How to Access Live DB2 Data in Power Automate Desktop via ODBC

The CData ODBC Driver for DB2 enables you to access live DB2 data in workflow automation tools like Power Automate. This article shows how to integrate DB2 data into a simple workflow, moving DB2 data into a CSV file.

Through optimized data processing, CData ODBC Drivers offer unmatched performance for interacting with live DB2 data in Microsoft Power Automate. When you issue complex SQL queries from Power Automate to DB2, the driver pushes supported SQL operations, like filters and aggregations, directly to DB2 and utilizes the embedded SQL engine to process unsupported operations client-side (e.g. SQL functions and JOIN operations).

Connect to DB2 as an ODBC Data Source

If you have not already, first specify connection properties in an ODBC DSN (data source name). This is the last step of the driver installation. You can use the Microsoft ODBC Data Source Administrator to create and configure ODBC DSNs.

Set the following properties to connect to DB2:

• Server: Set this to the name of the server running DB2.
• Port: Set this to the port the DB2 server is listening on.
• Database: Set this to the name of the DB2 database.
• User: Set this to the username of a user allowed to access the database.
• Password: Set this to the password of a user allowed to access the database.

You will also need to install the corresponding DB2 driver:

• Windows: Install the IBM Data Server Provider for .NET.

  On Windows, installing the IBM Data Server Provider is sufficient, as the installation registers it in the machine.config.

• Java: Install the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC.

  In the Java version, place the IBM Data Server Driver JAR in the www\WEB-INF\lib\ folder for this application.

When you configure the DSN, you may also want to set the Max Rows connection property. This will limit the number of rows returned, which is especially helpful for improving performance when designing workflows.

Integrate DB2 Data into Power Automate Workflows

After configuring the DSN for DB2, you are ready to integrate DB2 data into your Power Automate workflows. Open Microsoft Power Automate, add a new flow, and name the flow.

👁 A new flow in Power Automate

In the flow editor, you can add the actions to connect to DB2, query DB2 using SQL, and write the query results to a CSV document.

Add an Open SQL Connection Action

Add an "Open SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Connection string: DSN=CData DB2 Source

After configuring the action, click Save.

👁 A configured 'Open SQL connection' action

Add an Execute SQL Statement Action

Add an "Execute SQL statement" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• Get connection by: SQL connection variable
• SQL connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)
• SQL statement: SELECT * FROM Orders

After configuring the action, click Save.

👁 A configured 'Execute SQL statement' action

Add a Write to CSV File Action

Add a "Write to CSV file" action (Actions -> File) and configure the properties.

• Variable to write to: %QueryResult% (the variable from the "Execute SQL statement" action above)
• File path: set to a file on disk
• Configure Advanced settings as needed.

After configuring the action, click Save.

👁 A configured 'Write to CSV file' action

Add a Close SQL Connection Action

Add a "Close SQL connection" action (Actions -> Database) and configure the properties.

• SQL Connection: %SQLConnection% (the variable from the "Open SQL connection" action above)

After configuring the action, click Save.

👁 A configured 'Close SQL connection' action

Save & Run the Flow

Once you have configured all the actions for the flow, click the disk icon to save the flow. Click the play icon to run the flow.

👁 A fully configured workflow

Now you have a workflow to move DB2 data into a CSV file.

👁 Application data in a CSV file (Salesforce is shown)

With the CData ODBC Driver for DB2, you get live connectivity to DB2 data within your Microsoft Power Automate workflows.

Related Power Automate Articles

This article explains how to use the CData ODBC Driver for DB2 with Power Automate Desktop. Check out our other articles for more ways to work with Power Automate (Desktop & Online):

• DB2 Data in Power Automate Desktop using CData Connect