Databases
Databases

How to load data from IBM Db2 to Kafka

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your IBM Db2 data into Kafka within minutes.

TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

  1. set up IBM Db2 as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
  2. set up Kafka as a destination connector
  3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is IBM Db2

Specializing in the development and maintenance of Android, iOS, and Web applications, DB2’s AI technology offers fast insights, flexible data management, and secure data movement to businesses globally through its IBM Cloud Pak for Data platform. Companies rely on DB2’s AI-powered insights and secure platform and save money with its multimodal capability, which eliminates the need for unnecessary replication and migration of data. Additionally, DB2 is convenient and will run on any cloud vendor.

What is Kafka

A communication solutions agency, Kafka is a cloud-based / on-prem distributed system offering social media services, public relations, and events. For event streaming, three main functionalities are available: the ability to (1) subscribe to (read) and publish (write) streams of events, (2) store streams of events indefinitely, durably, and reliably, and (3) process streams of events in either real-time or retrospectively. Kafka offers these capabilities in a secure, highly scalable, and elastic manner.

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Prerequisites

  1. A IBM Db2 account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
  2. A Kafka account.
  3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including IBM Db2 and Kafka, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from IBM Db2 to Kafka, it extracts data from IBM Db2 using the source connector, converts it into a format Kafka can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into Kafka via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their IBM Db2 data for advanced analytics and insights within Kafka, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up IBM Db2 as a source connector

1. First, you need to obtain the necessary credentials to connect to your IBM Db2 source. This includes the hostname, port number, database name, username, and password.  

2. Once you have the credentials, open the Airbyte platform and navigate to the "Sources" tab.  

3. Click on the "Add Source" button and select "IBM Db2" from the list of available sources.  

4. In the "Configure IBM Db2" page, enter the hostname, port number, database name, username, and password in the corresponding fields.  

5. Click on the "Test Connection" button to ensure that the credentials are correct and that Airbyte can connect to your IBM Db2 source.  

6. If the connection is successful, click on the "Save" button to save the configuration.  

7. You can now create a new pipeline and select the IBM Db2 source as the origin. Follow the prompts to configure the pipeline and select the destination where you want to replicate the data.  

8. Once the pipeline is set up, you can run it manually or schedule it to run at specific intervals.  

9. You can monitor the progress of the pipeline and view any errors or warnings in the Airbyte platform.  

10. Congratulations, you have successfully connected your IBM Db2 source to Airbyte and can now replicate your data to any destination of your choice.

Step 2: Set up Kafka as a destination connector

1. First, you need to have an Apache Kafka destination connector installed on your system. If you don't have it, you can download it from the Apache Kafka website.  
2. Once you have the Apache Kafka destination connector installed, you need to create a new connection in Airbyte. To do this, go to the Connections tab and click on the "New Connection" button.  3. In the "New Connection" window, select "Apache Kafka" as the destination connector and enter the required connection details, such as the Kafka broker URL, topic name, and authentication credentials.  
4. After entering the connection details, click on the "Test Connection" button to ensure that the connection is working properly.  
5. If the connection test is successful, click on the "Save" button to save the connection.  
6. Once the connection is saved, you can create a new pipeline in Airbyte and select the Apache Kafka destination connector as the destination for your data.  
7. In the pipeline configuration, select the connection you created in step 3 as the destination connection.  
8. Configure the pipeline to map the source data to the appropriate Kafka topic and fields.  
9. Once the pipeline is configured, you can run it to start sending data to your Apache Kafka destination.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your IBM Db2 data to Kafka

Once you've successfully connected IBM Db2 as a data source and Kafka as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

  1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
  2. Choose your source: Select IBM Db2 from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
  3. Select your destination: Choose Kafka from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
  4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
  5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific IBM Db2 objects you want to import data from towards Kafka. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
  6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
  7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
  8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from IBM Db2 to Kafka according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your Kafka data warehouse is always up-to-date with your IBM Db2 data.

Use Cases to transfer your IBM Db2 data to Kafka

Integrating data from IBM Db2 to Kafka provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

  1. Advanced Analytics: Kafka’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your IBM Db2 data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within IBM Db2 alone.
  2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with IBM Db2, syncing to Kafka allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
  3. Historical Data Analysis: IBM Db2 has limits on historical data. Syncing data to Kafka allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
  4. Data Security and Compliance: Kafka provides robust data security features. Syncing IBM Db2 data to Kafka ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
  5. Scalability: Kafka can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding IBM Db2 data.
  6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having IBM Db2 data in Kafka, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
  7. Reporting and Visualization: While IBM Db2 provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to Kafka, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a IBM Db2 table that needs to be converted to a Kafka table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

  1. Configure a IBM Db2 account as an Airbyte data source connector.
  2. Configure Kafka as a data destination connector.
  3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from IBM Db2 to Kafka after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

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Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
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Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
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Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
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Connectors Used

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

flag icon
Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
high five icon
Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
Talk to sales
stars sparkling
Improve your data infrastructure knowledge
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
Subscribe to newsletter

Connectors Used

Frequently Asked Questions

What data can you extract from IBM Db2?

IBM Db2 provides access to a wide range of data types, including:  

1. Relational data: This includes tables, views, and indexes that are organized in a relational database management system (RDBMS).  

2. Non-relational data: This includes data that is not organized in a traditional RDBMS, such as NoSQL databases, JSON documents, and XML files.  

3. Time-series data: This includes data that is collected over time and is typically used for analysis and forecasting, such as sensor data, financial data, and weather data.  

4. Geospatial data: This includes data that is related to geographic locations, such as maps, satellite imagery, and GPS coordinates.  

5. Graph data: This includes data that is organized in a graph structure, such as social networks, recommendation engines, and knowledge graphs.  

6. Machine learning data: This includes data that is used to train machine learning models, such as labeled datasets, feature vectors, and model parameters.  

Overall, IBM Db2's API provides access to a diverse range of data types, making it a powerful tool for data management and analysis.

What data can you transfer to Kafka?

You can transfer a wide variety of data to Kafka. This usually includes structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data like transaction records, log files, JSON data, CSV files, and more, allowing robust, scalable data integration and analysis.

What are top ETL tools to transfer data from IBM Db2 to Kafka?

The most prominent ETL tools to transfer data from IBM Db2 to Kafka include:

  • Airbyte
  • Fivetran
  • Stitch
  • Matillion
  • Talend Data Integration

These tools help in extracting data from IBM Db2 and various sources (APIs, databases, and more), transforming it efficiently, and loading it into Kafka and other databases, data warehouses and data lakes, enhancing data management capabilities.