What's new in Db2 or Db2 Warehouse 12.1 for Red Hat OpenShift and Kubernetes

Db2 or Db2 Warehouse for Red Hat OpenShift and Kubernetes is enhanced for the 12.1 release, with improved security.

In addition to performance enhancements, improved security, and defect corrections, the 12.1 release contains the following feature enhancements:

You can upgrade Db2 or Db2 Warehouse HADR deployments using two methods:
- Upgrading HADR deployments with active reads on standby
- Upgrading by re-initializing HADR deployments
Db2 Warehouse Developer Edition license has been discontinued. From v12.1, all the deployments are configured with a default trial license.
Enhancements to the Db2 Datalake table feature support:
Note: The Datalake table feature for Db2 is only supported on Linux on x86 hardware and only for RHOS and K8s in Db2 v11.5.9 and later and only in a configuration which has 2 or more nodes. It is not supported in Db2 on Cloud Pak for Data. For more information see Using Datalake tables in Db2 Warehouse.

Iceberg table DELETE support

Db2 now supports DELETE operations for Iceberg tables.

Time travel queries for Iceberg tables

Db2 now supports the ability to use time travel queries when accessing Iceberg tables. This support is similar to temporal queries in Db2. See Iceberg time travel queries for more information on Iceberg time travel query support.

Iceberg snapshot rollback and roll forward

Db2 now supports the ability to change the current snapshot used by Iceberg tables that are providing support for rolling backward and forward. See Iceberg table snapshots and Iceberg table rollbacks for more information on Iceberg snapshot handling.

Iceberg snapshot management

Db2 now provides support to expire snapshots associated with Iceberg tables when they are no longer needed. See Iceberg table snapshots, TABLE_SNAPSHOT_REFS, EXPIRE_SNAPSHOTS stored procedure, CREATE_TAG stored procedure, and DELETE_ORPHAN_FILES to learn more about improvements to snapshot handling.

Iceberg data file management

Db2 now provides functionality to monitor and manage Iceberg data files which includes support for compacting Iceberg data files and removing unreferenced data files. For more information, see Iceberg table file maintenance.

Improved integration with watsonx.data

Removal of several restrictions related to Iceberg table support.