tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-246323662024-03-12T21:51:07.088-07:00Db2 News & TipsNews articles and technical tips for current and upcoming versions of Db2 for Linux, Unix, and WindowsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger62125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-40514346567040889372008-11-01T13:58:00.000-07:002008-11-01T15:29:55.349-07:00Didn't make it to IOD? Try IDUG's regional DB2 conferences<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/iduglogo.jpg" /><strong>IDUG Website: <a href="http://www.idug.org/wps/portal/idug/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4oPNgXJgFiegfqRaCIBcJEgfW99X4_83FT9AP2C3NCIckdHRQAzV5NR/delta/base64xml/L3dJdyEvd0ZNQUFzQUMvNElVRS82XzJfMlFM">Regional training events for Q4 2008</a></strong><br /><p><br />IOD is a glittering, sprawling spectacle of DB2 education, but it's not for everyone. Whether you were unable to attend last week's conference because of work conflicts, budget issues, or a moratorium on business trips to Vegas, IDUG has you covered this month with three affordable DB2 conferences, conveniently located at west coast, heartland, and east coast venues. For only <strong>US$425</strong>, you can attend two full days of DB2 education for both the z/OS and LUW platforms, delivered by IDUG's most popular speakers.<br /><ul><li><a href="http://regional.idug.org/ca">November 10-11, 2008 in San Ramon, CA</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://regional.idug.org/pa">November 17-18, 2008 in Camp Hill, PA</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://regional.idug.org/kc">November 19-20, 2008 in Lenexa, KS</a></li><br /></ul><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-54247141669144067692008-10-06T22:28:00.000-07:002008-10-07T09:40:56.336-07:00Today in the US Supreme Court: Will bad data trump your Fourth Amendment rights?<strong>Wired Threat Level Blog: <a href="http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/10/supremes-mull-w.html">Supremes Mull Whether Bad Databases Make for Illegal Searches </a></strong><br /><p>Although I tend to reserve this space for items about DB2, Ryan Singel's story about <a href="http://origin.www.supremecourtus.gov/docket/07-513.htm">Herring vs. US 07-513</a>, a Supreme Court case scheduled for today, struck me as being timely enough and important enough to mention here. I think you'll agree that the implications of this case on database administrators are profound, no matter which side of the argument you happen to support.<br /></p><p>If you agree with the adage that says the most important tests of our civil rights involve the least defensible members of society, then it will come as no surprise that the Mr. Herring for which the case is named is a truly skeezy character, enough to arouse suspicions when he visited the Sheriff's Office in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffee_County,_Alabama">Coffee County, Alabama</a> back in 2004. When an investigator there ran a couple of warrants searches on him, they got a hit in nearby <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_County,_Alabama">Dale County</a> and used it as the justification for locating Herring, pulling him over, and searching his truck for evidence. Sure enough, their search turned up drugs and an illegal weapon, giving them the makings of what appeared to be an open-and-shut case. The problem is that Dale County had no business telling anyone that there was an active warrant out on that guy. The warrant was supposed to have been removed from their system months earlier, but nobody got around to it. If they had, there wouldn't have been any compelling reason to pull Herring over and conduct the search. You might think that a bust made as the result of erroneous data would kill the case, or at least disqualify the resulting evidence obtained during the arrest, but the government disagrees.<br /></p><p>Any database professional involved with law enforcement or criminal justice data should be rightfully concerned about such a precedent (should the Supremes uphold it), since it tells us that bad data in our systems may not only open us up to civil suits (the only recourse we citizens have, according to the government), but also to searches and seizures directed at some otherwise upstanding citizens who are guilty of nothing more than bad luck.<br /></p><p>How much longer until you as a DBA are asked to insert some knowingly bogus data to help an ongoing investigation? <br /></p><p>Keep an eye on this blog for more details on the case.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-25978726842210799362008-09-08T15:59:00.000-07:002008-11-01T15:30:40.367-07:00Last chance to submit your abstracts for IDUG 2009 North America<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/iduglogo.jpg" /><strong>IDUG 2009 North America site: <a href="http://idugew.prod.web.sba.com/callpapers/CallPapers.cfm?conference_id=76">Call for presentations</a></strong><br /><p><br />Today is the last official day to <a href="http://idugew.prod.web.sba.com/callpapers/CallPapers.cfm?conference_id=76">submit presentation abstracts</a> for IDUG 2009 North America, which will be held in Denver from May 11-15, 2009. IDUG is looking for 60-minute technical presentations from real-world DB2 users (and vendors and consultants, too) that will help IDUG continue its long tradition as the premier provider of technical DB2 education. If your abstract is selected, your conference registration fee will be waived.</p> <br /><p><br />Don't be intimidated by the impending deadline. The abstract should contain only a brief summary of what you will present, followed by five (not six, not four) bullet points that show the major sections of your presentation. Submit as many abstracts as you like, and they will be reviewed fairly by the IDUG Conference Planning Committee (a volunteer group of DB2 users just like you).</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-77377070757546981672008-05-26T21:48:00.000-07:002008-05-29T20:20:10.962-07:00IDUG turns the Big D into the Big DB2<strong> <a href="http://www.cafepress.com/buy/mess+texas/-/pv_design_details/pg_1/id_9856150/opt_/fpt_/c_666/"> <img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/mess.gif"></a>IDUG.org: <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/portals/1/2008/docs/NA08_WrapUp_Article_Final.pdf">2008 North America conference wrap-up</a></strong> <br /><p><br />Disclosure: <em>Last week I attended the <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/na/GeneralInformation/tabid/337/Default.aspx">IDUG 2008 North America</a> conference, not just as an IDUG member, but also as a volunteer on IDUG's <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/na/GeneralInformation/2007ConferencePlanningCommittee/tabid/338/Default.aspx">conference planning committee</a>, which started organizing the event over nine months ago. If you attended the conference, I and my fellow CPC volunteers probably played some part in your (hopefully positive) experience.</em><br /></p><br /><p>After last year's North American IDUG conference, which somehow managed to be both sprawling and cramped at the same time, it was a relief to find a bunch of Texas-sized rooms situated relatively close together this year. Most of the sessions had fifteen minute breaks scheduled between them, which allowed for a good deal of casual networking given the short distance between most rooms.</p><br /><p>As expected, Arvind Krishna's <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/portals/1/2008/docs/Monday_GeneralSession_FINAL.pdf">Monday morning keynote</a> provided a detailed state of the union of IBM's holy trinity (DB2, Informix, and IMS). Here are some of the happy numbers I remember:<br /><ul><li>DB2 on System z powers 9 of the world's top 10 insurance companies, 23 of the top 25 retailers in the US, and every single one of the top 59 banks in the world.</li><br /><li>Just one IMS customer (presumably one of the bigger ones) handles as much as three trillion dollars in transactions in a single day.</li><br /><li>IMS databases handle transactions for 95% of Fortune 1000 companies</li><br /><li>The sum total of all live data managed right now in IMS is estimated to be over 15 exabytes, or 15 billion gigabytes, served up on over 3 million MIPS of mainframe hardware.</li><br /></ul><br /><p>You get the idea. DB2 and IMS are big, they're definitely not going away, but IBM keeps working to improve them anyway. Some of those statistics were repeats from previous DB2 conference keynotes, but I believe they're still worth mentioning. One thing that was all new, though, was Arvind's introduction of IBM's newly-acquired SolidDB product as a <a href="http://www.solidtech.com/pdfs/solidDB_solution_for_IBM_DB2_v2.2.pdf">memory-resident cache that front-ends DB2</a>. As an old UNIFACE Seven developer from the 1990s, I had mostly good experiences working with older versions of Solid, and I can only imagine it must be even better these days.</p><br /><p>Curt Cotner's half of the May 19th keynote focused squarely on IBM Data Studio, which appears to be IBM's sincere attempt to atone for Control Center and a rogue's gallery of other infamous DB2 tools. By building Data Studio on top of the Eclipse integrated development environment (which IBM gave to the open source community a few years ago), DB2 admins and developers have a much more solid foundation for building a decent DBA toolkit. I've been working with it for a little while, and it generally does what I want. If you haven't pulled Data Studio down for yourself yet, I recommend you give it a try.</p><br /><p>After four days of solid presentations from DB2 users, I was ready to hear some of the folks from the Toronto Lab share what they could about IBM's DB2 product strategy and drop some hints about the next release (whenever that will be). Tim Vincent from IBM spoke for an hour and a half on best practices for DB2 LUW, and ended with a <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/bestpractices/">link</a> to a collection of detailed documents that you will want to check out.</p><br /><p><br />Held immediately after Tim's session on best practices, the LUW panel was as informative as ever, with Chris Eaton serving as emcee/quizmaster. Even when the inevitable long, rambling questions started rolling in from the audience, Chris handled them as well as anyone in that position could. The panelists confirmed the rumors that some future version of DB2 LUW will allow a migrated database to be enabled for automatic storage, which will be a big help to all those DBAs sitting on databases that were rolled in from DB2 V8.1 or older. There was also mention of finally disabling some of Express-C's <a href="http://db2news.blogspot.com/2007/08/are-you-using-forbidden-features-in.html">forbidden features</a>, but judging from the questions IBM was asking the audience, it was hardly a done deal. If such a lock ever materializes, it may just be a voluntary switch that a DBA can flip at will.</p><br /><p>Attendance was down a bit from last year's IDUG conference in San Jose (which attracted lots of Bay Area IBMers with single-day passes), but there were plenty of favorable comments coming in from this year's crowd, who came all the way to Dallas just to get their DB2 on. Being a CPC volunteer kept me pretty busy at times, but I was still able to enjoy much of the conference. We ate barbecue, played poker, and some of us really got to know a <a href="http://www.shiner.com/beers/beers-home.php?pg=bock">decent local beer</a>. We renewed our certifications, mocked the <a href="http://www.cowboyupnow.com/">robotic livestock</a>, and did whatever we could to get out of line dancing. We didn't know if we'd ever find ourselves in Dallas again, so we did what we could to have a good time while we were there.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-61682111221937992752008-02-01T15:26:00.000-08:002008-02-04T11:25:36.653-08:00Still looking for open source DB2 monitoring tools?<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/hyperic.jpg" /><strong>Hyperic website:<a href="http://www.hyperic.com/downloads/index.html">Hyperic HQ open source version 3.2 released</a></strong><br /><p><br />It's fun when somebody crashes a dull party, and very few parties have been more dreary over the past few years than the gathering of open-source monitoring tools that work out of the box with DB2 LUW. After deploying and customizing <a href="http://nagios.org/">Nagios</a> for a few of my DB2 customers, I felt the need to work up a bit of a rationalization for its abstruse configuration files, but we all know how much comfort rationalizations offer. What I really needed was a solid monitoring stack for DB2, and -- even with a price tag of zero dollars American -- Nagios was often a difficult sell (although their upcoming Version 3 looks somewhat better).</p><br /><p>When my friend <a href="http://www.prostructure.com/">Irving</a> described <a href="http://www.hyperic.com/products/hq_oss.html">Hyperic HQ</a> as the monitoring platform that Nagios should be, I was more than ready to give it a spin. HQ's <a href="http://support.hyperic.com/confluence/display/DOCSHQ30/IBM+DB2">built-in support of DB2 V8 and DB2 9</a> was enough encouragement for me to get it running. Seeing so many servers and services automatically register themselves with the HQ server was a welcome change from the "don't do me any favors" philosophy of Nagios.</p><br /><p>Before the shiny new release of Hyperic HQ 3.2 earlier this week, I poked and prodded versions 3.0.5 and 3.1.4 as they monitored DB2 and other servers running in my lab. I wasn't wild about the documentation's insistence that I monitor DB2 as the instance owner, so I made the DB2 plugin connect as a SYSMON user instead. The plugin did a decent job of autodetecting the tables and tablespaces that were encountering activity. Best of all, once I installed my agents, I was able to configure everything else over the web, with no hateful configuration files expecting me to learn an arcane language that makes httpd.conf look like a Little Golden Book. One more thing: just about everything in HQ can be graphed. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a big fan of <a href="http://rrdtool.org/">RRDTool</a>, but I'll happily use another graphing tool if it's going to do nearly all the work for me.</p><p>The secret gem of Hyperic HQ is the <a href="http://support.hyperic.com/confluence/display/DOCSHQ30/SQL+Query+server">SQL Query server</a> type, which will run any piece of SQL you can throw at it, and even graph the resulting number. If the number returned (or query execution time) fall outside of your predefined limits, it will send you a civilized email alert. Unless you'd rather wait for your users to inform you of database problems, I heartily recommend using Hyperic HQ to wire up DB2 (if not everything) and learn what normal looks like in your shop.</p><br /><p>Hyperic HQ is an open source project written in J2EE that runs on an embedded JBoss server. Its internal database is PostgreSQL, but MySQL and Oracle are also supported. If anyone on Planet DB2 are interested in lending a hand with the DB2 port, I'm sure you'll receive a warm welcome from the HQ team.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-64983045808887533732008-01-16T12:32:00.001-08:002008-01-17T15:54:59.357-08:00Non-DB2: Someone blog-tagged me<p><strong>Blog tag 8*8:</strong>My response to <a href="http://www.db2portal.com/2008/01/blog-tagged.html">Craig Mullins</a></p><br /><br /><p>If you follow the <a href="http://planetdb2.com/">Planet DB2</a> blog aggregator, you'll see that there's been some blog-tagging going on, with my blog being one of the more recent targets. Although I generally stick to DB2-related content for this blog, I'll play along and reveal eight things you may not know about me. Then I'll tag eight more bloggers before someone else gets to them (we know a lot of the same people).<br /></p><br /><p><strong>1. </strong> I played the tenor saxophone pretty much every day from junior high through college, in nearly every possible format: marching band, concert band, jazz big band, combo, and various jazz/funk/R&B groups that gigged around town. Although my grades were good, all of my scholarships were music-related.</p><br /><p><strong>2. </strong>Being a band geek meant it was inevitable that I would meet my future wife at band camp. This year we will have been married ten years.</p><br /><p><strong>3. </strong>By the time I first rode on an airplane, I was 18 and had just finished a summer internship at <a href="http://www.honeywell.com/sites/aero/Flight_Management_Systems_BR.htm">Honeywell</a>, where I was editing Pascal source code for the Airbus A320. So, I was debugging airliners before I ever set foot on one.</p><br /><p><strong>4. </strong>Since moving to Portland over 11 years ago, I've become a bit obsessed about <a href="http://stumptowncoffee.com/">coffee</a>. I even volunteered (but did not compete) at a <a href="http://nwbarista.com/">regional barista competition</a>, which was more than enough to convince me to stick with my day job. After giving up on trying to make good espresso at home, I now brew my morning coffee a cup at a time, using a <a href="http://melitta.com/itemdy00.asp?T1=64+0209&Cat=">Melitta cone</a>, <a href="http://www.breville.com.au/ssl/cms/images_cms/large_SK500.jpg">electric teakettle</a>, and two digital scales. <em>(OCD much?)</em></p><br /><p><strong>5. </strong>Last spring I donated my <a href="http://www.intellichoice.com/reports/vehicleReport/vehicle_nmb/100011199/type/used/1993/Saturn/SL2">14-year-old car</a> to <a href="http://www.donateforcharity.com/">charity</a> and started riding a <a href="http://www.fisherbikes.com/bike/model/cronus">bicycle</a> for the first time in 20 years. Despite all of my business travel last year, I still managed to bike over 500 miles on it, just running errands around town. It sure beats hunting for a parking space in downtown Portland.</p><br /><p><strong>6. </strong>I'm both proud and a bit surprised that the homegrown TiVo I built last summer from commodity PC hardware still works. It uses <a href="http://mysettopbox.tv/knoppmyth.html">MythTV</a> software to simultaneously record shows from two different HDTV channels. It's the envy of my neighbors (at least the ones who understand what it is).</p><br /><p><strong>7. </strong>A few years ago I found a really good recipe for baby back ribs, which I make every summer for my neighborhood potluck. Invite me over, and maybe I'll bring some.</p><br /><p><strong>8. </strong>2008 marks my third year as an <a href="http://frsconsulting.com/">independent consultant</a>, a bold and exciting move that I've never regretted. One of the things that has helped me succeed is having a large room to use exclusively as a home office. Working from home also gives me the opportunity to fiddle with various pieces of <a href="http://www.linksys.com/servlet/Satellite?c=L_Product_C1&childpagename=US%2FLayout&cid=1118334622279&pagename=Linksys%2FCommon%2FVisitorWrapper">networking equipment</a>, a secret hobby of mine.</p><br /><p>That wasn't too painful. Now I take great pleasure in tagging <a href="http://www.database-brothers.com/blog/AlexanderKopac.php">Alexander</a>, <a href="http://coffeecode.net/">Dan</a>, <a href="http://fastwonderblog.com/">Dawn</a>, <a href="http://jeffjonas.typepad.com/">Jeff</a>, <a href="http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/database/talk">Leon</a>, <a href="http://www.db2-blog.com/">Martin</a>, <a href="http://www.database-brothers.com/blog/Scott_Hayes.php">Scott</a>, and <a href="http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/bi/websphere">Vincent</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-18933305488542909832007-12-14T21:17:00.000-08:002007-12-14T23:55:24.735-08:00Free PHP software to monitor DB2<img src="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/170/421679860_7af0c474d8.jpg" /><strong>SourceForge.net website: <a href="http://sourceforge.net/projects/db2mc/"> DB2 Monitoring Console</a></strong><br /><p><br />If you're looking for a web-based monitoring suite for DB2 9, IBM's brand spanking new upload of DB2 Management Console (DMC) to SourceForge may be worth a look. Peter Kohlmann from IBM mentioned this project at IOD 2007, and it's good to see that DMC is already classified as Production/Stable, and free/open via the <a href="http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0.html">Apache 2 license</a>. If you're not the type of person who builds and installs PHP servers for fun, <a href="http://www.zend.com/en/products/core/for-ibm">Zend Core for IBM</a> installed rather cleanly for me, allowing me to run DMC without much hassle. Give it a try and see how IBM is approaching the idea of building open-source, web-based monitoring for DB2.</p><br /></p><br /><em>Excellent photo of the worst movie theater ever courtesy of <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/madmask/">MadMask</a></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-61721148203308636182007-11-08T21:30:00.000-08:002007-11-11T12:52:01.871-08:00DB2's latest TPC benchmark transforms into giant robot, beats up on other benchmarks<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/436966390_d81b81b973.jpg" alt="bench mark" /><br /><strong>TPC website: <a href="http://tpc.org/tpch/results/tpch_result_detail.asp?id=107101501">343,551 queries per hour on 10,000GB of TPC-H data (US$32.89 per QphH) </a></strong><br /><p><br />Perhaps one of the most surprising omissions at the IOD conference keynote sessions is any mention of IBM's October 15th TPC-H benchmark (the same day the conference began), in which they fired up a battalion of hardware and software to achieve fastest ten terabyte data warehouse benchmark of all time. Thirty-two POWER6 machines spinning a total of more than 3,000 disks served up 343,551 queries per hour, nearly double the speed of the <a href="http://tpc.org/tpch/results/tpch_result_detail.asp?id=106071701">previous throughput record</a> (also set by DB2). Such surreal transaction rates also pushed the price-performance ratio to record lows for that category (well, at least by a couple of pennies, but we'll get to that later). However, with all benchmarks, there are quite a few things to consider.</p><br /><p>As with most data warehousing benchmark submissions, <strong>the 3,000+ disks mentioned above are basically 90% empty</strong>. Remember how much pushback you got from your VP or CxO when you handed him or her a quote for the storage you needed? Now think of the look you'd get if you requested eleven times as much space purely for performance reasons. If anyone out there has been able to use their Jedi mind trick powers to pull off such a feat, please tell me how you did it. I promise I'll pass your name on to IBM and EMC so they can start a bidding war to hire you as the greatest storage sales rep of all time, and I will spend my referral bonus on a <a href="http://cloverequipment.com/whyclover/why_clover.aspx">gloriously expensive coffeemaker designed by aerospace engineers</a>.</p><br /><p>Another curious aspect of these benchmarks is the gap between what IBM recommends and what they do in DB2 benchmarks. <strong>When it comes to the TPC-H data warehouse benchmark, IBM is not eating their own dog food.</strong> If you have attended a conference presentation or watched a webcast about DB2 9, you'll know that IBM is (justifiably) proud of several engine features that can profoundly improve performance:<ul><br /><li><a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/topic/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0024366.htm">Self-tuning memory management</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0023489.htm">Deep compression</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://domino.watson.ibm.com/comm/research.nsf/pages/r.datamgmt.innovation.mdc.html">Multi-dimensional clustering</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v8/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.doc/core/c0009318.htm">Materialized query tables</a> (Okay, this one is understandable, since the TPC have slapped so many restrictions on this area that it might as well be banned altogether)</li> <br /><li><a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/index.jsp?topic=/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0009651.htm">Block-based bufferpools</a> (Also understandable, since there's little need to split up a bufferpool for a TPC-H workload that is geared exclusively toward block-based prefetching)</li><br /></ul><br /><p>Were any of those features used in IBM's October 15th benchmark? Nope. Does IBM tell customers to exploit those features for their own data warehouses? All the time. The reason for this contradiction has to do primarily with database load time, a metric that is apparently much more significant in the bizarro universe of the TPC than in real-world shops, which rarely load a multi-terabyte warehouse from scratch. MDC tables would have chugged a bit to load so much unsorted data, and deep compression requires a table reorg (and a license for nearly 13,000 <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0611zikopoulos2/">value units</a>). What you end up with is a frustrating inconsistency between the real needs of data warehouse decision makers and a skewed technical experiment that purports to help people make those decisions.</p><br /><p>That's not to say the benchmarks are pointless. If they were, I wouldn't waste time writing about them. Buried in those interesting details is IBM's preference to <strong>disable INTRA_PARALLEL in favor of running two DPF partitions per CPU core</strong>, resulting in 256 partitions that each manage barely 50GB of data. It's also not surprising that IBM applied <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0605ahuja2/">table partitioning</a> to the ORDERS and LINEITEM tables. Anyone running DB2 V8.2 Enterprise Edition should be scheming to figure out how to exploit this powerful feature as they plan an upgrade to DB2 9 or 9.5, since table partitioning is included in that edition at no extra charge.</p><br /><p>The last part I wanted to bring up is the price, since the final price-performance ratio carries so much weight. <strong>IBM offered themselves a 48% discount</strong> for much of the hardware and software, but other competing vendors pull the same stunt with their seven and eight-figure TPC-H configurations, so don't get too worked up over it. Unless you plan to spend millions of dollars up front for such a system, you are unlikely to realize that deep a discount.</p><br /><p>Overall, the numbers realized in this benchmark are good news. IBM took their hottest new UNIX hardware and proved that DB2 can exploit all that new hotness to achieve crazy fast performance, even though IBM (for whatever reason) chose not to exploit many of DB2's best features. Maybe one day someone will design a more relevant benchmark, in which the systems running it more closely resemble reality, but in the meantime, we at least have reports like this one that we can dig through for clues.</p><br /><em>Photo pun courtesy of <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/725/">B. Shirley</a></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-4676409000009642852007-10-15T23:38:00.000-07:002007-11-07T00:10:11.704-08:00New releases of DB2 software and DB2 magazine greet IOD attendees<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/dbt200703cover200.jpg" /><strong>DB2 Magazine: <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2007/3/index.jhtml">Volume 12, Issue 3</a></strong><br /><p>With Web 2.0 and mashups gaining traction as a compelling way to rapidly develop specialized database applications, it was only a matter of time before it hit the pages of <a href="http://db2mag.com/">DB2 Magazine</a>. The <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202400131">cover story</a> features IBM Web 2.0 expert (and PlanetDB2 blog buddy) <a href="http://jhingran.typepad.com/anant_jhingrans_musings/">Anant Jhingran</a>, who describes how building a data services layer he calls Info 2.0 is essential to enabling Web 2.0 developers to build exciting services that all the cool kids will want to use.<br /></p><p>DB2 Magazine's IDUG columnist, DB2 Gold Consultant Dave Buelke, writes about the <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202400498">environmental benefits</a> of running just thirty z/OS mainframes instead of over 4,000 traditional servers. In the past couple years, this topic has resonated with me often because I keep running into database professionals who mention that their companies are moving to the mainframe mostly for environmental reasons. When you can pack that much computing power into a smaller building with less cooling equipment and only consume a fifth as much electricity, it becomes a strong selling point.<br /></p><br /><p>Here at IOD, Monday morning kicked off with a multi-part spectacle of noise and color, but many of us DB2 folks were just as impressed with Ambuj Goyal's <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/22457.wss">announcement</a> of DB2 9.5, which, after months of beta testing, is scheduled for GA release on Halloween. Its new thread-based architecture, sophisticated workload management controls embedded right in the engine, and malleable XML documents should result in a quick adoption of this powerful DBMS.<br /></p><br /><br /><p>There's simply too much going on at IOD right now, but I hope to grab some time to describe more of it later this week.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-46264996688865368122007-10-12T09:42:00.000-07:002007-11-07T00:09:24.909-08:00Get the most out of next week's IOD conference<a href="http://flickr.com/photos/eetree/389908824/in/set-72157594421131280/"><img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/mandalaybay.jpg" /></a><strong>Lifehacker blog: <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/notag/conference-attendee-tips-35471.php">Conference attendee tips</a></strong><br /><p><br />As you probably know, a conference is a different beast than a typical business trip, so I've collected some tips to help you better prepare for it. If you're not already familiar with Lifehacker, the award-winning productivity blog, their article on <a href="http://lifehacker.com/software/notag/conference-attendee-tips-35471.php">how to prepare for a conference</a> is a good example of their ever-useful advice. Keep in mind, however, that their tip to explore the conference city in advance on Flickr may result in some <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NSFW">NSFW</a> images, since we <em>are</em> talking about <a href="http://flickr.com/search/?q=vegas">Vegas</a> after all.<br /></p><br /><p>The following tips come from my own sordid past, and from a committee I'm on that is planning <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/na/">next year's IDUG conference</a>:<br/><br /><ul><li>Although people tend to think of a conference as several days of sitting in chairs, dodging flying bullet points, you'll also be walking a mile or two each day just to get around. After that, you'll probably be standing around for two to four hours a night at various receptions, unless your <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointy_Haired_Boss" title="pointy-haired boss">PHB</a> is screaming at you to fight another production fire from your hotel room. Just in case you "accidentally" turn off your cell phone in order to mingle at the evening events, <strong>wear the most comfortable shoes you have</strong> in order to minimize pain and suffering.</li><br /><li>Bring a sturdy journal for note taking, and remember to grab a couple of decent pens from the office. Do not rely on the hotel notepads, which disintegrate quickly, or the free pens, which often fail.</li><br /><li>While in the exhibitors' area, put yourself on a swag diet. Unless your children are very easily amused, the odds are that nobody back home will want or appreciate the T-shirts or various plastic debris you collected from exhibitors. If you don't want vendors cold-calling you at your office for the next few months, don't take any of their swag. Don't get me wrong, a little bit of stuff is OK, just limit yourself to small sackful that can be easily carried onto the plane. For those of you suffering from an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsive_hoarding">OCD</a> that compels you to amass the largest heap of giveaways, don't depart for the conference without your company's FedEx or UPS number.</li><br /><li>Regardless of the temperature outside, it's a safe bet that <strong>the rooms at the conference will be kept slightly colder than a meat locker</strong>. If you have to wear a sweater in your computer room back home, you'll probably need one for the conference as well. In fact, just bring whatever you normally wear in the computer room, not only to show it off at the conference, but also to keep your jealous co-workers from wearing it while you're away.</li><br /><li>While exchanging business cards with new acquaintances (you <em>do</em> plan to meet new people, right?), take a moment to write a quick note about the person on the back of the card they hand you, even if they're still standing there. They'll most likely be flattered that you are taking the time to remember them for later, and you won't be racking your brain later on as you attempt to remember something about that guy or gal you met in some booth after downing your fourth Heineken. Just be discreet while you're jotting down a quick note, and, if possible, try not to let your new colleague see what you're writing about them.</li><br /></ul><br />Other than that, eat wisely, take it easy on the caffeine, and drink plenty of water. Call your family each evening (I've found that the break between the day's last session and the beginning of the exhibitor cocktail hour is a very good time), and don't fall behind on sleep. If I've missed anything, feel free to post a comment. See you in Vegas...<br /></p><br /><em>Boss photo courtesy of <a href="http://eetree.blogspot.com/">Matthew Lehman</a></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-60590526322567438162007-10-06T12:46:00.000-07:002007-10-06T20:25:26.275-07:00Grab a sneak peek at next week's IOD2007 slides<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/443x100.jpg" /><br /><strong>IBM Information On Demand 2007 website: <a href="https://www-950.ibm.com/events/IOD/IOD2007/">Download Conference Presentations</a></strong><br /><p><br />With IOD 2007 just days away, you've either reserved your seat in all the sessions you plan to attend, or you're the gambling type who's counting on a week of lucky breaks to get yourself into some very crowded rooms. No matter which path you've chosen, registered attendees now have access to advance copies of the slides for many IOD sessions. Just sign on to <a href="https://www-950.ibm.com/events/IOD/IOD2007/secure/materials.do?method=list" title="View Session Details and Download Conference Presentation">this site</a> and you can start evaluating your choices. The downside is that the PDF files don't contain any of the speaker's typed notes, so they're not a very good substitute for attending the sessions in person.</p><br /><p>By getting a head start on these sessions, you'll be saving yourself from the chore of looking through the conference DVD the night of the opening reception, resulting in more time for drinking. You're welcome!</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-8730847554089248552007-08-31T22:49:00.000-07:002007-08-31T23:22:12.292-07:00Last chance to submit your DB2 presentation abstracts to IDUG<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/iduglogo.jpg" /><strong>IDUG website: <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/callforpres">IDUG 2008 North America - Call for Presentations</a></strong><br /><p><br />Labor Day weekend brings many things, and for me, one of those things is the yearly reminder to submit my IDUG presentation abstracts before the rapidly approaching deadline. If you've been waiting until the last minute to write and submit an abstract to IDUG for their 2008 conference, well here it is: <strong>The deadline for submitting an abstract for a DB2 or IMS technical session is Tuesday, September 4, 2007</strong>, so this weekend is your last chance.</p><br /><p>They're not looking for a lot of detail in your abstract, just a paragraph overview and five bullet points, but you still don't want to be scrambling to submit it at the last minute, because the IDUG committee members have built a trapdoor contraption that quickly and mercilessly swallows up scruffy, hastily-written abstracts. Take some time to polish it just right, and it may be one of the 120+ sessions that are accepted for next year's conference in Dallas, and that would mean you don't have to pay the registration fee to attend IDUG 2008 North America.</p><br /><p>Good luck!</p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-78903368630778792262007-08-28T15:27:00.000-07:002007-08-28T23:19:49.785-07:00DB2 Fix Packs ripe for the picking<strong>IBM website: Fix Packs for <a href="http://www.ibm.com/software/data/db2/udb/support/downloadv8.html">DB2 V8</a> and <a href="http://www.ibm.com/software/data/db2/udb/support/downloadv9.html">DB2 9</a></strong><br /><p><br />After a long growing season, IBM has raised two delicious DB2 Fix Packs for your consumption. <a href="http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=71&uid=swg21255352">DB2 V8 FixPak 15</a> and <a href="http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?rs=71&uid=swg21255607">DB2 9 Fix Pack 3</a> are both available from IBM's FTP site. They are full of juicy fixes, but you should still test them first on a non-production machine. Bon appétit!<br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-7139146656984777312007-08-08T21:24:00.000-07:002007-08-09T09:42:01.481-07:00Compress your way to a free IDUG conference registration<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/pile.jpg" /><strong>IDUG website: <a href="http://www.idug.org/wps/portal/idug/compressionchallenge">DB2 9 Deep Compression Challenge</a></strong><br /><p><br />If the idea of submitting a <a href="http://conferences.idug.org/Default.aspx?tabid=435">presentation abstract</a> intimidates you, you now have one more way to try out for a free registration to one of next year's IDUG conferences.<br /></p><br /><p>This is something I've been waiting to write about since it was briefly announced during the IDUG 2007 conference in San Jose. IBM and IDUG are teaming up to raffle off four registration passes to next year's IDUG conferences. All you need to do to enter the drawing is provide a brief description of the space savings you've achieved with DB2's <a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/topic/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0023489.htm">deep compression</a> feature. Here's where it gets good: not only do you not need to realize the best compression ratio to win, you don't even need to be running DB2. If you're not running a version of DB2 9 with deep compression enabled, you can run your data through IBM's free <a href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/9/dsa.html">Database Storage Analyzer</a> and it will provide a very accurate estimate of the savings you'd get with deep compression.</p><br /><p>You have until October 1, 2007 to pull it together. Like I said, if you do end up pulling off an amazing feat of compression, your chances of winning the raffle are the same, but you <em>will</em> get an attaboy at this fall's <a href="http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/conf/">IOD</a> conference.</p><br /><br/><br/><em>Superb, high-density photo courtesy of <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/geraldoh/">Gerald Oh</a></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-35439877475159613792007-08-02T20:57:00.000-07:002007-08-02T21:20:01.631-07:00Award-winning, eighteen-terabyte BCU data warehouse featured in latest DB2 Magazine<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/dbt200702cover200.jpg" /><strong>DB2 Magazine: <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2007/2/index.jhtml">Volume 12, Issue 2</a></strong><br /><p><br />IBM's <a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v8//topic/com.ibm.db2.udb.bcu.doc/c0012182.htm">balanced configuration unit</a> methodology for designing and sizing data warehouses may not absolutely guarantee a successful implementation, but it does go a long way toward simplifying the process. The <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201201118">cover story</a> of the latest issue of DB2 Magazine chronicles the path taken by <a href="http://ingenix.com/">Ingenix</a> to implement Galaxy, the name they gave to their <a href="http://www.tdwi.org/research/display.aspx?id=8523">TDWI award-winning</a> enterprise data warehouse.<br /></p><br /><p>In other news, <a href="http://iiug.org/index.php">IIUG</a> President Stuart Litel <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201200314">reveals</a> that they're tired of us DB2 nerds and are taking their ball and holding their own Informix-only conference next April near the big Informix lab in Lenexa, KS. Sorry you feel that way, guys. You were a fun bunch.</p><br /><p>Speaking of conferences, Howard Fosdick drops an interesting factoid in his <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201200477">certification column</a>: <strong>over 60% of IDUG conference attendees are not DBAs</strong>. I <em>knew</em> there was something suspicious about those folks.</p><br /><p>If you didn't get a printed copy of DB2 Magazine this month, then you have no choice but to go <a href="http://www.db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2007/2/index.jhtml">here</a> to check it out.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-80247674251151942832007-08-01T17:20:00.000-07:002007-08-01T21:40:33.095-07:00Are you using forbidden features in Express-C?<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/mdcsign.jpg" /><strong>developerWorks article: <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/0301zikopoulos/0301zikopoulos1.html?ca=drs-"> Compare the distributed DB2 9 data servers<br /></a></strong><br /><p><br />If you've spent much time playing with <a href="http://ibm.com/db2/express/">DB2 Express-C</a>, you may have noticed it contains some very powerful features:<br /><ul><br /><li>multi-dimensional clustering (<a href= "http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/topic/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0007201.htm" >MDC</a>)</li><br /><li>materialized query tables (<a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/topic/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0005324.htm">MQTs</a>)</li><br /><li><a href="http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/db2luw/v9/topic/com.ibm.db2.udb.admin.doc/doc/c0023489.htm">deep compression</a></li><br /><li><a href="http://blogs.ittoolbox.com/database/technology/archives/hidden-treasures-in-814-7029">compressed backups</a></li><br /></ul><br /></p><br /><p>Technically, Express-C users have no permission from IBM to use the features listed above, even though the product currently doesn't prevent anyone from doing so. IBM generally doesn't disable advanced features on lower-end editions of a shared codebase, and Express-C is no exception, so it's up to the user to understand what is and isn't compliant. Each feature listed above requires a licensed DB2 product edition and one or more add-on packages in order to be legit to use. If IBM suddenly decided to follow through on their rules and disable those features in Express-C, you'd be in a pretty bad spot if your app relied on them, unless you were ready to spend a significant amount of money on emergency upgrades.<br /></p><br /><p>If any of this comes as a shock, you'll appreciate the <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/0301zikopoulos/0301zikopoulos1.html?ca=drs-">lovingly arranged table of features and products</a> assembled by DB2 maven Paul Zikopoulos. Read it, and your excuses of DB2 licensing ignorance will magically disappear.</p><br /><p>By the way, none of this applies to <a href="http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/SG247298.html?Open">pureXML</a>, which IBM has fully authorized for use in DB2 Express-C, so feel free to use the heck out of that until the neighbors come over and ask you to stop.</p><br /><br /><br /><em>Stern, commanding photo courtesy of <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/70655643@N00/">Michael M. Rubino</a></em>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-18669847312146763592007-06-13T19:48:00.000-07:002007-06-13T21:21:14.205-07:00Viper 2 open beta about to hatch<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/viperroom.jpg" /><strong>developerWorks: <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_forum.jsp?forum=1116&cat=19">DB2 Viper 2 Open Beta forum for Linux, UNIX and Windows</a></strong><br /><p><br />If you're at all curious about the details of the next release of DB2, there is currently no better place to watch for clues than <a href="http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_forum.jsp?forum=1116&cat=19">this forum</a> on IBM developerWorks. After three months in closed beta, Viper 2 is now ready for testing and evaluation by a much larger community of users, <strong>including you</strong>.<br /></p><br /><p><em>Thanks for the swanky photo, <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/yausser/">yausser</a>!</em></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-60285350665361301972007-06-03T17:28:00.000-07:002007-06-03T18:30:45.914-07:00Fake Name Generator is cheaper than ever<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/hellomynameisart.jpg"/><strong>Website: <a href="http://fakenamegenerator.com">Fake Name Generator</a></strong><br /><p><br />When I first blogged about this <a href="http://db2news.blogspot.com/2006/06/generate-excellent-test-data-quickly.html">last year</a>, the service was hosted behind an electronics vendor's website, and it only allowed you to generate one fake identity at a time for free (but a batch of 2000 cost only a buck). Since then, the site's creator has made several improvements, including a very generous extension to the free portion of the service. Users may now request a batch of up to 40,000 identities <em>for free</em> and receive the resulting data in about two days (at least until we all start hammering the site for freebies). Since you're allowed to have up to three of those free batch requests queued up, you're actually able to receive up to 120,000 names in fairly short order. Theoretically, you could submit more free requests later on, as long as you have no more than three requests in their queue at the same time. If you absolutely cannot wait the two days for a batch to turn around, you can expedite your request for as little as ten bucks. Considering that each batch of 40,000 names used to cost US$20 under the old pricing, this upgrade is easy to appreciate.</p><br /><p><acronym title="Obligatory DB2 content">ObDB2</acronym>: Having 40,000 (or more) rows of decent-looking (but utterly fake) customer data to load into your database can really simplify application testing. The names are realistic, so your test users won't be complaining about screens full of gibberish, and the uniqueness of each record means you can leave your constraints in place. The folks behind this valuable service have truly cracked the problem to the point that you probably have no business attempting to generate your own dummy customer data anymore. In fact, I may send them a little money just for the time they've saved me so far.</p><br /><p><em>Totally sweet photo courtesy of <a href="http://andreaharner.com">Andrea Harner</em></a></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-47132734821293628852007-06-03T15:44:00.000-07:002007-06-03T16:49:18.467-07:00XMLSpy gets its DB2 on<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/xmlspy.gif" alt="XMLSpy logo"/><strong><a href="http://www.altova.com/IBM_DB2_9_pureXML.html">Altova tools for working with IBM DB2 9 pureXML </a></strong><br /><p>I'm not very involved with XML these days, so I have to thank my buddy <a href="http://bsng2005.blogspot.com">David</a> for bringing this exciting story to my attention.</p><p>On May 30th, 2007, Altova <a href="http://www.altova.com/IBM_053007.html" title="Altova 2007-05-30 press release">announced</a> the introduction of DB2 9 pureXML support in several of their products, including XMLSpy, the gold standard for XML modeling and development software. Starting with Version 2007 Release 3 (v2007r3), XMLSpy, MapForce, StyleVision, and DatabaseSpy will recognize the pureXML features of DB2 9. Even Altova's no-cost XML forms utility, <a href="http://www.altova.com/products/authentic/xml_db_form_editor.html">Authentic</a>, is now integrated with pureXML content in DB2.</p><p>If you're working with any amount of XML data, regardless of whether or not it's being handled by pureXML, there's probably an Altova product that can help you, so do yourself a favor and make some time to play with a free 30-day trial version.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-59444855196009122772007-05-31T21:40:00.000-07:002007-06-01T07:07:15.983-07:00Three days left to respond to IDUG's call for volunteers<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/volunteer.jpg" alt="Volunteer" /><strong>IDUG website: <a href="http://idug.org/wps/portal/idug/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4o3NHIBSYGYnoH6kehCARhCRq6mCDFfj_zcVP0gfW_9AP2C3NDQiHJHRQBb3XXi/delta/base64xml/L0lDU0lKQ1RPN29na2tBISEvb0lvUUFBSVFnakZJQUFRaENFSVFqR0EhLzRKRmlDbzBlaDFpY29uUVZHaGQtLzdfMl8zN0Y!?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_2_37F_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/IDUG+Site/About/Volunteers/Becoming+an+IDUG+Volunteer/"> Become an IDUG Volunteer</a></strong><br /><p><br />If, for whatever reason, attending an IDUG conference has motivated you to find out more about helping them as a volunteer for 2007-2008, here's your chance. As mentioned in the Call For Volunteers breakfast at IDUG's recent conference in San Jose, IDUG has posted a Word/OpenOffice <a href="http://idug.org/wps/wcm/resources/file/ebbcab09f56172e/2008VOL.doc">application form</a> on the IDUG website.</p><br /><p>The impending deadline of June 4, 2007 means it's now put up or shut up time. All those ideas you've had on how to improve the yearly conference have a much better chance of being realized if you become a part of the <acronym title="North American Conference Planning Committee">NACPC</acronym> or one of the other IDUG committees.</p><br /><p>Good luck!</p><br /><p><em>...and thanks to <a href="http://flickr.com/photos/timparkinson/">Tim Parkinson</a> for the nifty photo.</em></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-81915413376820287462007-05-24T23:40:00.000-07:002007-05-25T14:04:50.682-07:00Last chance to submit your IDUG attendee survey and win prizes<strong>Surveyz.com: <a href="http://www.surveyz.com/TakeSurvey?id=68639">IDUG 2007 North America attendee evaluation</a></strong><br /><p><br />If you attended IDUG 2007 in San Jose, you have until the end of Friday, May 25th, to complete an online survey which will not only help IDUG leadership improve the conference, but will also put you in the running for a free conference registration for IDUG 2008 (a US$2000 value). There's really no easier way to get a chance at a free conference reg, so I hope you'll take a moment out of your Friday lunch break to offer your opinion to IDUG.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-64346127070910553982007-05-21T22:08:00.000-07:002007-05-23T23:02:24.441-07:00IDUG... but you may want to as well<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/NA07-button-sm.gif" /><strong>Takeaways from IDUG NA 2007</strong><br /><p><br />Yeah, I know...IDUG wrapped up its 2007 conference a while ago, but I took a bit of a vacation afterward, so I'm just starting to dig myself out of the pile of notes, business cards, and action items that I maneuvered my self into back in San Jose. I'm sharing my observations so those of you who didn't attend the conference can get a feel for what goes on there. Even if you did attend, IDUG is kind of a big conference, with a lot going on at the same time, so maybe I saw a few things that you missed.<br /></p><br /><p><strong>The numbers</strong><br/>IDUG staffers with <a href="http://smithbucklin.com/">SmithBucklin</a> estimate this year's conference turnout at around 1500 attendees, which beats last year's numbers and this year's initial projections. Surprisingly, quite a few attendees simply showed up the first day and paid full rip at the registration booth, rather than booking just a few weeks in advance and saving several hundred dollars. If those folks waited until the last minute to register, they probably paid top dollar for their airfare and lodging as well. I'm a bit puzzled by that tactic, but perhaps it's because I don't work for a big, indecisive company.<br /></p><br /><p><img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/jeff_jonas.jpg" alt="Jeff Jonas" /><strong>The surprisingly good keynote</strong><br/>After fidgeting my way through much of the pitch-heavy keynote at Monday's kickoff session, I didn't have very high expectations for Wednesday's keynote from <a href="http://jeffjonas.typepad.com/about.html">Jeff Jonas</a>, a guy I'd never met, whose company made some sort of fraud-detecting software that <a href="http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/7471.wss" title="press release of IBM's acquisition of SRD">IBM acquired</a> over two years ago. I couldn't have been more wrong. First and foremost, Jeff was genuinely funny, which made the 90 minutes fly by. His slides were illustrated primarily with monochromatic squiggles that one would assume were drawn by a hyperactive first-grader or perhaps a clever parrot, until he explains that he does his own illustrations mostly during long flights and without the aid of a mouse (as if using a mouse would even help). Despite having a title of Chief Scientist, Jeff was surprisingly humble when he talked about the events that shaped his career, such as the stint where he lived out of his car before forming SRD, and the executives he actively recruited to replace him as CEO and chairman of his own company. Even when Jeff got down to brass tacks about his company's <a href="http://ibm.com/db2/eas/" title="IBM Entity Analytic Solutions">software</a>, it was still thoroughly interesting. He covered a lot of ground in his talk, rarely spending more than a minute per slide, in a bit of a rush to catch a mid-morning flight out of San Jose. Many of my colleagues either couldn't or didn't drag themselves to this early morning session, but I'm glad I did, because it was very well done and a refreshingly unique presentation for IDUG.<br /></p><br /><p><strong>An afternoon at Nerdvana</strong><br/>The other highlight that day was a late afternoon reception at <a href="http://www.ajnordley.com/IBM/Air/SVL/index.html" title="Silicon Valley Lab">SVL</a>, which will soon be comemmorating its 30th anniversary as the world's first large-scale software development lab. Conference attendees who caught the IDUG bus to SVL could mingle amongst themselves, talk to DB2 developers from the Toronto Lab, or follow SVL's big-brained Martians on a guided tour through much of the facility. Among other things, the tour revealed that IBM routinely videotapes users (with permission, of course) in order to improve software usability, and that the average software developer at SVL has a private office with a door (what a good idea). We also saw countless <a href="http://ibm.com/zSeries/">zSeries</a> mainframes, and over a third of a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petabyte">petabyte</a> of high-end storage. It may not be the <a href="http://www.time.com/time/photoessays/2006/inside_google/1.html">Googleplex</a>, but our sunny afternoon at SVL was the best off-site reception of the six IDUG conferences I've attended.<br /><p><strong>Emerging details of Viper II</strong><br/>Just when you thought IBM had unveiled all of their database tricks last year when DB2 9 came out, IBMers from the Toronto Lab are already making careful proclamations about the enhancements in the release they're calling Viper II (which is far less confusing than its original codename of Python). I attended some of those IDUG sessions, as well as the closed beta kickoff for Viper II back in March, and I can safely say that IBM is not content to sit and coast after releasing DB2 9. Viper II contains an impressive mix of enhanced features along with entirely new functionality that aims to profoundly change the way DBAs work with DB2. Unfortunately, I am a bit intimidated by the dense stream of legalese preceding those Viper II slides, so I won't be going into detail about what was discussed in those sessions. The good news is that if you attended the conference (or work with someone who did), you can read all about it on the conference DVD. That way, you get the information straight from the source, and I don't get banned from future DB2 beta briefings, which are typically held in Toronto in the dead of winter.<br /></p><br /><p><strong>Little DB2 and Big DB2</strong><br/>For various reasons, many mainframe DB2 shops out there are dipping their toes (or being thrown screaming) into <a href="http://ibm.com/db2/9">DB2 for LUW</a>, and quite a few of them don't like what they see. That can be evidenced by IDUG sessions that are geared to help perplexed mainframe DBAs navigate the alien world of UNIX, and also by the types of questions and complaints that a few mainframe DBAs raised during open discussions with a panel of DB2 LUW developers from the Toronto Lab. One rather vocal mainframe DBA gave DB2 LUW the snarky nickname of "little DB2" and made a habit of saying it in front of the panelists. To dismiss this person as yet another cranky mainframe bigot would be easy, but unfair. He had legitimate issues with DB2 LUW and suffered significantly more from those problems than he ever did on the mainframe. He also touched on the culture clash between old-guard mainframe administrators (JCL-wielding beardos in suspenders) and UNIX admins (<a href="http://it.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/08/26/1420218">Slashdot</a>-worshipping reboot monkeys). The stories from the mainframers in the room made it loud and clear that in many large corporations, mainframes and LUW systems are butting up against each other like tectonic plates, with similar consequences. It's also happening faster than either mainframers or IBM are ready to handle. Imagine being a mainframe DBA who must migrate a DB2 z/OS application over to an DB2 on AIX, only to find that after decades of co-existing, there are still fundamental discrepancies between their SQL instruction sets. I see similar frustration on the other side, with UNIX DBAs who are sincerely interested in learning more about the mainframe, but are unable to find decent transitional guides that offer a basic introduction to mainframe concepts or zSeries architecture. Rather than being annoyed by the mainframe bellyaching in a DB2 LUW session, I was encouraged when I recognized it as an instance of the two tribes coming together, and the improved software and documentation that will hopefully come from it.</p><br /><p><br />This is actually just a minor portion of what I took away from IDUG, so if you're not sure if IDUG is worth attending, I hope you'll realize just how much valuable material is packed into just a few days each year.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-63241008323015052622007-05-09T11:33:00.000-07:002007-05-10T22:09:10.614-07:00Latest issue of DB2 Magazine emerges at IDUG<img src="http://i.cmpnet.com/db2mag/2007/1/db12_1_cover200.jpg" alt="DB2 magazine cover" /><strong>DB2 Magazine: <a href="http://db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2007/1/"> Volume 12 Issue 1</a></strong><br /><p><br />I was wondering where DB2 Magazine was hiding this year, only to find it waiting for me here at the IDUG conference in San Jose. The cover caption, "Escaping Information Anarchy", points to <a gref="http://db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199201898">Mark Leon's article</a>, which offers a bit of a reality check for organizations working toward data governance. Features by Scott Hayes and Stuart Litel round out the trio for this issue. On the z/OS side, if you've ever wondered what the new face of the mainframe will be, her picture appears in this issue's Dream Job section, and her name is Kristine Harper. <br /></p><br /><p>You may have noticed that you've never paid for an issue of DB2 Magazine, which means that someone else has. If DB2 magazine is helpful to you and you'd like it to continue to exist as a free publication, please drop a line to <a href="mailto:kmoutsos@cmp.com">editor Kim Moutsos</a> and tell her how her magazine helps you with your job.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-5764990702870207592007-05-09T03:14:00.001-07:002007-05-09T21:41:18.522-07:00Obligatory IDUG 2007 conference writeup<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/NewLogo2.jpg" alt="new IDUG logo" /><strong>Dispatches from the IDUG conference</strong><br /><p><br />As my new blog buddies on <a href="http://planetdb2.com">PlanetDB2</a> can attest, it <br />is a real challenge to diligently write about a conference while it's still underway. My theory is that there's a problem with one of the beverages being served at the conference (or at the hotel bar) that suddenly makes the person who drank it very sleepy and, consequently, unable to post updates to his blog. Unfortunately, with so many types of beverages implicated at this event, it's difficult to pinpoint the exact one, so it may take a significant amount of collaborative testing to isolate the root cause. Despite this issue, a flaky hotel thermostat presented me with the opportunity to wake up in the middle of the night and post this update as I wait for the technician to arrive. </p><br /><p>Monday, May 7th was the first full day of the conference, kicked off by a series of announcements preceding the keynote speech.<br /><ul><li>IDUG has a <a href="http://idug.org/wps/portal/idug/kcxml/04_Sj9SPykssy0xPLMnMz0vM0Y_QjzKLN4oPNgXJgFiegfqRaCIBcJEgfW99X4_83FT9AP2C3NCIckdHRQAzV5NR/delta/base64xml/L0lDU0lKQ1RPN29na2tBISEvb0lvUUFBSVFnakZJQUFRaENFSVFqR0EhLzRKRmlDbzBlaDFpY29uUVZHaGQtLzdfMl8xNU0!?WCM_PORTLET=PC_7_2_15M_WCM&WCM_GLOBAL_CONTEXT=/wps/wcm/connect/IDUG+Site/News/IDUG-News-IDUG-unveils-our-new-logo" title="I can has logo?">new logo</a>. Readers are encouraged to post comments to this blog to list all the other logos the new one resembles.</li><br /><li>This year's sessions will not only be audiotaped, but also synchronized with each presenter's slides. Surprisingly, that coordination will not require any special software on presenters' PCs, posing what must be an interesting challenge for the recording company.</li><br /><li>The next IDUG North America conference will be held in Dallas from May 18-22, 2008.</li><br /></ul><br /></p>With the IDUG formalities out of the way, it was time for the much-awaited keynote from retired <a href="http://www.research.ibm.com/resources/awards_fellows.shtml">IBM Fellows</a> Don Haderle and Pat Selinger. I was a bit disappointed to see these two remarkable computer scientists being so underutilized on stage, relegated to serving as emcees for various IBM executives who were pitching the types of PowerPoint decks we've all seen far too often. Pat and Don are both undisputed legends in the world of modern databases, so it would have been much more appropriate in my opinion for them to share some of the war stories that led to their breakthrough discoveries. There were some good bits in their talks, but those bits were scattered amongst too much marketing fodder to justify pulling Haderle and Selinger out of retirement. <br /></p><p>As with every IDUG keynote, the happy numbers fly by, but I managed to catch a few worth remembering and repeating (as I do ever year):<br /><ul><li>4800 new DB2/IMS/Informix customers in 2006</li><br /><li>180 new business partners in the data management arena</li><br /><li>500 organizations exploiting pureXML in DB2 9</li><br /><li>9 of the nation's top ten insurance firms use DB2</li><br /><li>23 of the top 25 retail corporations use DB2</li><br /><li>10 years without an unplanned outage on DB2 servers running at <a href="http://td.com">TD Bank</a></li><br /><li>23 terabytes of data stored in DB2 for the <a href="http://www.landregistry.gov.uk/">Land Registry</a>, the world's largest OLTP database</li><br /></ul><p>As we left the keynote, IDUG staffers were handing out the new IDUG logo, which was embossed onto brown circles that were either very nice leather drink coasters or the worst jerky ever.</p> <br />There are plenty more IDUG nuggets worth mentioning, and I hope to post them soon.</p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24632366.post-44759155932712044182007-05-02T17:18:00.000-07:002007-05-02T20:24:15.119-07:00DB2 takes another CODiE!<img src="http://frsconsulting.com/images/win.jpg" alt="CODiE winner logo" /><strong>CODiE Website: <a href="http://www.siia.net/codies/2007/winners.asp"> 2007 CODiE Award Winners</a></strong><br /><p><br />After DB2 9 was announced as a finalist, I honestly thought I had created an alarm to remind me to check on this one, but April 17th uneventfully came and went, which left me ignorant as to who won this year's CODiE for best DBMS. After rousing from my apparent slumber, I was pleased to arrive at the CODiE website and find that DB2 9 took the prize for Best Database Management Solution. I can easily imagine the DB2 gang as they stood tall before that cliquish panel of <a href="http://www.siia.net/codies/2007/">smirking, dismissive CODiE judge-models</a>, never once yielding under the withering gaze. The pressure of being evaluated by those ladies must have been tremendous indeed, but DB2 clearly had "the guts to be judged".<br /><p>How sweet it must have been for IBM to triumphantly return to the podium of the CODiE awards banquet (after enjoying the cyber-comedy stylings of <a href="http://www.comedywithabyte.com/prod/indexa.html">Greg Schwem</a>) and pick up DB2's fourth CODiE in just 8 years.</p><br /><p>Congratulations, guys, and keep up the good work.</p><br /></p>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0