Finding A Workable DB2 Client

Let me be clear.  DB2 10.x is the bane of my life.  Unfortunately it’s also the default version for products like IBM Connections and Sametime.  Prior to 10.x there was a GUI admin interface installed as part of the DB2 server which meant I could remote to a customer’s server and easily review data ,tables, schemas etc.  More importantly my customers jump on their own servers and , without much DB2 expertise, be able to review the system databases.  Unfortunately as of DB2 10.x there is no graphical interface.  So what are my options?  In theory I could (and do) easily install DB2 Data Studio on the server to act as a client but it’s not only a fairly overblown install for the few things I need, it isn’t in my experience very intuitive for customers.

For me, I’d like a simple , small (not 2GB like Data Studio can be) graphical client that I can add to any of my VMs and use to attach to any of my customer systems.  I’ve tried Squirrel SQL but that’s mostly useful for running SQL queries, but for a visual review of large amounts of data i’ve found it to be not as useful.  So I’ve now settled on Advanced Query Tool from http://www.querytool.com.  It’s a small (10s of MB) install.  It is simple to configure and it does everything I need, it’s also simple for customers to understand.  It’s big disadvantage is that , unlike Data Studio and Squirrel, it’s not free and the Advanced Edition costs 360 USD. Right now that’s worth it to me for all the time I save and the knowledge that the data I’m looking at isn’t the result of a poorly written SQL query.

I’m definitely preferring AQT over Squirrel and for my own VMs i’d rather not install Data Studio.