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CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS vs Foglight for Databases comparison

 

Comparison Buyer's Guide

Executive SummaryUpdated on Mar 1, 2026

Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Categories and Ranking

CA Database Management for ...
Ranking in Database Development and Management
17th
Average Rating
8.8
Reviews Sentiment
8.2
Number of Reviews
13
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
Foglight for Databases
Ranking in Database Development and Management
1st
Average Rating
8.6
Reviews Sentiment
6.6
Number of Reviews
20
Ranking in other categories
No ranking in other categories
 

Mindshare comparison

As of June 2026, in the Database Development and Management category, the mindshare of CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS is 1.4%, up from 0.5% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of Foglight for Databases is 3.4%, down from 8.1% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.
Database Development and Management Mindshare Distribution
ProductMindshare (%)
Foglight for Databases3.4%
CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS1.4%
Other95.2%
Database Development and Management
 

Featured Reviews

JG
Technical Project Manager at Interra Information Technologies, Inc.
Report generation offers invaluable insights into database performance
I basically use the solution for database management and to view the performance of a particular database object, any specific program, batch program, or online programs. Using the CSSZ tool, I can effectively monitor performance. In case of an exception, I can inform the application team. At DB2…
Vijay Ram - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Engineer at Hitachi Systems, Ltd.
Centralized monitoring has simplified multi-database oversight and improved query analysis
Foglight for Databases is very useful; however, the negative side we face is that customer care support is not frequent. If any issues related to Foglight arise, we cannot reach customer care support as soon as possible. It takes much longer compared to other third-party tools, and that is a major issue we are facing with Foglight for Databases. Foglight for Databases is good for monitoring, and we can fetch problematic issues and queries. However, the only main drawback is the customer care support. It is available only during the general shift, so if any issue occurs after 6:00 p.m. or before 9:00 a.m., there is usually no one to handle it. I think there are only two or three people handling customer care for Foglight for Databases.

Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:
 

Pros

"PDA and PPA make our daily housekeeping easier and prevents us from unnecessary reorganizations."
"It takes advantage of new features of DB2."
"​It helps us to reduce hardware costs and to optimize processing times.​"
"The ability to do the CA utilities faster than IBM using less resources, and the RC/Migrator product that allows us to make changes quickly and efficiently using either the IBM utilities or the CA utilities."
"The solution operates on JetOS platform. It is a very good, perfect solution."
"The most important features are batch reporting and the ability to create repositories, enabling automated analysis. These are valuable because they enable me to do automated analysis of trends over time and reduce the time for comparing performance between two periods to identify anomalies."
"We have more control over our DB2 systems and can do our everyday DBA work faster and easier."
"If you want your DBA and programming staff to be efficient and effective, I recommend these tools."
"It enables you to pin down troubleshooting within 30 minutes to an hour, whereas before, you'd be pouring over reports or data from queries for days."
"Foglight is also able to help the DBAs proactively fix problems before they become an issue. It provides them with real-time activity screens that help in this regard. The DBAs are able to go to these screens and look at what's happening in real time, and that buys them time. It helps them see problems ahead of time and find solutions to them."
"If you used to work without it, once you've used it, I'm not sure you'd want to do your job without it anymore."
"The most valuable feature is the in-depth capability SQL Performance Investigator provides. It allows you to drill down to the smallest detail that occurs on our platform. It does a highly detailed and atomic follow-up of what one wants to look for in relation to time and our different instances."
"Foglight's Change Tracking capabilities are another huge feature. It is wonderful to be able to do that. People don't realize the amount of information that Foglight gathers from a given server or instance. It gets down to the version of SQL, the disk array, everything that's there. Any change that's made, any upgrade to SQL, shows up on the dashboard almost immediately. You don't know how much time you save just having a tool in your back pocket that does that for you."
"Foglight has the effect of improving our overall productivity, reducing downtime, and increasing profits."
"The alarms alert proactively if there are any potential or ongoing issues with the databases that we support. That means we can take preventive or corrective action before the issue becomes a big issue. And the SQL PI features enable us to drill down into performance issues in our databases so that we can improve performance, which is important."
"The profiler allows us to look at the profiles of the database queries that are being run over time. It allows us to go back to our customers and say that these are some of the queries causing them some headaches. It gives us the opportunity to provide suggestions on how to improve their experience."
 

Cons

"Minor stability issues."
"The initial set up of parameters is quite exhaustive and some parameters cross products."
"The initial setup parameters are quite exhaustive and some parameters cross with the products."
"In the case of any particular SQL which is executing for a longer time and causing issues with any particular store or DB2 programs, if it could pinpoint the problems like any other tool should do, that would be really helpful."
"The product has been fairly stable for the last couple of years. It has a high learning curve for some of the traditional DBAs who don't want to venture from IBM."
"It's a good product. I would give it a nine out of 10, and the reason is, in general, it's a technical product so I think that it's a little cumbersome."
"I look forward to the application of these tools to all platforms in use, such as z/OS, Unix, and Windows."
"These tools have had their share of bugs."
"I had problems with it for a long time, and it took a while before we could get it running with optimum performance."
"I get a lot of alerts that, while important, are not critical. Then I have to dig in and figure out how to turn alerts off, but not the logging. I want to be able to go back, once we get the other big issues out of the way, and start fine-tuning some of those other areas, but I don't necessarily want to receive an email for all of them."
"The monitoring capabilities for Postgres should be at par with SQL Server. This is the area where we push back on our Quest representative. We want more insights into Postgres."
"It would be amazing if they could enable the "Performance Investigator" functionality across all database platforms."
"When we decided to go with Foglight, a lot of people stopped using the diagnostics part because it was very intimidating... They still won't use it because they feel it's too intimidating. They will open something up and not know what to do. It's not very user-friendly. You have to click on a lot of stuff to find the information."
"When holding data for two years for 20 SQL Servers, the reporting becomes sluggish and unresponsive."
"One thing that I would like, and it's probably something that I could set up internally, is something other than a dashboard which I have to look at to know that a server is down. I'd like bells and whistles to go off... If I look at the dashboard I know there's a server down. But if I'm not looking at it, if I'm looking at some other problem, I want to know about it. You can do that, you can use SMSs and alerts to your phone, and I could set it up to handle that, but it would be nice if, out-of-the-box, Foglight did that."
"Foglight does have a component that allows you to look at things in real time, but it's not as friendly or as efficient in terms of responsiveness as Quest Spotlight is. Foglight might be lacking in this department."
 

Pricing and Cost Advice

Information not available
"The price is worth it, if you have the time to go through the information."
"Pricing is very reasonable. We were able to construct a pretty easy contract with Quest, who were very easy to work with and very amenable to what we are trying to do. It worked out well for us."
"The price of Foglight could be a little more competitive in Chile, and it should be lowered for long-time customers— at least by 20 percent. Sometimes the price is a limitation. We have seven instances and nearly 5 million users. If Quest Foglight could reduce its prices for the clients that have been with it for a long time, we would be able to have more instances."
"This is like the "Cadillac" of performance monitoring software. It's not cheap... I am currently with a company that I was able to convince that the product is worth the cost."
"Compared to the other tools on the market, Foglight is okay in terms of pricing and licensing."
"It is cost-effective. With our EA, it is really based on the scale of our database environment. We found the Quest team to be reasonable and flexible when it comes to pricing and scaling of licenses."
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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews
No data available
Financial Services Firm
18%
Government
10%
Manufacturing Company
7%
Performing Arts
6%
 

Company Size

By reviewers
Large Enterprise
Midsize Enterprise
Small Business
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Midsize Enterprise4
Large Enterprise8
By reviewers
Company SizeCount
Small Business4
Midsize Enterprise2
Large Enterprise14
 

Questions from the Community

What needs improvement with CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS?
In the case of any particular SQL which is executing for a longer time and causing issues with any particular store or DB2 programs, if it could pinpoint the problems like any other tool should do,...
What is your primary use case for CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS?
I basically use the solution for database management and to view the performance of a particular database object, any specific program, batch program, or online programs. Using the CSSZ tool, I can...
What advice do you have for others considering CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS?
The solution operates on JetOS platform. It is a very good, perfect solution. I would rate it ten out of ten. Currently, I do not have any planning for investment at all.
What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for Quest Foglight for Databases?
I have had a good experience with the licensing costs of Foglight for Databases, as we have a provider who has given us good prices, and so far we have not had any cost problems. Regarding configur...
What needs improvement with Quest Foglight for Databases?
Primarily, given that Foglight for Databases is so multi-platform with different databases such as Oracle, SQL Server, and MySQL, the reports are very specific for each engine. An improvement could...
What is your primary use case for Quest Foglight for Databases?
Foglight for Databases serves multiple purposes in my organization, with the primary use being the multi-database aspect, where I can have the status and availability of all databases in a single v...
 

Also Known As

CA Database Management Solutions for DB2 for z/OS
No data available
 

Overview

 

Sample Customers

Blue Hill Data Services
CommitDBA
Find out what your peers are saying about CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS vs. Foglight for Databases and other solutions. Updated: June 2026.
902,495 professionals have used our research since 2012.