Access Live DB2 Data in Excel (Desktop) via Connect AI

Microsoft Excel is a widely used spreadsheet software application, primarily used for tasks related to data management, analysis, and visualization. When combined with CData Connect AI, you gain immediate access to DB2 data directly within Excel, facilitating data analysis, collaboration, calculations, and more.This article shows how to connect to DB2 in your Connect AI instance and access and update live DB2 data in Excel spreadsheets.

CData Connect AI provides a pure cloud-to-cloud interface for DB2, allowing you to easily access live DB2 data in Excel for the web. Simply use the Connect AI Add-In to query live data (or write your own). Using optimized data processing out of the box, CData Connect AI pushes all supported query operations (filters, JOINs, etc) directly to DB2, leveraging server-side processing to quickly return DB2 data.

Configure DB2 Connectivity for Excel

Connectivity to DB2 from Excel is made possible through CData Connect AI. To work with DB2 data from Excel, we start by creating and configuring a DB2 connection.

1. Log into Connect AI, click Sources, and then click Add Connection

2. Select "DB2" from the Add Connection panel

3. Enter the necessary authentication properties to connect to DB2.

   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.

   
4. Click Save & Test
5. Navigate to the Permissions tab in the Add DB2 Connection page and update the User-based permissions.

With the connection configured, you are ready to connect to DB2 data from Excel.

Access Live DB2 Data in Excel

The steps below outline connecting to CData Connect AI from Excel to access live DB2 data.

1. Open Excel, create a new sheet (or open an existing one).
2. Click Insert and click Get Add-ins. (if you have already installed the Add-In, jump to step 4).
3. Search for CData Connect AI Add-In and install the Add-in.
4. Click Data and open the CData Connect AI Add-In.
5. In the Add-In panel, click Authorize to authenticate with your CData Connect AI instance
6. In the CData Connect AI panel in Excel, click Import
7. Choose a Connection (e.g. DB21), Table (e.g. Orders), and Columns to import
8. Optionally add Filters, Sorting, and a Limit
9. Click Execute to import the data

Update DB2 Data from Excel

In addition to viewing DB2 data in Excel, CData Connect AI also lets you update and delete DB2 data. Begin by importing data (as described above).

1. Update any cell or cells with changes you want to push to DB2 (your changes will be in red)
2. In the CData Connect AI Add-In panel, select Update
3. Optionally highlight the cell(s) you wish to update and select an update option ("Update All" or "Update Selected")
4. Click Execute to push the updates to DB2, and a notification will appear when the update is complete

Live Access to DB2 Data from Cloud Applications

Now, you have a direct, cloud-to-cloud connection to live DB2 data from your Excel workbook. You can add more data to your workbook for calculations, aggregations, collaboration, and more.



Try CData Connect AI and get real-time data access to hundreds of SaaS, Big Data, and NoSQL sources directly from your cloud applications.