Question:
Oracle has been a royal pain in the ass for us in a couple of projects recently
done and I am considering switching to DB2. First, I need some opinions of
feasibility (or, how difficult it'll be compared to Oracle):
The database itself is on an OS/390 mainframe and the front-end is a website based on
Perl CGI scripts. Oracle required that the client software be installed, configured,
and that a text file be updated manually. Oracle tables also do not resize themselves
dynamically and our data is very dynamic, making this a critical need. Individual
Table size requirements are highly unpredictable--growing and shrinking by wide
margins in different tables each day.
What all is involved with installing and configuring the drivers and Perl DBI modules
for DB2? Do the whole clients need to be installed as with Oracle? Do I have to
explicitly define each connection I will be making in config files for it? (That
requirement also prevents us from using Oracle for another project--if DB2 works
better, we'll be able to get rid of Oracle on the mainframe and migrate it to Solaris
for the systems that still require it).
--Matthew
