What exactly IBM DB2 Connect, which is available in 2 different editions - Enterprise, and Personal - does? My understanding from the product descriptions so far is that it enables client applications connect to IBM's DB2 UDB on mainframe and minicomputers (z/OS, and AS400 and its successors, such as iSeries, System i etc). So, DB2 Connect is functionally similar to an ODBC, or JDBC driver, but with some features? What are some those features that make DB2 Connect a separate product?
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DB2 Connect is what you call a gateway -- it translates the protocol used by the ODBC/CLI driver into the DRDA protocol used by DB2 on z/OS and System i. In other words, you need both the ODBC driver and the DB2 Connect instance to talk to a DB2 database on the mainframe.
The DB2 JDBC driver, on the other hand, speaks DRDA so the gateway is not necessary; JDBC programs can access DB2 on the mainframe and System i directly (although they need an appropriate license to do that).
