As you all should know by now, version 10 of DB2 doe z/OS is generally available and has been for a month or so now. As such, it is probably time that I start to blog about some of the features of the new release. But instead of starting with one of the bigger features, that you already may have heard about, I decided to start with a feature that has flown somewhat under the radar: extended indicator variables.Those of you who write programs that deal with possibly null results should know what an indicator variable is. Basically, DB2 represents...
Monday, 13 December 2010
Thursday, 28 October 2010
IBM Information On Demand 2010 - The Final Keynote
Posted on 11:58 by Unknown
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Tuesday, 26 October 2010
A Video from IOD, DB2 -- Monday 10/25
Posted on 13:58 by Unknown
This video was shot by Rebecca Bond at the IBM Information On Demand Conference 2010 in Las Vegas. She was interviewing DB2 folks on what they do and the benefit they get from attending IOD. I am the third interview... but don't just skip to me! Listen to Melanie and Fred, t...
News From The IOD Conference
Posted on 11:32 by Unknown
As usual, IBM has put out a number of press releases in conjunction with the Information On Demand conference, and I will use today’s blog to summarize some of the highlights of these releases.First of all, IBM is rightly proud of the fact that more than 700 SAP clients have turned to IBM DB2 database software to manage heavy database workloads for improved performance… and, according to IBM, at a lower cost. By that they mean at a lower cost than Oracle. Even though the press release does not state that these SAP sites chose DB2 over Oracle, the...
Monday, 25 October 2010
DB2 10 Technical Overview at IOD Conference
Posted on 18:04 by Unknown
Today I attended the IOD conference and had the opportunity to listen to Jeff Josten present an technical overview of DB2 10 for z/OS. Even though information and specifications have been trickling out on DB2 10 for z/OS over the course of the past year or so, this is the first DB2 10 presentation I have attended subsequent to the GA announcement IBM made last week (announced October 19th, General Availability on October 22nd, 2010). So I’m fairly certain that everything Jeff will talk about will be officially part of DB2 10, instead of just the...
Thursday, 7 October 2010
Null Follow-up: IS [NOT] DISTINCT FROM
Posted on 14:15 by Unknown
After publishing the last blog post here on the topic of pesky problems that crop up when dealing with nulls, I received a comment lamenting that I did not address the IS [NOT] DISTINCT FROM clause. So today’s blog post will redress that failure.First of all, IS [NOT] DISTINCT FROM is a relatively new predicate operator, introduced to DB2 for z/OS in Version 8. It is quite convenient to use in situations where you are looking to compare to columns that could contain NULL.Before diving into the operator, let’s first discuss the problem it helps...
Wednesday, 6 October 2010
Null Troubles
Posted on 09:46 by Unknown
A null represents missing or unknown information at the column level. A null is not the same as 0 (zero) or blank. Null means no entry has been made for the column and it implies that the value is either unknown or not applicable.DB2 supports null, and as such you can use null to can distinguish between a deliberate entry of 0 (for numerical columns) or a blank (for character columns) and an unknown or inapplicable entry (NULL for both numerical and character columns).Nulls sometimes are inappropriately referred to as “null values.” Using the term...
Friday, 24 September 2010
A Recommended New DB2 Book
Posted on 13:56 by Unknown
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Thursday, 26 August 2010
Free DB2 Education Webinar Series
Posted on 08:15 by Unknown
Want to learn more about DB2 for z/OS but there is no money in the education budget? Can you spare an hour a week over the course of a month? Well then, you are in luck because SoftwareOnZ is sponsoring a series of DB2 webinars presented by yours truly, Craig S. Mullins…Each webinar will be focused on a specific DB2 topic so you can pick and choose the ones that are most interesting to you – or attend them all and receive a certificate signed by me indicating that you have completed The DB2 Education Webinar Series.The schedule and topics for these...
Thursday, 5 August 2010
DB2 Best Practices
Posted on 11:44 by Unknown
With today's blog entry I'm hoping to encourage some open-ended dialogue on best practices for DB2 database administration. Give the following questions some thought and if you've got something to share, post a comment!What are the things that you do, or want to do, on a daily basis to manage your database infrastructure?What things have you found to be most helpful to automate in administering your databases? Yes, I know that all the DBMS vendors are saying that they've created the "on demand" "lights-out" "24/7" database environment, but...
Friday, 30 July 2010
Happy SYSADMIN Day
Posted on 07:31 by Unknown
To all of the system administrators out there (and I include DBAs and network admins in that group), HAPPY SYSADMIN DAY.For those who are unaware if this very important holiday, every year on the last Friday of July responsible people everywhere celebrate Sysadmin Day. The idea is to show some appreciation for the folks who keep your systems up and running every day of the week. There is even a page with some gift ideas if you are so inclined to get something for your favorite sysadmin. (Personally, I prefer cash... .)At the very least you...
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Classics of Computer Literature
Posted on 08:25 by Unknown
Although the main focus of this blog is DB2 and mainframe software, I thought it would be worthwhile to take some time to recommend a few classic books for computer professionals. I am an avid reader of all kinds of books, not only on technology but on a wide variety of topics. Periodically I will use my blog to extol the virtues of some of my favorite books. I'm starting with computer books as everyone reading this is probably in the field of IT. (...except maybe my Mom, hi Mom!) These books are not DBMS- or data-focused: I will recommend data...
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
Access Your DB2 Catalog "Poster" Online
Posted on 13:07 by Unknown
If you're anything like me, you're constantly looking for DB2 Catalog table and column names. For writing catalog queries, for examining statistics, for looking at your table and tablespace parameters, for many, many things. But it is not very easy to keep reaching for the DB2 manuals (Which manual is it in? Which appendix was that? Why did they put it there? Did they move it?)...So, many of us gladly tacked up those posters from Platinum Technology that graphically depicted the DB2 Catalog... and then later similar posters from CA, Inc, and BMC...
Thursday, 13 May 2010
IDUG NA 2010, Days Two and Three
Posted on 15:04 by Unknown
I’ve been running around kinda busy the past couple of days here at IDUG in Tampa, so I got a bit behind in blogging about the conference. So, today I’m combining two days of thoughts into one blog post.(For a summary of IDUG Day One, click here.)I started off day two by attending Brent Gross’ presentation on extracting the most value from .NET and ODBC applications. Brent discussed some of the things to be aware of when developing with .NET, an important “thing” being awareness that .NET is designed to work in a disconnected data architecture....
Wednesday, 12 May 2010
IDUG Tampa 2010, Day One
Posted on 19:53 by Unknown
As usual, the North American IDUG conference is proving to be a hectic, yet enjoyable and informative time. The days are packed from morning til evening with technical sessions, networking, and running from here to there and back again.Tuesday was the first day for normal IDUG sessions (the day-long seminars were moved to Monday this year), and the day was dominated (for me at least) by DB2 10 sessions. The spotlight session by Jeff Josten was an information-packed 90 minutes overview of DB2 10 that can only be described as drinking from a firehose....
Sunday, 9 May 2010
IDUG in Tampa
Posted on 15:47 by Unknown
It is Sunday, May 9, 2010 and I'm posting a brief blog entry today to remind everyone about IDUG in Tampa this week. I will be attending (arrive Monday morning) and I will update my blog with the highlights of what is happening in Tampa this week... so be sure to check in regular...
Thursday, 29 April 2010
On Becoming a DBA
Posted on 22:23 by Unknown
Perhaps the most frequent question I am asked is: How can I become a DBA?The answer, of course, depends a lot on what you are currently doing. Programmers who have developed applications using a database system are usually best-suited to becoming a DBA. They already know some of the trials and tribulations that can occur when accessing a database. If you are a programmer and you want to become a DBA, you should ask yourself some hard questions before you pursue that path. First of all, are you willing to work additional, sometimes crazy, hours?...
Thursday, 22 April 2010
The Ever-Changing Role of the DBA
Posted on 10:35 by Unknown
Defining the job of DBA is getting to be increasingly difficult. Oh, most people know the rudimentary aspects of the job, namely keeping your organization's databases and applications running up to par. The DBA has to be the resident DBMS expert (whether that is DB2, Oracle or SQL Server, or most likely a combination of those). He or she has to be able to solve thorny performance problems, ensure backups are taken, recover and restore data when problems occur, make operational changes to database structures and, really, be able to tackle any...
Thursday, 1 April 2010
Nominate Someone for the CA IDUG Award for Outstanding Work in DB2
Posted on 12:34 by Unknown
As many of you know, each year CA sponsors an award at IDUG to honor outstanding work with DB2. The only requirement for the award is that you and your company have used DB2, either on the mainframe or distributed system, in a novel, ground-breaking, or cutting-edge manner.There is no requirement that an entrant organization be based in North America. There is also no requirement that an entrant organization license or use specific CA or other vendor database management tools or that he/she attend the IDUG conference in person. All nominations...
Wednesday, 17 March 2010
What is Production Data?
Posted on 12:41 by Unknown
I received an interesting e-mail recently that made me stop and think a bit... so I thought I'd blog about it. Basically, the e-mail posed the question in the title of this blog entry – “What is production data?” The e-mail read as follows: I'm looking for a one paragraph definition of "production data". What do you think of this: "Production data is data recorded for the purpose of controlling/managing/reporting/researching events, processes or states." I'm trying to get around the belief that data recorded by a development team...
Friday, 5 March 2010
Mainframes: The Safe IT Career Choice
Posted on 08:10 by Unknown
A recent Computerworld article (Bank of America touts mainframe work as a safe career) touts the mainframe as a safe haven for those considering a career in IT. This is an interesting article because the usual spiel you hear in industry trade rags is that the mainframe is dying and only a fool would work on such a platform. It is good to hear an alternate opinion on the matter in a journal as respected as Computerworld. (Of course, the fact that I agree with this opinion might have a little something to do with my cheer upon reading the...
This blog has moved
Posted on 07:41 by Unknown
This blog is now located at http://db2portal.blogspot.com/. You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here. For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to http://db2portal.blogspot.com/atom.x...
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
IBM Announces DB2 10 for z/OS Beta Program
Posted on 09:21 by Unknown
IBM announced the beta program for the next version of DB2 today, now "officially" known as DB2 10 (no more DB2 X). It is a closed beta program that will begin on March 12, 2010. That means you have to be selected by IBM to participate.The announcement highlighted some of the areas of improvement to be delivered by DB2 10 for z/OS, and at the top of that list, to no one's surprise, is performance. DB2 10 promises to deliver out-of-the-box savings by improving operational efficiencies ranging from 5% to 10% out-of-the-box CPU savings for traditional...
Wednesday, 3 February 2010
IBM Manages the Data Lifecycle
Posted on 19:55 by Unknown
Data lifecycle is a somewhat new-ish term, at least in terms of what I plan to talk about in this blog posting. The data lifecycle – and data lifecycle management – deals with tracking, managing, and understanding data and metadata as it flows through organizations. From its inception…whether entered by a clerk or read via a feed or loaded from an external source, etc…through its various usages…whether to conduct business, analyze trends and patterns, and so on…tracked from system to system, application to application, and user to user…and finally...
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Larry Sure Knows How to Get Press
Posted on 10:41 by Unknown
Going under the assumption (I assume) that no press is bad press, Oracle CEO Larry Ellison has attacked IBM's DB2... but he made several factual errors in his rant.Here are some of the highlight (?) of the claims Ellison made about DB2 during a webcast last week.Regarding TPC-C benchmarks, Ellison claims to have "(blown) the doors off of IBM. We crushed them." He went on to elaborate saying "In a machine that took up less than 10% the floor space, of IBM's record setting computer. We ran faster, we ran a lot faster: using a tiny fraction of the...
Monday, 1 February 2010
Some New Year's Resolutions for DBAs
Posted on 14:59 by Unknown
This is sort of a re-blogging (to coin a term). I first published this last month in the Data Management Today blog I wrote for NEON. Well, I no longer work for NEON and I'm not sure how long that blog will remain active, so I thought it might make sense to re-blog some of the pertinent entries here... so here goes with my New Year's Resolutions for DBAs blog entry...At the beginning over every year many of us take the time to cobble together some resolutions for the coming year. We plan to lose weight, save money, stop smoking, and so on. Usually,...
Monday, 25 January 2010
Which is better? "BETWEEN" vs "<=" and >"="
Posted on 10:08 by Unknown
This was a recent topic on the DB2-L mailing list so I thought I'd weigh in with my two cents worth on the topic.As with most DB2 (and, indeed, IT) issues, the correct answer is "it depends!" Let's dig a bit deeper to explain what I mean.From a maintainability perspective, BETWEEN is probably better. The BETWEEN predicate is easier to understand and code than the equivalent combination of the less than or equal to predicate (<=) and the greater than or equal to predicate (>=). In past releases, in many cases it was more efficient, too. But...
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