Db2 12.1.4 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 12.1.4 with the usual highlights and subpages with more details. Part of the news is the availabilty of Datalake tables outside containerized deployments.

As usual, I checked that the Db2 Community Edition for Docker has been updated and it was:

$ skopeo list-tags docker://icr.io/db2_community/db2
{
    "Repository": "icr.io/db2_community/db2",
    "Tags": [
        "11.5.5.1",
        "11.5.8.0",
        "11.5.9.0",
        "12.1.0.0",
        "12.1.1.0",
        "12.1.2.0",
        "12.1.3.0",
        "12.1.4.0",        
        "latest"
    ]

Db2 Genius Hub and Db2 AI Editions

What stands out with this interim release are the new Db2 Genius Hub and the related Db2 AI Editions. As you can see from the screenshot at the top, the tagline for the Db2 Genius Hub is

“AI-powered. Adaptive. Designed for DBAs who want less firefighting and more control.”

The idea is to have a central, web-based management console for your fleet of (Db2) databases. New, so-called “experts” powered by agentic AI help with common administrative tasks, either through chat or - looking forward - autonomous processes in the back. The built-in capabilities help with performance issues and SQL optimization, backups and recovery, schema updates, and other tasks. You can find more on the features in the Db2 Genius Hub documentation.

The Db2 AI Editions provide the necessary foundation for the AI-based management and bundle the Db2 Genius Hub into the required license. There are 3 months trials available to test the AI feature before use. Even “my” free Db2 Community Edition for Docker should be able to access the Db2 Genius Hub for a trial.

Conclusions

New Db2 modpack release with new features as usual, big change through the introduction of Db2 Genius Hub and related Db2 AI Editions. Thus, it requires some time to read, assess the changes, get hands-on experience and more. The required links to get started are above in this blog post…

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