Paragraphs from the President
Ready to vote on the new IDUG Board of Directors slate? Online voting on the IDUG Board of Directors Slate of Candidates opened for Premier Members on April 21. The new Board will begin its term at our IDUG 2008 - North America Conference, which runs from May 18 - 22 in Dallas, Texas. I hope to see you there!
As the last official e-Bulletin during my term as Board President, it gives me great pride to look back in gratitude on all that was accomplished together in service to the IDUG community:
IDUG Web Site - Improved to reflect your membership, your interests, and serve your needs better than ever before.
Podcasts - Provided by IBM and consultants, this content helps you learn over lunch, and grow a bit every day.
Basic Membership - Free to all, it provides access to Technical Library information, and more.
Premier Membership - For a fee of $100, IDUG Premier Membership provides additional technical information, free downloads of Spotlight sessions, and discounts on sessions from IDUG's Online Learning Center, technical books, and more.
Online Learning Center - Listen and learn at your own pace. Buy the entire library, or proceedings from one of our great conferences - there are several options to choose from.
Regional User Groups (RUG) - Liaisons and self-managed Web sites. To make our IDUG RUGs successful, Michael McBride has worked with IBM's Saghi Amersoleymani and Charlotta Gigliotti to clean up contacts and IBM liaisons. Early adopters have already established a self-managed RUG Web site, and more RUGs will benefit from this free offering.
DB2 Deep Compression Challenge - This contest showcased achievements, and drove awareness of the LUW feature that can save disk space and improve performance.
DB2-L - Saved by Robert Galambos, Linda Hagedorn, Willie Favero and others, this Listserv keeps on serving 3,000 DB2 practitioners every day.
IDUG Solutions Journal - Went from paper to pixels, to borrow a phrase from Martin Hubel. The electronic version allows us to expand content and provide more information than ever before.
Requirements Voting - As part of IDUG's advocacy, IDUG and IBM worked together to facilitate your input into the requirements process for the DB2 Data Servers.
IDUG "Emerging Market" Events - India, Brazil, China. Luc Vandaele and Bjarne Nelson worked to help an India event succeed in 2007, and IDUG will have events in India and Brazil in 2008. IDUG is also supporting an event from a new RUG in China.
IDUG Global Events - the preferred vehicle for training, networking and solutions, the IDUG – Europe, North America, and Australasia conferences prepare all of us to succeed with DB2.
From conferences and events, to Premier and Basic Membership, to the IDUG Online Learning Center, DB2-L and more, IDUG continues to provide you, the DB2 professional, with a community for networking, and with the technical knowledge to effectively utilize DB2!
All the best,
Bernie O'Connor
President, IDUG - International DB2 Users Group
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Technical Library
Over 13 presentations from the IDUG 2006 - Europe conference in Vienna, Austria were released during the month of March, as well as two articles. Log into your member profile to access these and other helpful session in the IDUG Technical Library. Here are just a few examples of these presentations.
DB2 V9.1 for z/OS - What's In There for Enterprise Applications?
By Namik Hrle
DB2 V9 introduces a number of features that are particularly relevant to the enterprise applications such as SAP. Numerous enhancements in DBA operations, particularly backup/recovery, reorganization and space management, as well as various performance improvements make V9 very attractive for the demanding application suites. If your DB2 users have high demands on continuous operations and applications performance, then this is a presentation tailored for you. It demonstrates benefits that DB2 users can expect from migrating to DB2 for z/OS V9.
Purging/Reorging Terabyte Tables in a 24 x 7 Environment
By David PowellPurging and reorganizing large, partitioned 2 billion plus row tables in a 24 x 7 environment can be challenging. This presentation consists of a method and best practices for creating a shadow table utilizing unload, load and Rename Table to accomplish this without interruption to the 24 x 7 load processing and online Select access. Compression dictionary is created on all parts with stats and all indexes reorged with no logging.
Automatic Storage: The Future of Storage Management
By Matt Huras, Kelly Schlamb
WOne of the most significant features being introduced in DB2's V8.2.2 release, Automatic Storage represents a major step in storage management for DB2. Associate a set of storage paths with a database, create table spaces on these storage paths without explicitly specifying storage or containers, and let DB2 automatically extend and add containers for you online. All of these new features are sure to make your job as a DBA that much easier.
Deep Compression for LUW
Article Publish Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Author: Mark Mulligan Sr.
This article discusses DB2 LUW Deep Compression from the perspective of someone who planned, organized, communicated and coordinated the implementation of this in development, test, regression test and production environments for multi-terabyte data warehouse databases.
Tips on Transferring Oracle Data into DB2 with FastReader
Article Publish Date: Monday, March 3, 2008
Author: Alex Corn
This article discusses a few things to take into account while transferring or migrating the large volumes of data from Oracle into D.
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The Code Place
Five new items were added to The Code Place during the month of March. Log into your membership account to view these and other helpful hints:
Script for identifying tablespaces for conversion from SMS to DMS
Author: Mark Mulligan Sr.
Publish Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008
This script lists tablespaces that are candidates for conversion from SMS to DMS and from DMS regular to DMS large in support of a project to implement large record identifiers so that DB2 will store more rows per page.
Rexx to Refresh QA Environments
Author: Omar
Publish Date: Thursday, March 13, 2008
Is a Rexx utility which reads the catalog tables and generates unload and load cards for migrating data from Production to QA environment.
Rexx to Create DSNTIJUZ from Active ZPARMS
Author: Cliff Boley
Publish Date: Thursday, March 6, 2008
This REXX will use the stored proc DSNWZP to read a DB2 subsystem's active Zparms, copy the SDSNSAMP(DSNTIJUZ) Zparm assemble job then update the copy of DSNTIJUZ with the selected subsystems active Zparms and write the job to a output file.
Rexx to Create DSNTIJUZ from Current ZPARMS
Author: Cliff Boley
Publish Date: Wednesday, March 5, 2008
This REXX will use the stored proc DSNWZP to read a subsystem's Zparms and use them to build an update Zparm assemble job, DSNTIJUZ.
Tool to perform EXPLAIN comparison – DB2 V8 NFM
Author: Paul Walters
Publish Date: Saturday, March 1, 2008
Reads the DB2 Plan tables and presents the data via ISPF. Loads, changes packages into a DB2 table for review.
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e-Tips
To view more tips like this log into your member profile and visit IDUG's Member e-Tip page.
The following e-Tips have been generously submitted by Srinivasa Inaganti
Tip to identify the last backup in DB2 UDB
To know the last backup taken you can use "select SQLM_ELM_LAST_BACKUP from table(snapshot_database(' ',-1)) as TABDB"
Tip to query dynamic SQL snapshot in DB2 UDB
Select NUM_EXECUTIONS,(decimal(TOTAL_EXEC_TIME)/NUM_EXECUTIONS) as AVERAGEEXECTIME,STMT_TEXT from table(SNAPSHOT_DYN_SQL('',-1)) as SNAPDYN where NUM_EXECUTIONS > 0 order by AVERAGEEXECTIME desc fetch first 8 rows only. For any queries like the one listed here on snapshot table function snapshot_dyn_sql,decimal() function can be used to get the time in subseconds. If you do not use decimal function, it would display the time in seconds only and a 0 would appear if your query response time is below a second.
Tip to view the lock chains in DB2 UDB
If you have a lock wait situation you can use the following stored procedure to view the lockchains db2 call sysproc.am_get_lock_chns(15,?) 15 in the above call statement stands for application handle. Output would look like 15 --> 11 --> 7 It implies that 15 is waiting for 11 which in turn is waiting for 7.
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Picks of the Forum
Log into your member profile to see view more items from the IDUG Discussion Forum.
Forum member Prakash Singh provides information on how to REVOKE SYSADM from an ID without cascading the REVOKEs on objects created by the ID with SYSADM. This information can be found in forum thread "Revoke SYSADM" with a last posting date of March 28, 2008.
Member Malte Wellbrock provides information on converting character data to decimal data using a CAST function. Look under forum thread "Loading character data into decimal field" with a last posting date of March 17, 2008.
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IDUG Free Technical Webcast
DB2 9 and Native XML Support
Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 11:00 a.m. ET
IDUG is pleased to partner with CA to deliver a free Webcast by renowned presenter Phil Grainger, CA Product Management Director. This live event will run approximately 60 minutes, and participants will have the opportunity to pose questions to the presenter. Capacity is limited.
About the Webcast:
One of the biggest changes in DB2 9 for z/OS is the ability to store XML data alongside relational data. This is another in the IDUG and CA co-sponsored DB2 9 for z/OS Webcast Series. The webcast will start by briefly considering what exactly is XML, and why it is so important. The session will discuss how XML data is stored by DB2, and how the data, once stored can be retrieved using regular or almost regular SQL.
About the Presenter:
Phil Grainger, Product Management Director, CA, has more than 17 years experience with DB2, starting in 1987 with DB2 Version 1.2. Since then he has worked with all versions, including Version 8. Beginning as a DBA for one of the largest users of DB2 in the UK, Phil moved to PLATINUM technology and then to his present role as Product Management Director for CA. Phil has always been a keen supporter of user groups and is a regular speaker at CA events, as well as independent industry events. He currently serves as the CA representative on the IDUG 2008 - Europe Conference Planning Committee, and is a regular contributor to the IDUG sponsored DB2-L discussion list.
Webcast Schedule (USA time zones):
Wednesday, May 7, at 11:00 a.m. ET (10:00 a.m. CT, 8:00 a.m. PT). To register watch for additional information that will be posted on the www.IDUG.org website.
A replay of this Webcast will be available for a short period of time after April 9th. Look for future announcements for direction on how to access the pre-recorded Webcast.
Future Web casts:
- June 11, 2008: What's New in SQL for DB2 9 Part 2 - New SQL
- July 9, 2008: What's New in SQL for DB2 9 Part 3 - New Options
- August 13, 2008: Better Availability with DB2 9
- September 10, 2008: Performance Improvements in DB2 9
- October 8, 2008: DB2 9 Security and Regulatory Compliance
Look for additional announcements on how to register for these upcoming events. IDUG is pleased to sponsor this free distance learning opportunity. Questions about the Webcast can be directed to IDUG@IDUG.org.
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IDUG News
NEW! IDUG Online Learning Center Packages
The new IDUG Online Learning Center provides you the opportunity to experience IDUG's in-depth education from the convenience of your office or home.
The Online Learning Center features download-on-demand streaming media files of sessions recorded at IDUG events. Most offerings in the Learning Center feature original presenter audio synchronized with presentation slides, giving you a virtual classroom experience that can be started, stopped, resumed and replayed at your convenience.
Start your year-round education by purchasing one of the following bundles from the Online Learning Center:
Conference Pass:** (Access to all content from one conference)
Available for 12 months after purchase.
- $399 for Premier Members
- $549 for Basic Members
Complete Learning Center Pass:** (Access to all content in the IDUG Learning Center)
Available for 12 months after purchase.
- $699 for Premier Members
- $899 for Basic Members
12-Pack Pass:** (Combine any 12 sessions for the price of 10)
Available for 90 days after purchase.
- $49 for Premier Members
- $99 for Basic Members
**Please note these packages do not include Full-Day Educational Seminars held at the Europe and North America conferences. For purchase of these sessions, please visit the individual conference pages.
Special Promotion for DB2 and Information Management Books
To celebrate the publication of a number of important new IBM Press books, IBM Press has just posted:
- A FREE 200-page eBook available for download
- An exclusive 35% discount on 10 new and best-selling DB2 and Information Management books
- New Author Podcasts and Articles
Click here to access all these valuable free materials and learning resources.
IDUG 2008 - Conferences: Prepare for Your IBM Information Management Certification
Free certification exams are being offered at the IDUG 2008 - North America and Europe events. Begin preparing for your next certification exam with a certification guide available for purchase with IBM Information Management Books. With guides covering a wide variety of certifications from IBM, build a better career today! Visit the IBM Information Management Books Web page.
If you will not be attending IDUG 2008 - North America, you can still earn $75 in savings on select DB2 9 certification exams with the Certify and Save Promotion from IBM.
For more information related to IBM Certification click here.
DB2 and IBM Power Sets World Record - SAP Benchmark Result
On April 8, 2008, IBM delivered a record breaking two-tier SAP SD Standard Application Benchmark result with DB2 9.5 on the new IBM Power 595 server(1). This result is 18% higher than the Oracle 10g (2) which was run on a 128-core HP Integrity Superdome server. That's significantly better performance on half the number of processor cores! This recent success is yet another proofpoint that, with its advanced performance features, integrated manageability features and high availability solutions, DB2 is optimized for and fully certified by SAP.
Benchmark details:
- 35,400 benchmark users, 1.94 second average response time, 3,559,000 fully processed line items per hour, 10.677,000 dialog steps/hour, 177.950 SAPS, 0.013 sec / 0.017 sec Average DB request time (dia/upd), 99% CPU utilization of central server running IBM DB2 Enterprise 9.5, AIX 6.1, SAP ECC Release 6.0. (32 processors/64 cores/128 threads). SAP certification #2008019.
- 30,000 benchmark users, 1.80 second average response time, 3,050,670 fully processed line items per hour, 9.152,000 dialog steps/hour,152,530 SAPS, 0.013 sec / 0.032 sec Average DB request time (dia / upd), 93% CPU utilization of central server running Oracle 10g, HP-UX 11iV3, SAP ECC Release 6.0 (64 processors/128 cores/256 threads). SAP certification #2006089
Visit the SAP benchmark results page.
Announcing the IBM Support Assistant V4.0!
IBM is pleased to announce the release of the IBM Support Assistant version 4.0. This is a one-stop-shop solution to research, analyze and resolve software issues, and it is now better than ever. Best of all, it is available for you to download at no charge!
IBM Support Assistant version 4.0 enhancements include:
- Remote System Troubleshooting – Explore file systems, run automated data collectors and troubleshooting tools, and view the system inventory on remote systems
- Activity-based Workflow - Choose from support-related activities, or use the Guided Troubleshooter for step-by-step help with analysis and resolution
- Case Management – Organize your troubleshooting data in “cases”; then export and share these cases with other problem analysts or with IBM Support
- Improved Flexibility – Add your own search locations, control updates by hosting your own update site, get the latest product news and updates
- Ease of Use – The welcome experience guides you through the initial customization, migration wizards allow easy portability from the previous version and tutorials help you get the most out of the new application
All of these new features augment the support features from previous versions such as multi-source search, symptom-specific data collectors, and problem submission from the ease of a desktop application. As always, there are several problem determination tools to help you diagnose, analyze and resolve your issues.
Get your download from the IBM Support Assistant Web site at no charge and find resources to learn more about the new Support Assistant. IBM looks forward to hearing from you about your experience!
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IDUG Events
IDUG 2008 – North America
May 18-22, Dallas, Texas
Education
IDUG - North America is jam-packed with over 150 hours of user-driven technical sessions designed to help you improve the effectiveness of your organization's data management systems. To learn more about the opportunities available to you this May in Dallas, check out IDUG's conference schedule.
Registration
It's not too late to take advantage of IDUG's cost-saving opportunities. The IDUG Multiple-Corporate Attendee discount gives you 10% off the registration rate when you send three or more employees to IDUG. Visit IDUG's registration page to learn more.
Housing
The Hyatt Regency Dallas will play host to the IDUG 2008 - North America conference. Discount housing rates are now available for registered attendees. Support IDUG by reserving your room through the official IDUG housing channel.
Need Help Justifying IDUG?
IDUG wants to give everyone the opportunity to experience the best in DB2 and IMS education. Now available online, you will find the IDUG Justification Tool Kit. This resource fits various needs and will help you build a strong case to attend or send employees to IDUG.
IDUG 2008 – India
21-23 August, Bangalore, India
Thank you to all who submitted abstracts for the 2008 Call for Presentations. The call is now closed. If you have any questions, please contact indiaforum@idug.org.
IDUG 2008 – India takes place 21-23 August 2008 at Le Meridien in Bangalore, India, and will feature three days of leading-edge education delivered by expert users, consultants, representatives of IBM and other leading DB2 vendors. In addition to the education offered throughout the event, attendees will also greatly benefit from the opportunity to network with fellow attendees, industry vendors, and IBM developers.
Stay tuned! More information concerning IDUG 2008 – India will be available shortly at www.IDUG.org/India.
IDUG 2008 – Europe
13-17 October, Warsaw, Poland
Fax and Mail-in Registration is Now Available!
Register today for IDUG 2008 – Europe, the premiere European event for DB2 professionals. To register for this great event, simply download a copy of our printable Conference Registration Form and fax or mail it back to IDUG Headquarters. For complete information on IDUG 2008 – Europe registration rates, click here. Online registration will be available in May.
Special Savings
Maximise your training budget by taking advantage of Special Savings on IDUG 2008 - Europe registration rates. Gain experience that will benefit you and your entire organisation. Visit www.IDUG.org/savingsEU to learn more.
Want to Attend IDUG 2008 - Europe for Free?
Simply fill out this brief online survey for your chance to win FREE registration to IDUG 2008 - Europe! Click here for complete rules.
IDUG 2008 – Brazil
9-11 November, Sao Paulo, Brazil
IDUG 2008 - Brazil Dates and Location Announced!
New in 2008! IDUG will be hosting its first ever conference in South America. IDUG 2008 - Brazil will take place 9-11 November in Sao Paulo, Brazil at the beautiful Novotel Sao Paulo Jaragua. Conference specifics are still being finalised, but the Call for Presentations will be available soon! Please continue to check www.IDUG.org/brazilforum for the most updated information.
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