on RailsOur development team just released version 1.1.1 of the IBM_DB gem which provides support for using Ruby on Rails with DB2 and IDS. The new gem provides support for Activerecord 2.3.3 and a fix for a defect that will let us implement support for a popular Ruby on Rails application. Antonio Cangiano will no doubt blog about this as soon as he is done (any day now).
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July 30 2009 | Announcements | 3 Comments »
Oracle’s acquisition of SUN seems to be unraveling in a number of areas. Citing lack of certainty (guess it means “uncertainty”) the JRuby team decided to leave SUN/Oracle and join Engine Yard. As Antonio Cangiano pointed in his blog, JRuby is indeed critical to the adoption of Ruby on Rails in the enterprise. Given Engine Yard’s commitment to Ruby on Rails this is a great move for the Ruby community. We wish JRuby and Engine Yard teams the best.
DB2onRails.com will be cheering for you!
July 28 2009 | Announcements | 1 Comment »
There has been much discussion (if you can call it that) in the Ruby on Rails community regarding a need for using applications while disconnected. I happen to be believe that despite the proliferation of connectivity options, ability to use web applications off-line is absolutely crucial. So, I’ve been looking at various technologies for taking web applications off-line. I am a big fan of Adobe Flex partly because it can be used to produce web-based applications that run on Adobe Air. I’ve also been watching Google Gears (now unbranded from Google). Just a few days back Yahoo went for a “Sneak Peek” availability of their BrowserPlus. So, I decided to install Yahoo BrowserPlus and give it a try with a few Yahoo properties that use it today.
I tried the FlickrUploader demo and go this dialog. This is actually expected and it is a good thing. Basically, what this means is that FlickrUploader needs these services and BrowserPlus is offering me to activate them:
This dialog suggests that FlickrUploader needs Ruby. I presume that this is because FlickrUploader is written at least in part using Ruby? After a bit more reading I am getting a feeling that we will be able to use Ruby to add extra functions and services to BrowserPlus. At least that is implied by all of the info I was able to find on the subject. Unfortunately, BrowserPlus is still in the “Sneak Peak” release mode (Yahoo must of run out of Greek letters) so it is not possible to try to add BrowserPlus capability to anything but a Yahoo operated site in Ruby or otherwise. I do however like the direction in which BrowserPlus seems to be heading and I love the fact that they chose to support Ruby.
Oh yeah, almost forgot to mention … at this point in time it is more of a promise than reality. I tried to activate the RubyInterpreter service and got “Not compatible”:
June 03 2008 | Musings | No Comments »
Just in time for halloween, we released a new version of DB2. If you are in to instant gratification, you can get DB2 Express-C v9.5 immediately from http://www.ibm.com/db2/express . I am not going to provide a detailed description of what is new in this version but I will say that if you were impressed with DB2 pureXML before you will be absolutely amazed what you can do with XML in DB2 v9.5 and DB2 Express-C includes pureXML at no charge, naturally. Oh, and it is all available to a Ruby on Rails programmer.
If you like running your database servers on Linux then you will really like DB2 Express-C v9.5. DB2 engine on Linux now uses threaded (as opposed to process) model of execution. This means that your database server will now use a lot less memory and you will be doing a lot less figuring out how to set it up for optimum memory utilization. In v9.5 you can replace a dozen or so memory tuning parameters with a single one. While threaded engine is new to Linux, DB2 for Windows has always been threaded. Less time to tune database server means more time to spend writing really cool Ruby on Rails applications with DB2. Oh, and I almost forgot … you no longer have to be root to install DB2 on Linux.
If you like counting money (and who doesn’t), there is a new datatype which is really good. It is called DECFLOAT and it allows you to do money arithmetic without loosing any of it in rounding. The really cool thing is that if you run DB2 Express-C on Linux on POWER 6servers (System p or System i) you have hardware assist right in silicone that makes these operations blazingly fast. We will have to wait for Intel and AMD to put decimal arithmetic in to their silicone. Intel, AMD, are you listening?
If you are building applications that deal with credit card data (here we go with the money again), or need to comply with privacy legislation or need to do anything to identify the actual originator of a transaction and record all actions performed in an audit log then you are also in luck with DB2 v9.5. Let’s say you are building a online store application and will want to accept credit cards. You may not know it yet, but your application will have to comply with something called PCI DSS. An whether you know it or not, if you can’t prove that you comply, your merchant account will be revoked so unless you figured out a way of how to take cash on the web, you will be out of business. I am not going to describe the exact details of how DB2 helps you comply with PCI but I say that being able to identify the end user completing a transaction rather then some proxy id you are using to connect from your code in to the database is the key component of it. Another important aspect is beign able to record everything that is going on in an audit log that can be reviewed and shown to the auditor when asked. Oh, and DB2 can encrypt data both in database and on the wire but believe it or not, the first two features I talked about are actually more important for achieving compliance and staying in business. And these features apply to more then just PCI DSS. The same requirements exist for complying with privacy and corporate governance legislation.
There are also a lot of new functions that make DB2 run faster and make it more scalable like optimistic locking. Then there is a raft of functions that make it easier to manage, back up and recover if need be. There is also a brand new and, you guessed it, free IBM Data Studio for building database objects, working with XML and creating web services (both SOAP and RESTfull) but I will save these topics for another post.
November 01 2007 | Announcements and Uncategorized | 2 Comments »
If you are getting your DB2 (and IDS) Ruby driver and Rails adapter as a gem from RubyForge, then you would be happy to know that a new update is available. This updates brings ibm_db Rails adapter to version 0.7.0. There are no updates to the Ruby driver—only the adapter is updated.
Alex Pitigoi posted a short description of the fixes that went in to this version of the adapter. Based on our experience in Project Aurora, I recommend that anyone working with XML upgrade to this level right away.
June 05 2007 | Announcements | Comments Off
One of the key components of the Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails is the free DB2 Express-C data server. Recently we announced that not only do we offer a free DB2 Express-C but that you now also have an option of purchasing support subscription if you need one. With this support subscription you also get data replication and high availability clustering and remote site disaster recovery. Pretty decent set of features for $2995 for a server for one year.
On June 7 we will talk about this product in a couple of free (naturally) webcasts. One of the webcasts called Premiering DB2 Express-C: The truly free database is designed to introduce developers to DB2 Express-C. The other webcast Drive revenue with DB2 Express-C is more suited for ISVs and business partners. If you don’t catch either one of the webcasts on June 7, don’t worry, they will be available for a replay. To register for these webcast or for a later replay click on the links above.
May 30 2007 | Announcements and How-to | Comments Off
The quickest way to get started with Ruby on Rails and DB2 is to get Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails. One of the key components of the Starter Toolkit is DB2 Express-C. DB2 Express-C is a full function database server that is free. It is free to use for development. It is also free for use in production once your application is ready and, it can even be redistributed with your application absolutely free.
Today, IBM is announcing availability of optional subscription and support for the DB2 Express-C product. This announcement is a response to the customers’ and business partners need for technical support and product updates. A few important points about this new offering. Customers world wide now have an ability to purchase DB2 Express-C 12-month License and Subscription and will recieve:
The cost of this subscription is US$2995 per server per year. Introduction of this subscription does not change the fact that DB2 Express-C is optimized for systems with a maximum of 2 processors and 4GB of memory.
Does it mean that DB2 Express-C will no longer be available for free? Not at all. DB2 Express-C continues to be available free of charge just as it has been since January of 2006. The new 12-month subscription is optional and is designed for customers that need the piece of mind provided by the IBM support, need to replicate data between multiple servers or want to ensure continuous availability of data to their applications. At US$ 2995 per server per year this represents excellent value for customers.IBM also offers flexible OEM options that allow business partners to incorporate DB2 Express-C in to their solutions at significant discounts.
To learn about DB2 Express-C and the new optional subscription visit DB2 Express-C home on the web at http://ibm.com/db2/Express.
April 30 2007 | Announcements | Comments Off
Some time in February I blogged about DB2 being declared a finalist for the SIIA CODiE awards. At that time I did say that the final round of judging will be completed in mid-April. Last week the award winners were announced and, in the Best Database Management Solution category, the winner is … IBM DB2 for Linux, Unix and Windows.
April 25 2007 | Announcements | Comments Off
Windows Vista has been out in retail since the start of the month. I am not going to debate the ultimate success that Vista will or will not achieve in the market … there are far too many keystrokes wasted on this debate already. If you want to run Vista on your PC or your Apple Mac (either in Parallels Desktop for Mac or in the VMWare Virtualization for Mac) and you want to build Ruby on Rails applications using DB2, you need to read on.
Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails v2.1 (current version) includes DB2 Express – C v9.1 at no charge (you did know that we give you DB2 absolutely free, right?). This version of DB2 Express – C will not run on Vista. We do have a special version of DB2 Express – C (still absolutely free) that does run on Vista. You can get it from the official DB2 Express – C website.
There is no doubt that downloading and installing yet another copy of DB2 Express – C is a pain. Rest assured we do understand that and we will be uploading a brand new version of the Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails shortly. Besides including a newer version of DB2 Express – C that works with Vista, the new Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails will contain numerous performance and functional enhancements including better support for the recently released Rails 1.2.1. Stay tuned and watch this space.
February 25 2007 | Announcements | 3 Comments »
DB2 was recently declared a finalist in the 2007 SIIA CODiE awards. CODiE awards are not decided in a popularity contest or by getting general public to vote. The Codie Awards are judged in two rounds by a panel of judges. Finalists are determined during the first round of judging. First round Codie Awards Judges are representatives from the software and information industry trade press, technology writers, analysts, consultants and other experts. As a result of the first round DB2 9 was declared a finalist in the “Best Database Management Solution” category along with 4 other submissions. The second round of will begin on February 12 and will complete on March 14 and the winners will be announced on April 17.
February 06 2007 | Announcements | Comments Off
