Query DB2 Data through ODBC in Node.js

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime environment that allows you to run JavaScript code outside of a browser. With the CData ODBC Driver for IBM DB2, you can access live DB2 data from Node.js apps and scripts. In this article, we walk through installing node-odbc and the required tools to create a simple Node.js app with access to live DB2 data.

With built-in optimized data processing, the CData ODBC Driver offers unmatched performance for interacting with live DB2 data in Node.js. When you issue complex SQL queries from Node.js to DB2, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to DB2 and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (often SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connecting to DB2 Data

If you have not already done so, provide values for the required connection properties in the data source name (DSN). You can use the built-in Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to configure the DSN. This is also the last step of the driver installation. See the "Getting Started" chapter in the help documentation for a guide to using the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure a DSN.

Set the following properties to connect to DB2:

• Server: Set this to the name of the server running DB2.
• Port: Set this to the port the DB2 server is listening on.
• Database: Set this to the name of the DB2 database.
• User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
• Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

You will also need to install the corresponding DB2 driver:

• Windows: Install the IBM Data Server Provider for .NET.

  On Windows, installing the IBM Data Server Provider is sufficient, as the installation registers it in the machine.config.

• Java: Install the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC.

  In the Java version, place the IBM Data Server Driver JAR in the www\WEB-INF\lib\ folder for this application.

Building node-odbc

In order to connect to DB2 through the CData ODBC Driver, you need to build node-odbc manually (after installing the required tools).

Installing the Required Tools

The following commands install the tools required to build node-odbc (note the -g parameter, which installs the tools globally).

npm i -g windows-build-tools
npm i -g node-gyp

Building node-odbc

After installing the required tools, create a directory for the Node.js app and install odbc (which builds the binary for us to use in our Node.js script).

mkdir nodeodbc
cd nodeodbc
npm i -g node

Querying DB2 from Node.js

With the ODBC Driver installed, a DSN Configured, and node-odbc built, we are ready to query live DB2 data from a Node.js app. The sample code below connects to a specific DSN and queries the Orders table.

myscript.js

const odbc = require('odbc');

async function queryDB2() {
    const connection = await odbc.connect(`DSN=CData DB2 Source`);
    const data = await connection.query('SELECT OrderName, Freight FROM Orders');
    console.log(data);
}

queryDB2();

Once you write the app, use node to execute the script:

node myscript.js

Download a free, 30-day trial of the CData ODBC Driver for IBM DB2 and start working with your live DB2 data in Node.js. Reach out to our Support Team if you have any questions.