Customers have been using the IBM DB2 UDB for iSeries for many years with data access technologies such as ODBC and OLE DB. The newest data access technology from Microsoft is called ADO.NET. Applications that use ADO.NET with the iSeries can work with several different .NET providers:

• The IBM.Data.DB2.iSeries provider, a .NET-managed provider new to iSeries Access for Windows in V5R3

• The IBM.Data.DB2 provider, a .NET provider that works with all IBM eServer platforms in conjunction with DB2 Connect

• The Microsoft System.Data.OleDb provider, as a bridge to one of the OLE DB providers included with iSeries Access for Windows (IBMDA400, IBMDASQL, and IBMDARLA)

• The Microsoft System.Data.Odbc provider, as a bridge to the ODBC driver included with iSeries Access for Windows

This IBM Redbooks publication shows customers how to use ADO.NET effectively to harness the power of DB2 UDB for iSeries, showing examples, best practices, pitfalls, and comparisons between the different ADO.NET data providers.

Part 1. Background

Chapter 1. Introduction to DB2 UDB for iSeries

Chapter 2. Introduction to the Microsoft .NET framework

Chapter 3. ADO .NET object hierarchy

Part 2. Providers

Chapter 4. IBM DB2 UDB for iSeries .NET provider

Chapter 5. IBM DB2 for LUW .NET provider

Chapter 6. Selecting the .NET provider

Part 3. Scenarios

Chapter 7. ASP .NET scenario (Web forms)

Appendix A. Sample programs

Appendix B. Additional material