Remaining IDUG Events in 2014

I shared my thoughts about the IDUG NA conference in May, but this is just one of IDUG's three major annual events. The European and Australian conferences are both coming up in a few weeks.

The IDUG DB2 Tech Conference in Sydney, Australia, is Sept. 10-12. Here are the conference sessions.

Meanwhile, European readers of this blog should note that one of the largest and most diverse IDUG conferences is being held in Prague, Czech Republic, from Nov. 9-14. Educational tracks are dedicated to the latest releases DB2 for z/OS 11.0 and DB2 for LUW 10.5. In addition, there are general tracks on DB2 for z/OS and DB2 for LUW, and more specialized tracks on big data and analytics, along with application development.

If you'll be in attendance, be sure to catch IBMer John Campbell's in-depth two-part session, "DB2 11 for z/OS: Migration Planning and Early Experiences" (AB1).

Some of my coworkers at CA Technologies will also be presenting:

Steen Rasmussen
* "Application Development Goodies: What’s HOT in DB2 10 and 11" (F12).

* "The DB2 11 Catalog: Something new, something old and something changed" (A14).

Steve Thomas
* "Archiving data: DB2 comes to the rescue (twice)" (B5).

Zeljen Stanic
* "To Do IT(IL) or Not ... " (E13).

Denis Tronin:
* "Lost Without a Trace" (B3).

I've often discussed the value of IDUG conferences in this blog. Attendees receive invaluable education and updates on DB2 from some of the world's foremost database experts. In addition, IDUG events include many other services and features, such as free certification exams, access to one-day seminars, interaction with IBM speakers from the lab and the opportunity to network and share ideas with other DB2 professionals.

If you've attended IDUG events, please share your experiences in comments.

BLU, Data Studio Paired to Provide Data Analytics

In conjunction with its April announcement of IBM DB2 10.5 with BLU Acceleration, IBM released Data Studio 4.1. Once I read the section on Data Studio updates, I understood why IBM announced it with DB2 for LUW.

BLU Acceleration allows data to be stored in column organization rather than row organization, and Data Studio is the tool IBM has put in place to simplify this capability. Data Studio 4.1 includes a task assistant to automate database configuration (among other management actions). Once the database is enabled for BLU Acceleration, existing tables can be selected for reformatting with column organization.  The primary benefit of column organization, as you probably know, is that it allows DBAs to take advantage of high-speed data analytics. And as you can likely imagine, this level of automation will make things much easier for DBAs.

For a complete description of all new features see the what’s New and Changed in IBM Data Studio Version 4.1.

If you are using Data Studio with Rational Developer for System z, you should definitely review the changes spelled out in that section of this document. Some features have been removed, including the capability to collect the actual values to compute the cost of the SQL statement in DB2 for z/OS data sources. Other features -- such as DAS support, which I wrote about last week -- are being deprecated.

 

DAS, Control Center Tools Being Phased Out

A DB2-L mailing list member recently asked how to configure the DB2 Administration Server (DAS) on z/OS using the sample JCL found in the HighLevel install library (SDAHSLIB).

While I wasn't up on the latest DAS implementation, the posting made me curious, so I searched for documentation on DAS on z/OS configuration and the SDAHSLIB library. After some fruitless efforts, I checked the "DB2 for LUW: What's New for DB2 Version 9.7" manual.

In Chapter 20, there are statements about the DAS and the Control Center tools being deprecated, and that IBM could remove either or both in a future release. The Control Center tools, in fact, have already been discontinued, as the "DB2 for LUW: What’s new for DB2 Version 10.1" manual confirms. (See Chapter 24.) This means that Control Center 9.7 and earlier tools cannot be used to connect version 10.1 databases.

The DAS is only required for using Control Center tools or performing remote administration. IBM recommends using the freely available Data Studio tools in place of the Control Center tools.