Chapter 9. Large Objects and ObjectRelational Databases

Chapter 9. Large Objects and Object/Relational Databases

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Defining the Term "Object/Relational"

• What Is a Large Object?

• LOB Guidelines

• DB2 Extenders

Traditionally, database management systems were designed to manage simple, structured data types. Most any database can be used to store numbers , alphabetic characters , and basic date and time constructs. But modern database management systems must be able to store and manipulate complex, unstructured data including multimedia data such as images, video, sound, and long documents.

As of Version 6, it is possible to use DB2 to manage complex data types using large objects.