Ubuntu Certified for IBM DB2

xsspd2004 writes "Ubuntu Certified for IBM DB2 -- Ubuntu is moving into Enterprise computing with IBM's certification of Ubuntu as "Ready for IBM DB2 Software for Linux". "

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Two reasons you would use DB2 on Linux

[DenialS]

DB2 really isn't too hard to install on Ubuntu -- see the DB2 HOWTO for instructions.

One good reason to use DB2 is that neither MySQL nor PostgreSQL can scale to the same size of database as DB2. Using DB2's "Distributed Partitioning Facility", or DPF, with DB2 Enterprise Server Edition you can partition data over hundreds of machines using a shared-nothing approach. This means you can create a data warehouse of a hundred terabytes that 1) appears to your applications as just a single database 2) retrieves query results blazing fast (this is the "shared nothing" part; each machine knows what data it is responsible for, so a query that comes in to the database is automatically distributed to the responsble machines, which go off and do their work, then return the results to a single co-ordinator that pipes them back to the application -- it's like RAID-0 for databases).

It's certainly possible to create a multi-terabyte database using MySQL or PostgreSQL -- but you're going to be waiting way the hell longer to get a result back from your queries.

Reason 2: You get support from IBM. IBM lives and dies by its enterprise level support -- 24x7 customer service around the world. Sure, you can purchase support from MySQL AB or from some PostgreSQL shop, but it's not going to approach the level of service that you'll get from IBM. In fact, to get a level of support comparable to what IBM offers for DB2 Express at $4874 for the first year and $1218/year for support after the first year, you would need to buy MySQL Network Gold for $2995/year. So after two years, going with DB2 Express will actually cost you less than half of what MySQL support will cost!