DB2 Reporting and Star Schemas in OBIEE



Create a star schema that shows perspectives on DB2 facts in real time.

The CData ODBC Driver for DB2 is a standard database driver that can integrate real-time access to DB2 data into your data warehouse or directly into your reporting tool. This article shows how to bypass the data warehouse and import operational DB2 data into Oracle Business Intelligence Enterprise Edition (OBIEE).

See the knowledge base for ODBC integrations with ETL tools like Informatica PowerCenter. For an ETL solution into Oracle Warehouse Builder, use the driver with the Oracle ODBC Gateway to Access DB2 Data as a Remote Oracle Database.

Connect to DB2 as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Set the following properties to connect to DB2:

  • Server: Set this to the name of the server running DB2.
  • Port: Set this to the port the DB2 server is listening on.
  • Database: Set this to the name of the DB2 database.
  • User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
  • Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

You will also need to install the corresponding DB2 driver:

  • Windows: Install the IBM Data Server Provider for .NET.

    On Windows, installing the IBM Data Server Provider is sufficient, as the installation registers it in the machine.config.

  • Java: Install the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC.

    In the Java version, place the IBM Data Server Driver JAR in the www\WEB-INF\lib\ folder for this application.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing reports and visualizations.

Import DB2 Metadata

Follow the steps below to use the OBIEE Client Tools to import DB2 metadata into an OBIEE repository. You can then integrate DB2 data into your business models.

  1. Open the Administration Tool and click File -> New Repository.

  2. In the Connection Type menu, select ODBC 3.5 and select the CData DSN.
  3. Select the metadata types you want to import under the Relational Sources option and then select DB2 tables.
You can now create star schemas based on DB2 tables:

Ready to get started?

Download a free trial of the IBM DB2 ODBC Driver to get started:

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IBM DB2 Icon IBM DB2 ODBC Driver

The IBM DB2 ODBC Driver is a powerful tool that allows you to connect with live data from IBM DB2, directly from any applications that support ODBC connectivity.

Access IBM DB2 data like you would a database - read, write, and update through a standard ODBC Driver interface.