The statement below describes plans for the ‘NSFDB2’ feature in Domino:
What is NSFDB2?
Lotus Domino introduced the ability to use IBM’s relational database software, DB2 as an alternate data store for applications in Domino 7. This capability provided two choices for storing data in Lotus Notes and Domino applications: NSF (Notes Storage Facility), and DB2 (aka NSFDB2 relating to Domino use).
Are there plans to add additional capabilities to use the NSFDB2 feature in Lotus Domino?
There are no plans to enhance the capabilities of the NSFDB2 feature - this includes new features, updated DB2 versions, and platform expansion. While the NSFDB2 capability offers some benefits for accessing relational data, we have found that the scaling aspects of NSFDB2 aren’t up to the standards that customers expect from Lotus Notes & Domino. There has been a significant investment in the NSF data store, and NSF remains the strategic data store for Lotus Notes and Domino applications and data. The NSF data store is optimized for storing and retrieving Notes & Domino data and provides the performance that our customers need and expect when accessing Notes & Domino applications.
What versions of DB2 are supported?
DB2 version 9.1 is supported for the NSFDB2 feature in Lotus Domino.
What will happen with my existing applications that utilize the NSFDB2 feature?
The NSFDB2 feature in Lotus Domino is still supported, defect issues related to the feature will be investigated and addressed as appropriate.
How long will there be support for the ability to use NSFDB2?
Support for the NSFDB2 feature will be continued in the Lotus Domino codestreams where this functionality is available (currently Domino 7.0.x, Domino 8.0.x, and Domino 8.5.x) for a minimum of 5+3 years. Following IBM’s software support policy, this would be at least until 2017 for the Domino 8.5 codestream, as the initial release of Lotus Domino 8.5 was in January, 2009.
What other options are available for relational database information access within Lotus Domino?
Traditional techniques for relational database access (e.g. Lotus Enterprise Integrator (LEI), Decs, ODBC, etc…) are still available for Notes & Domino applications. LEI’s virtual documents activity allows forms and views to access data from relational data stores in real time. Query views can be emulated by using a combination of LEI activities. The replication activity can be used to synchronize data between NSF(s) and relational table(s). With the Notes data now stored in a relational table, a LEI Virtual Document activity can be used to make that data available to Notes’ view selection formulas. Additionally, the new Domino 8.5 XPages feature exposes the entire JDBC library, enabling access to relational data using SQL. This means you can generate result sets using SQL SELECT statements and bind them to controls on an XPage which emulates a Query View. For an example of how this works, see this wiki article.