I've often found the ODBC/JDBC error messages returned by DB2/400 to be less than helpful. While reading the JavaDoc for the JTOpen 4.0 driver today, I came across a property I hadn't noticed before. Apparently, you can instruct the driver whether to return a full or basic error description when an error occurs. Of course, the default value is basic. So, if you use JTopen with ColdFusion MX to connect to DB2 on an AS400, you can cause the driver to return the full error (often along with a fix recommendation) by adding errors=full to the JDBC URL you setup in the ColdFusion Administrator.

Stay tuned for more JTOpen/CF MX tidbits as I try to figure out why DB2/400 seems to perform like an old dog when compared to the likes of SQL Server and Oracle (Solaris). If you're currently a JTOpen user, or connect ColdFusion to DB2/400 in another way, I'd love to hear your comments!