Hello!
I'm a statistician trying to do some consulting for a small company and I need to get into their system from my home. They have a iSeries Power 6 520 running i5 OS version V5R4M0 and all of the applications on this server store the data in a DB2 database.

So I am trying to connect to this system from home and pull data using R. I have an IP address and login information and I am wondering what else I need to accomplish this?

Do I need DSN information? Do I need to VPN in and do I need to install DB2 driver on my windows machine? You don't need to answer about R. I just need to know how I get "in" and see their db tables :-)

I am still learning all of the new acronyms and definitions on the IT side and how they relate so please help explain the process - thank you so much in advance!

You need to discuss with the company you are doing consulting for. You will probably need a VPN to get into their network, and then some Windows tools to access their database. The company would be in a better position to help you than any of us.

BTW, DB2 iSeries is a different product than DB2 Linux, Unix, Windows or DB2 z/OS.

Thank you so much for responding so quickly!

The problem is that it's not a big company and their DBA is on vacation for a while. It doesn't seem like anyone else knows the details of getting in. Should I ask for DSN information? I can VPN using the IP and login info I have but I need the DSN information to connect to the DB right?

I'm out of my SME right now...

Once you are connected to their network using the VPN, it's not your home computer anymore, it is as if it were physically connected to their office network. I'm not sure exactly what is needed to connect to DB2 on System i, but I presume the DB2 client software needs to be installed at a minimum.

Either DB2 Connect is neeeded (similar to mainframe connectivity) or System I Access for Windows:
IBM System i Access for Windows Home Page

He could get a trial version of DB2 Connect Personal Edition that might work for 60-90 days.

I don't see how he can configure the connection using either one of the above without some help from the company. There are likely other people at the company besides the DBA who connect to the database via Windows.

Hi Marcus,

I didn't see your post so sorry for taking so long to get back to you. I am working with the MIS group but they have never tried remote access to the DB from home from a windows machine.

Also, more specifically I am trying to pull data for statistical modeling directly from within a stats program called R and here is a .pdf on connecting to a db from R: cran.r-project.org/web/packages/RODBC/vignettes/RODBC.pdf

We are still not fitting all the pieces together so i really appreciate your help if you have any more wisdom to share!

Before you start dealing with the database realm, you need to first figure out connectivity.

There can be only two options: either their database is exposed to the internet and can accept connections from any computer (which is a terrible idea), or they provide you with a VPN access to their network.

Once you figure that out and verify that you can reach their database server over the network, then you will start configuring your database client.

They have provided an IP address and username/password to connect to the system.

Do you know of a free vpn client or will I have to use one of the IBM products to connect to the system remotely?

A VPN Client and a DB2 Client are two different things.

The VPN lets you get into their private network (VPN is virtual private network), but not to any specific server. If the company uses Cisco VPN (most seem to use Cisco VPN software), you will need the Cisco VPN client. The VPN client should allow access to the various servers inside the company, and to things like company email or company intranet websites. There will be a connection entry and password just for the VPN client (apart from access to any particular resource or server once you get inside the VPN).

Once you get into the private network, you will need some kind of software or DB2 client to access the DB2 iSeries database (this is not VPN client software).