To REBIND or Not to REBIND, That is the Question

There are two basic mindsets on when to REBIND your DB2 plans and packages. The first -- which I believe is the best approach -- is to REBIND regularly after running RUNSTATS. Using this approach you will ensure that your access paths have been formulated by the DB2 optimizer using the most up-to-date information available on your data. If you fail to REBIND your static SQL you are failing to give DB2 the chance to achieve the best performance it can for your applications.

(Of course, this begs the question: "How frequently should I run RUNSTATS?" to which my answer is "As frequently as possible based on how often your data changes," but enough of this aside for now.)

Of course, the DB2 optimizer is not perfect so sometimes rebinding can cause the performance of certain SQL statements to degrade. You will have to be ready to handle these problems by using optimization hints (OPTHINT in the PLAN_TABLE) to go back to a satisfactory access path or by tweaking your SQL to achieve a better performing access path (and some people also may say "...or change the catalog statistics," but that should only be a last resort and is rarely required these days).

Additionally, we have not considered the impact and need to periodically reorganize your DB2 table spaces using the REORG utility. RUNSTATS populates the DB2 Catalog with the information you need to decide when a REORG is warranted. Of course, you would want to run RUNSTATS again after a REORG to obtain the most up-to-date statistics... and only then would you want to REBIND your plans and packages.

The second approach is the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. In this scenario, you will continue to run RUNSTATS regularly but you will not REBIND your plans and packages until performance degrades. This approach is embraced by shops that do not have the manpower or time to review all access paths after a mass REBIND. By not running REBIND the thought is that performance will continue along as is until data volumes change so significantly that end users start to complain. Only then will individual plans and packages be rebound following the next scheduled RUNSTATS or immediately if the problem is large enough. This approach will degrade performance, albeit possibly subtly over time. However, it does save DBA manpower, which might be in short supply.

Examine your shop's approach to the REBIND issue to see which approach is best for you. Although philosophically I agree with the first approach, I understand that the second approach sometimes can be preferable in practice. If you follow the second approach, be sure that you have pre-agreed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for your DB2 applications. Then, you can reasonably argue that there is no reason to REBIND anything until you are no longer meeting the SLA.