provides a choice of two ODBC extensions: ‘odbc’ and ‘PDO_ODBC.’ We usually prefer PDO_ODBC. Which PHP extensions do you use for ODBC? We also maintain and support high quality 64-bit builds of ibm_db2 and PDO_IBM for clients who use the db2_connect() style and PDO_IBM. Because Zend Server Basic is being discontinued next year, we’re helping lots of clients migrate! ODBC is the default driver for Seiden Group CommunityPlus+ PHP. How are you using ODBC with PHP these days? What’s more, IBM already maintained ODBC drivers for Windows and Linux, so why not the IBM i itself? And now Apple Mac computers. I guess it was hibernating! With the ODBC standard, IBM Rochester no longer needs to create and maintain unique adapters for all the new languages coming to the platform. Steph, looks like ODBC is back! Where has it been for the past 20 years? I recently caught up with Seiden Group CTO Stephanie Rabbani about the ODBC driver that’s quickly becoming standard for open source and web connections on Db2 for i.

Db2 iseries odbc driver