Reader Feedback on the Death of DB2/400 for Domino

Published: September 10, 2007

As you might expect, some members of the System i community are none too pleased about IBM's decision to yank support for DB2/400, the relational database integrated into i5/OS and OS/400, as a data store for Notes and Domino databases in the wake of the Notes/Domino 8 launch several weeks ago. I never like the idea that the i5/OS and OS/400 platform is missing some capability that other platforms have, but I also get the impression that IBM is not very likely to change its mind on this one. We'll see. A lot will depend on feedback that customers with Notes/Domino running on the System i provide to IBM.

Here's a sample of the feedback IT Jungle received last week. If you have an opinion, don't be shy. You know how to reach me.

Thank you for your editorial excoriating IBM for dropping Domino support for DB2. This speaks volumes for both Lotus and for DB2, but most about IBM. I have experienced IBM's short attention span of late in the area of completion. They say, "Hey! We got it going! What's your gripe?"

The sad response is that what is going is, for the most part, satisfying for the cult-following that are still employed or not on the fast-track to retirement. Many potential constituencies look at the System i and see loose ends, poor fit, and finish. They are noticing and they include purchasing managers, IT directors and CIOs, and students at community colleges that still offer System i classes.

We need constant feedback, including COMMON resolutions and generous posting of reader's gripes. I think that the i-World is a big one with many constituencies, not all are right 100 percent of the time, but a lot of truth can be found in the dross.

Here is one key to the System i modernization track. Many aspects that look legacy are hiding some "cool" stuff lurking right under the hood.

Thanks, Timothy, for letting them have it, again!

--John

Here is the response John sent to IBM, which he also sent to me:

I work for Pinal County Government with two iSeries Boxes. We have a committee evaluating our request to upgrade to three i5XX and V5R4 boxes.

I note with disappointment IBM's decision to not fully support Lotus/Domino on DB2/400. Although this decision does not affect a huge swath of your customers, it creates an impression that IBM does not fully support the System i product, DB2, or both. The purchasing committee has noticed.

Please rectify this omission immediately. Please cc this to Mark Shearer. I like his mentorship of us as a class of customers. Please continue polishing your flagship products in the IDE such as WDSc 7.0 and DB2 (they create the impression of being incomplete).

Thank you,

--John

Why can't IBM play like a team? Ridiculous! I feel like I'm dealing with many companies, not one. Our company runs both Windows and iSeries platforms. Domino runs on Windows with most data stored in Microsoft SQL Server. We have considered moving the largest Domino application to the iSeries, but this IBM decision makes us less likely to do so. It seems Lotus has always treated the iSeries product line like a red-headed stepchild.

C'mon IBM, get it together!

--Gary

I just read your article and I think it is right to view this as a snub on the iSeries gang.

This has to be about code. As far as I know, you can have ASCII tables on i5/OS and have them installed during the Domino installation. You could even use PASE to drive access to those ASCII tables. So this has to be about platform-specific code to support the database regardless of whether it is ASCII or EBCDIC, or if it is stored on the Integrated File System.

Now this could be a little bit about the database. And if it is, then it just shows us that DB2/400 (or whatever it is called) is not on par with the other "open" DB2 database installations, which in itself is a snub.

Thanks for your great reporting.

--Michael

Knowing my IBM for 25 years now, there is no doubt in my mind that this is the first step to abandoning Domino on i5. If I've gotten this right, NSF will have to be supported (in parallel to DB2) for only one platform: the System i. Well, in about two to three years, IBM is going to tell us that this is much too costly for them, and that the customers, please, move to Windows or Linux.

There is a blueprint for this: There used to be some code in OS/400 that was necessary for only OfficeVision/400 (and pretty costly to maintain, as well). And we all know what our IBM did to that fine product.

It's obvious: they've done it once, and they will do it again.

BTW: I think it's going to be fun watch IBM do away with Query/400 and how they will justify that.

Greetings from Hamburg, Germany.

--Robert

As usual, I enjoy reading your articles and appreciate your ardent support of System i. I moved to a different IBM division in 2001, but am still a big "i" fan as well.

I wanted you to know that when I first heard of the lack of support of direct to DB2 storage from Domino, I was also concerned. I was the marketing manager for Domino on System i (AS400) back in 1999, and of course, we did not have this support back then. Still, the offering was extremely successful. I thought maybe things had changed and the needs of this business were different, and I thought the market might need this now. So I called four of our very successful Domino partners, who I assumed would be affected by this decision.

I was very surprised when all four of them told me they did not need that function for their Domino application. They said the NSF (Notes Storage Facility) was all they needed and this change would not affect their application or their business.

Now clearly, I only spoke to four partners, but after that information, I was not as concerned, and felt it might just be a good business decision on the part of System i--and those developers would be freed up to work on features that more of our top Domino partners need.

A suggestion. It would be great if IT Jungle could post a survey asking if partners or customers have designed their Notes/Domino application to take advantage of direct to DB2 storage or if the Domino Storage Facility meets their needs. The results could help the System i team invest properly.

But from my seat today, it appears this is not the fight to fight. ;-)

I just wanted to share this small story. I wish the best to you, and thank you for your continued fine work.

--Kelly Schmotzer, IBM Software Group marketing

Thanks, Kelly. I appreciate the insight. I know this was one of your babies.

Still, I am worried as much about the perception of the System i as a full-fledged server platform as I am with the technical equality of various IBM platforms. Considering that there is no longer a System i division, that our main advocate is no longer a general manager, and that we have two general managers who control the platform--decisions that had nothing to do with Software Group, I expect--the timing on pulling the plug is not exactly great.

If IBM knew it wasn't going to support DB2/400 underneath Notes and Domino, it should have prepped customers about this before the N/D 8 launch a few weeks ago. Like maybe a year ago. Either the work was close to done, and support should not have been pulled as a matter of principle, or IBM was not going to do the work, in which case customers deserved a straight answer as soon as IBM made its decision.

I admit that I am an idealist sometimes. OK, often. It keeps me sane, if you can call the state I am in--New York--sane.

--TPM

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