Db2 11.5 Mod Pack 4 is available

A quick note that Db2 Version 11.5 and its Mod Pack 4 are now available. You can read more about its new features and changes in the "What's new" section of the Db2 docs.

An interesting new security feature is the support for JWT (JSON Web Token) for authentication. It simplifies the integration of SSO (single sign-on) environments.

The Adaptive Workload Manager which we have heard about at past IDUG conferences is now GA. Other enhancements are for log space management and compression and there are several performance improvements.

Getting started with Db2 on Cloud Lite

It seems to me that during the COVID-19 pandemic there are more hackathons than usual. Great to see that IBM Cloud is the platform of choice for many solutions. Db2 on Cloud is used as database, often the free Lite plan to get started. That's the reason I published a quick guide on the IBM Cloud blog on how to use Db2 on Cloud Lite plan for hackathons.

Hands-on security: Share resources on IBM Cloud

Architecture: Database-driven Slackbot

One of my favorite IBM Cloud solution tutorials is about building a database-driven Slackbot. It is a great example for integrating enterprise resources with an AI-backed user interface and for utilizing serverless technology for the glue. Once you have created the chatbot, the next step is to share this project with co-workers. But how do you proceed? In this blog, I am going to discuss how to set up privileges for team members, so that they can access the project resources in different roles. Learn about IBM Cloud IAM, Access Groups and Policies. Get ready for some hands-on experience with IBM Cloud security.

New performance and security feature in Db2: Authentication cache

New security feature in Db2

The recent release of Db2 11.5.3 (Db2 V11.5 Mod Pack 3) includes a small gem that impacts both performance and security. It is a cache for User ID and Password-based authentication. That feature is great when your system uses LDAP / Active Directory for authentication because lookup results can be cached by Db2. By default, that feature is not active and you need to configure it. In this post, I am going to discuss how to enable and configure it.