Db2 Version 12.1 Mod 2 Fix Pack 0 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows
Yesterday, the latest update to Db2 Version 12.1 became available. You can download it from the page Download Db2 fix packs by version for Db2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows. The Db2 documentation has a What’s new in Db2 12.1.2 with highlights and the usual subpages with some more details related to performance, security, manageability, and other enhancements.
Vector support for AI use cases
To me, the most important new feature is the addition of a VECTOR type and related functionality. It allows to create, store, and query vector data close to the business data. Thereby, Db2 can be used for new AI-related use cases, but also supports the classic “what is related” queries.
For a good introduction to vectors in Db2, I highly recommend the following two blog posts, both written by Shaikh Quader:
- AI Vectors and Similarity Search - A Gentle Introduction
- Bring AI-Powered Search to Your Db2 Data with Vectors
There are also Db2 code samples available on GitHub. Right now, one shows how to implement Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) with IBM Db2 and LangChain, the other demonstrates Semantic Search for Product Recommendation Using Db2 Vector AI.