The article lists the basic information needed to use the Db2 .NET Driver packages. The write up captures the important information on choosing the Db2 .NET drivers, downloading and configuring them for first use. The document will not go into any specific application scenarios as they are covered in detail in other blogs.
Recommended latest IBM Db2 .NET drivers
For .NET 9 based applications
Db2 .NET driver for Microsoft .NET 9
IBM EntityFrameworkCore for .NET 9
For .NET 8 based applications
Db2 .NET driver for Microsoft .NET 8
IBM EntityFrameworkCore for .NET 8
For .NET Framework based applications
EntityFramework 6.4 (For .NET Framework)
Supported platforms and download link for Db2 .NET 8 and .NET 9 Packages
All packages are available for download from NuGet repository and only listed packages are supported and are to be used.
License requirements
|
.NET Version
|
License version
|
To be placed at
|
|
.NET 8.0.0.300
|
V11.5*
|
C:\Users\<users>\.nuget\packages\net.ibm.data.db2\<VERSION>\buildTransitive\clidriver\license
|
|
.NET 8.0.0.400
|
V12.1
|
Same location
|
|
.NET 9 and above
|
V12.1
|
Same location
|
*Notes:
- The VERSION above corresponds to NuGet package version and examples include 8.0.0.300 and 9.0.0.100.
- Version specific defect fixes and enhancements list is available in Readme file of each package.
- On Azure Environment, the environment variable DB2_COMMON_APP_DATA_PATH should be set to be a writable location. This is one of the common issues noticed in recent times for license error -1598. After setting the above environment variable, it's important to make sure the path has write permission.
- The license file for .NET 8.0.0.300 and .NET 9.0.0.100 are different as highlighted in license file section above.
- For MacOS, from .NET 8.0.0.400 / .NET 9 onward only ARM64 is supported.
- For AMD64 applications, the package .NET 8.0.0.300 needs to be used.
- For .NET 8 development, both 8.0.0.300 and 8.0.0.400 versions will coexist at NuGet repository.
- If applications use Skip(..) in LINQ query, it's recommended to configure UseRowNumberForPaging() in OnConfiguring method of Context class.
For example:
protected override void OnConfiguring(DbContextOptionsBuilder optionsBuilder)
=> optionsBuilder.UseDb2(ConnectionString, x =>
{ x.SetServerInfo(IBMDBServerType.AS400); x.UseRowNumberForPaging(); }
);
Related Db2 .NET package blogs
For .NET Core packages, follow the below link to get started and explore more scenarios with Db2 .NET Core packages.
Getting started with IBM Db2 .NET NuGet packages
Breaking changes for applications moving from older versions of .NET (.NET 5 and below) to .NET 8 and above
- There is a change in the package name for .NET runtime and is changed to Net.IBM.Data.Db2. This name will remain same for future versions also.
- In some docker related scenarios, the path of clidriver\bin may need to be added to path variable.
Known limitations
Please refer to known limitations page for set of known limitations.
For any queries on these packages, please use Contact owners option in NuGet repository.
Last updated on 9th May 2025
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