Highlights of Db2 11.5.6

Db2 11.5.6 offers database efficiency, simplicity, and reliability in the form of new features and enhancements that address a wide variety of business requirements. Comprehensive enterprise security, simplified installation and deployment, better usability and adoption, a streamlined upgrade process, and enhancements to large databases.

From Db2 11.5.6 and later, you can enable TLS with connection concentrator.

Attention: This mod pack release is currently available for the following Db2 products:

Improved high availability with Advanced Log Space Management (ALSM)

You can now reduce the impact of transaction log full conditions on application failure with Advanced Log Space Management (ALSM). Using ALSM, the Db2 transaction manager identifies long running transactions that could be causing transaction log full conditions. The transaction log data from the active log files of the identified long running transaction are then copied into separate extraction log files dedicated for the transaction. This process frees up disk space for creating new active log files by removing the original active log files. Starting from Db2 11.5.6, ALSM is supported for databases configured with the High Availability and Disaster Recovery (HADR) feature. Additionally, during a traditional online backup extraction log files will now be included in the backup image by default with the INCLUDE LOGS parameter. At database restore time, any extraction log files found in the backup image will be automatically restored and used for the ensuing rollforward. For more information, see Advanced Log Space Management.

Graph modeling and analysis of Db2 data using IBM Db2 Graph

Db2 Graph allows you run Apache Tinkerpop Gremlin queries against your Db2 database for graph analytics, without having to change the underlying database structure. Running graph queries with Db2 Graph generates insights, patterns, and relationships from both real-time and historic Db2 data.

IBM Db2 Graph is deployed as a containerized offering that easily connects to your Db2 database environment. For more information, see IBM Db2 Graph.

Restrictions lifted on accessing column-organized tables

Column-organized tables no longer require the database configuration parameter CUR_COMMIT to be ON in order for them to be accessed by default. For more information, see cur_commit - Currently committed configuration parameter.

Technical preview update to Machine Learning Optimizer

Db2 11.5.6 includes the following enhancements to the Machine Learning Optimizer technical preview:
  • Models can now be exploited for cardinality estimation over single-column equality pairwise joins between two base tables
  • Model training time has significantly improved allowing for more columns to be trained on
  • Models are significantly smaller in size (approximately 100 times smaller)
  • Model discovery is enabled by default when the Machine Learning Optimizer is enabled

The Machine Learning Optimizer feature is designed to fully automate the building and training of models via a process called model discovery. This automation eliminates the need for users to create models manually (which can still be done, optionally, if a model is needed as soon as the associated table is populated).

For more information, see Machine Learning Optimizer Technology Preview for Db2 11.5.6.

New IBM Db2 Click to Containerize utility

With the release of 11.5.6 comes the Click to Containerize utility, a new application designed to help users move from a traditional, on-premises Db2 deployment to a containerized Linux cluster. The Click to Containerize utility can be downloaded from the Passport Advantage Online site.

For more information, see Move your distributed Db2 databases to containers with the Click-to-Containerize utility.