The excitement surrounding IBM's product preview of DB2 Web Query for System i at the recent COMMON conference in Anaheim was palpable. DB2 Web Query was announced on April 10, 2007, and is intended as a replacement for Query/400. The DB2 Web Query kiosk at the COMMON Expo where IBM was showing live demos was a popular spot, and according to IBM, both of the in-depth presentations covering DB2 Web Query were filled to capacity and beyond.

DB2 Web Query will include tools for building new queries, of course. Of more immediate importance to many System i developers, DB2 Web Query will import existing Query/400 queries and make them accessible via a browser with minimal effort. Click a few more mouse buttons, and your query results can be transformed into a variety of reports and graphs. One IBMer I spoke to estimated that 50 to 60 percent of all System i shops use Query/400, which highlights the potential impact of this new product.

Although the cost of DB2 Web Query has not yet been released, IBM has indicated that System i customers who have Query/400 and a current software maintenance contract will be able to obtain the DB2 Web Query LPP at no additional charge for a limited number of users. Because the pricing for DB2 Web Query is user-based and pricing for Query/400 is tier-based, the number of "free" users will be based on software tier.

DB2 Web Query will most likely become generally available later this year, and IBM describes the product as "a customized version" of Information Builders' WebFocus. Although details are still being finalized, it appears that IBM will deliver an LPP that includes the base product plus some of the most important "adapters." The adapters address capabilities such as disconnected analysis and integration with ERP systems, and additional adapters (beyond those provided in the LPP) will be available from Information Builders and/or IBM at an additional cost.

Sneak Preview

DB2 Web Query offers a wide variety of query and reporting capabilities for both end users and developers. To build a new query, you first import metadata (think external file definitions) into DB2 Web Query. Then, you can point and click your way through the metadata to select the information to include in the query. If your data definitions include referential constraints (fairly uncommon in System i shops), you don’t even have to define the relationships between tables (e.g., customer number in the order header table links to customer number in the customer master file).

Once you’ve selected the data for your query, you can choose from a variety of presentation styles (e.g., pie chart or summary report) and customize the presentation by selecting colors, fonts, and other visual characteristics. You can also give users the option to control query criteria via drop-down lists, for example. Finally, depending on the adapters you have installed, you can provide drill-down capabilities, combine multiple reports and graphs into a dashboard, or export results to spreadsheets, PDF files, or other formats.

A key point for many System i shops is that DB2 Web Query can access the full spectrum of DB2 UDB for System i data as well as information stored in other databases. New queries written with DB2 Web Query will benefit from SQL performance improvements that IBM has delivered in recent releases of i5/OS and OS/400. However, it's worth noting that imported Query/400 queries will still utilize the underlying Query/400 engine and therefore won't be able to take advantage of all of the performance enhancements.

Of critical importance, from both a performance and a systems-management perspective, DB2 Web Query does not require a full-fledged web application server. The product will utilize an internal lightweight web server that is part of the iSeries Access support, and IBM claims that DB2 Web Query is completely self-configuring.

System iNEWS will publish in-depth coverage of DB2 Web Query as more information becomes available, and IBM also intends to publish a redbook covering the new product and how to use it most effectively. In the meantime, you can get an inkling of what DB2 Web Query has to offer by checking out the online demo provided by Information Builders at http://www.informationbuilders.com/systemi. IBM has also created an FAQ document in which is available at http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:oRu_Iu6sZIAJ:www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/db2/pdf/Web_Query_Product_Preview_FAQ.pdf+DB2+Web+Query+FAQ+document+IBM&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=2&gl=us

Information about the redbook as well as other updates concerning the DB2 Web Query product preview should be posted as they become available at the System i DB2 web page: http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries/db2.