Tuesday, November 22, 2011

All the news: DB2 Express-C with PL/SQL, new TPoX version, DS 3.1, and hello to all PMs

I am in between business trips and there is not much time for looking deeper into any specific problems. But I wanted to touch base on few things that are new:

  • DB2 Express-C, the free to download, free to use edition of DB2 LUW now includes the Oracle compatibility. That is, you can develop and use PL/SQL packages with DB2, for free, even in production. Although it still says "9.7.4" at the DB2 Express-C download site, when you click through it then offers DB2 9.7.5 for download. I just tried it.
  • A new version of TPoX, the open source XML database benchmark, has been released. Most changes are to the workload driver. I know that some of you use the workload driver not just for TPoX and DB2.
    BTW: The DB2 Technology Explorer/Management Console includes a so-called Workload Multiuser Driver (WMD) that can be handy, too.
  • IBM Data Studio 3.1 is out since few weeks and Data Studio will replace the DB2 Control Center in the near future. There is a so-called Administration Client (which is small) and a Full Client. Both have a different download size and a different function set. An overview of what is included and which database servers in addition to DB2 are supported is listed at this Data Studio V3.1 features document.
Last but not least I would like to say Hello to all Project Managers (link to Dilbert comic). Dining out and working in large projects never will be the same again...

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Monitoring: Three new for three old monitoring functions

I was reading over the list of new, deprecated and discontinued functionality after DB2 9.7 Fixpack 5 has been made available. What I found interesting is that 3 old snapshot monitoring table functions and their related views are now listed as deprecated which means they may be removed in a future release. Many of you know that DB2 9.7 introduced new, more lightweight monitoring functions.

I am not working in DB2 development anymore, but know that maintaining two sets of functions, especially in critical areas like memory management, can be a pain. Marking the old functions as deprecated in a fixpack seems like they will be gone sooner than later. What does it mean for you? Get ready to explore and exploit the new monitoring if you are not already on them. They also integrate well with workload management.

Ready for an IBM puzzle? Some links and a question...

Hey, are you ready for an interesting puzzle? In the following I will post some links to support articles and the Information Center and you tell me what I was up to...

This may not sound like fun, but all of us will learn and also improve patience. :)
 Okay, let's get started:
 So, what did I look for?