Beginning DB2: From Novice to Professional

Now available in paperback—

IBM’s DB2 Express Edition is one of the most capable of the free database platforms available in today’s marketplace. In Beginning DB2, author Grant Allen gets you started using DB2 Express Edition for web sites, desktop applications, and more. The author covers the basics of DB2 for developers and database administrators, shows you how to manage data in both XML and relational form, and includes numerous code examples so that you are never in doubt as to how things work. In this book, you’ll find:

• A friendly introduction to DB2 Express Edition, an industrial–strength, relational database from IBM
• Dozens of examples so that you are never in doubt as to how things work
• Coverage of important language interfaces, such as from PHP, Ruby, C#, Python, and more

What you’ll learn

• Install and manage DB2 Express Edition on Linux and Windows
• Manage IML data seamlessly using IBM’s pureXML storage engine
• Connect DB2 databases to web and desktop applications via languages such as PHP, Ruby, C#, Python, and more
• Protect your data with a sound backup and restore strategy
• Design and manage database schema and security within the database
• Know when and why to upgrade to more powerful editions of DB2

Application developers, including web application developers, looking for a robust, zero–cost database to back their applications; database administrators looking to get up to speed quickly with DB2.

Grant Allen has worked in the IT field for over 20 years, as a CTO, enterprise architect, and database administrator. Grant's roles have covered private enterprise, academia and the government sector around the world, specialising in global-scale systems design, development, and performance. He is a frequent speaker at industry and academic conferences, on topics ranging from data mining to compliance, and technologies such as databases (DB2, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL), content management, collaboration, disruptive innovation, and mobile ecosystems like Android. His first Android application was a task list to remind him to finish all his other unfinished Android projects. Grant works for Google, and in his spare time is completing a Ph.D on building innovative high-technology environments. Grant is the author of Beginning DB2, and lead author of Oracle SQL Recipes and The Definitive Guide to SQLite.