Hello,

A third party Vendor only supports as high as DB2 V9.5. Where can I find a download of V9.5 that truely is 9.5 ? I found the following site on a forum, but it's V9.5 has same signature as V9.7 (ftp://ftp.software.ibm.com/software/.../db2exc_images ).

thanks

IBM only makes the latest release available. You will have to get it from someone who has a private stash.

Thanks.

I have db2 V8 Express running and need to upgrade it to 9.5. Will 9.5 fixpack 5 upgrade existing V8 to 9.5? I seem to be getting mixed msgs about this. That's only have the battle...I then need to migrate V8 DB to V9.5./..and I think that I have to have a V8 instance and a V9.5 instance at the same time to do the migration.

First, you thread title says "DB2 Express-C" (a free version of DB2), but your post says DB2 Express (without the "-C") which is a fully licensed product that has fixpacks (and you must pay for the software). These are two different products. The answer below pertains to DB2 Express-C.

If you want the free version of DB2 (Express-C), then you do not get all fixpacks. Instead, they issue new releases only whenever they think it is necessary, and not in accordance with every fixpack on regular licensed versions.

If I recall, the last version of DB2 9.5 Express-C was at the Fixpack 2 level. After that they only made 9.7 available (9.7.1 is the latest). Don't be mislead by the 9.7.1 Express-C release into thinking they will make available new releases (fixpacks) of Express-C every time a new 9.7 fixpack will be released for regular editions of DB2. It was just that since 9.7.0 had some serious bugs, IBM felt they had to issue 9.7.1 for Express-C.

I would suggest that you get a copy of Express-C 9.7.1 even if you are not sure you want it, because at some future date when the next major version of DB2 is available (10.x ?), DB2 Express-C 9.7.x will be gone from the IBM download site and you may not want a newer version.

An alternative is DB2 9.5 Express-C FTL (Fixed term license) which costs $2,995.00 per server per year and includes full phone and fixpack support. Starting with 9.7 they changed the name to DB2 Express FTL so as to not confuse it with the free version.

Expess-C can be found from any friend, but then disadvantage is that you cannot apply fixpacks to it.
That renders it suitable for labs or development.