Get yourself a copy of DB2OLEDBV4_x86.msi (or a 64 bit version DB2OLEDBV4_x64.msi)

Get yourself the Microsoft Visual C++ Redistributable Package http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/confirmation.aspx?id=8328

Or get the 64bit version as well

Install yourself a version of SQL Server 2008 or later version

And… get yourself a copy of .net 4.0 yeesh

OK….. after fighting that for way too long time to try the IBM odbc driver.

It is downloaded from here

https://www-304.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg27016878

Have fun getting an account and getting the Driver for ODBC and CLI (64-bit) downloaded

Then unzip it and run

cd <uncompressed driver folder>/bin
db2cli install -setup

Now I have a new data source called IBM DB2 ODBC DRIVER

Scratch that, I finally got the stupid OLEDB driver to work. The key is to use verbatim string literal (which doesn’t exist in vb.net) So instead use <![CDATA[
SELECT * FROM [TABLE] where RTTICK = ‘852’
]]>.Value

From this post

https://mikearnett.wordpress.com/2013/04/12/query-db2-from-net/#comment-650

Dim connectionString As String = “Provider=DB2OLEDB;User ID=;Password=;Initial Catalog=;Network Transport Library=TCPIP;Host CCSID=1208;PC Code Page=1252;Network Address=;Network Port=446;Package Collection=;Default Schema=;Units of Work=RUW;Default Qualifier=;DBMS Platform=DB2/AS400;Use Early Metadata=False;Defer Prepare=False;DateTime As Char=False;Rowset Cache Size=0;Binary CodePage=0;Datetime As Date=False;AutoCommit=True;Database Name=;Authentication=Server;Decimal As Numeric=False;Derive Parameters=True;LoadBalancing=False;Persist Security Info=True;Cache Authentication=False;Connection Pooling=False;”

Using connection = New OleDbConnection(connectionString)

Dim command = New OleDbCommand()
command.CommandText = <![CDATA[
SELECT * FROM [TABLE] where RTTICK = ‘852’
]]>.Value

command.Connection = connection
connection.Open()
Dim reader = command.ExecuteReader()
If reader.HasRows Then
While reader.Read()
System.Diagnostics.Debug.Write(reader.GetValue(1))
End While
reader.Close()
End If
connection.Close()
End Using