IBM announced in August 2023 that Db2 12 for z/OS will reach its end of support (EOS) on December 31, 2025, more than nine years after its general availability began in October 2016. The good news is that Db2 13 has already been available for years, with a faster and simplified migration process, and many customers have reported smooth migrations and are in production with Db2 13.
If you are still on Db2 12 and haven’t started preparing to migrate to Db2 13, here are some important actions to start now to prepare your Db2 12 environment for a successful migration to Db2 13.
Attend the Webinar on April 9: Migrating to Db2 13 for z/OS from Db2 12. Join Anthony Ciabattoni, Db2 SWAT Team Lead, and John Lyle, Db2 developer responsible for version migrations, for a webinar dedicated to migrating to Db2 13 from Db2 12. Register here for the webinar on April 9th, 2025 at 1:00 PM eastern time.
Activate function level 510 if your Db2 12 environment is still at a lower function level. Activating FL510 ensures that your Db2 subsystem is at a common starting place for migration to Db2 13, with the Db2 catalog at the last catalog level in Db2 12. FL510 also checks that recently used application packages have been rebound to support migration to version 13. For more information about activating FL 510 in Db2 12, see this previous blog entry.
Apply the PTF for the fallback SPE APAR, PH37108. Before migrating, you must first apply this PTF to every Db2 subsystem or data sharing member, and then you must stop and restart every Db2 12 subsystem or data sharing member after the PTF has been applied. These actions enable release coexistence between Db2 12 and Db2 13 in data sharing and ensures that fallback from Db2 13 to Db2 12 is possible if necessary.
Apply the PTF for APAR PH50072, so you can issue a DISPLAY GROUP command with the DETAIL keyword to quickly get a report about the readiness of your Db2 for z/OS subsystems and data sharing groups for migration to Db2 13. For information about the migration readiness reports available in Db2 12, see this previous blog entry.
Understand Db2 catalog levels for Db2 13 migrations. Db2 13 includes three function levels for migrating systems instead of the two used in Db2 12. With this change, any new-function capabilities with catalog dependencies in the GA release of Db2 13 are delayed until function 501, removing any need for Db2 12 members to tolerate Db2 13 catalog changes and greatly simplifying migrations. For more information about the new approach in Db2 13, see this previous blog entry.
For even more details about the full Db2 13 migration process, you can check out Chapter 5 of IBM Db2 13 and More (an IBM Redbooks publication). And of course you can find the official process described in Migrating to Db2 13 in the online product documentation, which can also be downloaded in the Installation and Migration Guide PDF.
For more information about the EOS for Db2 12 and IBM support lifecycle, and extended support policies, see Product lifecycle for Db2 for z/OS 12.1.0 and IBM support lifecycle policies.
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