After IDUG is before IDUG: Back from Db2 conference in Charlotte, NC

Last week the IDUG NA 2019 was held in Charlotte, NC. It featured 8 parallel tracks dedicated to Db2 for z/OS and Db2 for LUW and emerging technologies. In addition, two tracks for hands-on labs and workshops were offered. Personally, I delivered three presentations, moderated and attended sessions, and was active on Twitter. So what was on? Continue after the snap of Twitter photos from last week.

Twitter photo feed from IDUG NA 2019

Cloud-based FIPS 140-2 Level 4 crypto service

Locks, keys, and data security

Yesterday, I got my hands on a FIPS 140-2 Level 4 cloud-based crypto service. If you are asking "what's that and what can I do with it?" you should continue to read. It is a dedicated HSM (Hardware Security Module) to manage encryption keys and offered as IBM Hyper Protect Crypto Services on IBM Cloud (HPCS). Here is what I learned while using the service.

Your chatbot with Watson Discovery News

Some months back I introduced you to a barebone news chatbot. Today, with the updated tutorial to build a database-driven chatbot in place, I want to show you how to easily combine Watson Assistant with Watson Discovery. Watson Assistant already provides steps to deploy an integrated search skill which is based on Watson Discovery. My approach is similar to the database integration: Deploy a cloud function and invoke it from the dialog.

Db2: SQL-based explain and printed acccess plan

Vote for this Db2 idea

This Friday in Munich, I gave a talk about the new native JSON functions in Db2 at the German Db2 user group (DeDUG) meeting. To speed up queries and to enforce uniqueness or some structural rules, Db2 functional indexes can be used with the new JSON_VALUE. As usual for some prototyping, I utilized a Jupyter Notebook for my presentation. Now, how to demonstrate that indexes are really used? Show the access plan! But how in a notebook?