DB2 Federation Setup with SQL Server and Oracle
By Tom Nonmacher
Federation setup in databases aims to create a unified data system from heterogeneous databases. Today, we will discuss the Federation setup between SQL Server, Oracle, and DB2. We will use the latest versions of these technologies: SQL Server 2019, MySQL 8.0, and DB2 11.5. We will also discuss the integration of these databases with Azure SQL and Azure Synapse.
Let's start with a brief understanding of what a federation setup is. Federation in DB2 allows you to access data from multiple heterogeneous data sources, including SQL Server and Oracle, as if this data were in a single database. This enables you to manage your data and design your applications without worrying about where your data is stored.
Now, let's discuss the setup. As a prerequisite, ensure that you have installed DB2 11.5 on your system, along with SQL Server 2019 and Oracle. For this setup, we will use the nickname method, where a nickname is created for each data source in the federation setup. The nickname acts as a local alias for the remote table in the data source.
Let's assume we have a table in SQL Server 2019 named 'Orders'. To create a nickname for this table in DB2, you would use the following SQL statement:
CREATE NICKNAME Nick_Orders FOR SQLServer.Orders;
Similarly, for Oracle, if we have a table named 'Customers', the SQL statement to create a nickname would be:
CREATE NICKNAME Nick_Customers FOR Oracle.Customers;
Now, you can use these nicknames in your DB2 SQL statements as if they were local DB2 tables. For instance, to select all orders from the 'Orders' table stored in SQL Server and join them with the 'Customers' table in Oracle, you would use:
SELECT * FROM Nick_Orders JOIN Nick_Customers ON Nick_Orders.CustomerID = Nick_Customers.CustomerID;
The integration with Azure SQL and Azure Synapse follows a similar pattern. For Azure SQL, you would need to establish a connection to your Azure SQL Database and create a nickname for the desired table. As for Azure Synapse, it's slightly different because it's an analytics service. You would need to establish a connection to your Synapse workspace, and then you can run SQL statements directly against your data using T-SQL.
In conclusion, DB2 Federation setup with SQL Server and Oracle simplifies the process of managing and accessing data from different sources. With the addition of cloud services like Azure SQL and Azure Synapse, you can now access and analyze your data more efficiently and effectively.