Db2 vs. ParAccel

I have primarily used it as the basis for a SIS - but I have migrated more than a few systems from there database systems to DB2 (Filemaker, MySQL, etc.). DB2 does have a better structural approach, as opposed to Filemaker, which allows for more data consistency, but this can also lead to an inflexibility that can sometimes be counterintuitive when attempting to compensate for the flexibility of the work environment as Schools tend to have an all in one approach.

Incentivized

[Actian Matrix is well suited for:] 1. Power user who wants to derive aggregate metrics by joining huge dataset. 2. Batch load where you have to load billion of records very fast (copy command). 3. Scenario where you want to do ELT because your ETL tool cannot handle huge volume of data.

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• DB2 maintains itself very well. The Task Scheduler component of DB2 allows for statistics gathering and reorganization of indexes and tables without user interaction or without specific knowledge of cron or Windows Task Scheduler / Scheduled jobs.
• Its use of ASYNC, NEARSYNC, and SYNC HADR (High Availability Disaster Recovery ) models gives you a range of options for maintaining a very high uptime ratio. Failover from PRIMARY to SECONDARY becomes very easy with just a single command or windowed mouse click.
• Task Scheduler ( DB2 9.7 and earlier ) allows for jobs to be run within other jobs, and exit and error codes can define what other jobs are run. This allows for ease of maintenance without third party softwares.
• Tablespace usage and automatic storage help keep your data segmented while at rest, making partitioning easier.
• Ability to run commands via CLI (Command Line Interface) or via Control Center / Data Studio ( DB2 10.x+) makes administration a breeze.

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• Data loading is excellent
• ParAccel support is the best I have seen so far.

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• everything about Db2 is 'heavy', even the Community edition and some of the clients
• difficult to configure for beginners /option overload
• LUW and z platforms have minor inconsistencies that really should be a non-issue
• support seems to be declining in terms of quality/quickness of responses

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• Its a new product, there are plenty of bugs to work out with regards to converting special reserve characters that might crop up in data.
• The Matrix 2 Matrix database port tool needs some ironing out.

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The DB2 database is a solid option for our school. We have been on this journey now for 3-4 years so we are still adapting to what it can do. We will renew our use of DB2 because we don’t see. Major need to change. Also, changing a main database in a school environment is a major project, so we’ll avoid that if possible.

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You have to be well versed in using the technology, not only from a GUI interface but from a command line interface to successfully use this software to its fullest.

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I wish to give higher rating for the speed and efficiency in handling the queries, but only 6 because of consistent bugs we encounter

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I have never had DB2 go down unexpectedly. It just works solidly every day. When I look at the logs, sometimes DB2 has figured out there was a need to build an index. Instead of waiting for me to do it, the database automatically created the index for me. At my current company, we have had zero issues for the past 8 years. We have upgrade the server 3 times and upgraded the OS each time and the only thing we saw was that DB2 got better and faster. It is simply amazing.

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The performances are exceptional if you take care to maintain the database. It is a very powerful tool and at the same time very easy to use. In our installation, we expect a DB machine on the mainframe with access to the database through ODBC connectors directly from branch servers, with fabulous end users experience.

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Easily the best product support team. :) Whenever we have questions, they have answered those in a timely manner and we like how they go above and beyond to help.

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• Faster initial response
• Trained professionals
• Very helpful in resolving issues

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the material was very clear and all subjects have been handled

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db2 work well with the application, also the replication tool can keep it up

Leader failover setup is the toughest and lack of proper documentation is making things tough.

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With the other two mentioned above, I needed to have processes and frameworks that executed outside of the environment driving DB management operations. Yes, these are completely different solutions; however, the support you get for framework, library, and language support allows for runtime at a different layer than with other solutions.

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Actian Matrix is our first big data analytics storage platform, and as I was not involved in the POC process to compare it to other products out on the market, unfortunately I cannot say if it is better than other Big Data storage options. I can say that it out performs products such as Oracle or UDB in regards to the volume of data it can easily index and handle.

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DB2 can be configured and can work with a variety of applications as opposed to how it was designed initially to only with with IBM mainframes. It's easy implementation process makes it a good buy for many organizations to scale their applications to be the best in terms of versatility, resilience and application performance

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• Time efficiency is the major point to highlight, especially the minimal time this takes while querying a larger set of data.
• Reliability becomes another major factor as the application can be accessed at any point in time.
• Users might initially find it challenging to use the application.

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• ROI is great, less spending on full time DBA and that money could be use to add additional node.
• Negative - Not many developers are well aware of this tool, it takes some time to learn.

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