IBM Data Server Provider for .NET

The IBM Data Server Provider for .NET extends database server support for the ADO.NET interface. The provider delivers high-performing, secure access to IBM data servers.

The IBM Data Server Provider for .NET is a name that is used to describe the .NET providers that are packaged with the IBM data server clients products. There are two .NET providers included in the IBM data server clients or IBM Data Server Driver Package. The two .NET providers are also called the Common .NET Providers.

The DB2 .NET provider

You can use the DB2 .NET provider to access all supported Db2® database servers and Informix® database servers.

To connect to Db2 for z/OS® and IBM Db2 for IBM i servers, you require the Db2 Connect Server license.

The dynamic-link library file for the DB2 .NET provider is IBM.Data.DB2.dll.

For bin deployment in cloud platforms the provider is also available as a Nuget package. For more details see the link: Deploying .NET applications on Cloud

For information about supported Db2 and Informix database servers, see the detailed system requirements for a specific product site .

The Informix .NET provider

Important: The Informix .NET provider (IBM.Data.Informix.dll) is deprecated and might be discontinued in a later release. Start using the Db2 .NET provider (IBM.Data.Db2.dll) to connect to Informix database servers.

You can use the Informix .NET provider to access supported Informix servers.

The dynamic-link library file for the Informix .NET provider is IBM.Data.Informix.dll.

For information about supported Informix database servers, see the detailed system requirements for a specific product site .

To develop and run applications that use the IBM Data Server Provider for .NET, you need the .NET Framework.

The DB2 .NET provider for Core: You can use the DB2 .NET provider for Core to develop .NET applications which use .NET Core and connect to Db2 and Informix database servers.; The provider is available as a NuGet package and supports 64 bit Windows, Linux (x86_64) and Mac OS. As the provider is available as a Nuget package, bin deployment is supported and installation of the provider is not needed. For more information see the The DB2 .NET Provider for Core

You can also use the IBM Database Add-Ins for Visual Studio software to help quickly and easily develop .NET applications for IBM data servers with Microsoft Visual Studio. You can use the IBM Database Add-Ins for Visual Studio software to create database objects such as indexes and tables and develop server-side objects such as stored procedures and user-defined functions.