Connecting DB2 to z/OS to Other DB2 Systems

For years DBAs have used IBM DB2 Connect to develop applications that run on Linux, Unix or Windows and connect to DB2 for z/OS. But what about connecting an application that runs on z/OS to DB2 running on a LUW system or even a separate z/OS system?

The drivers for connecting to other DB2 systems are available with DB2 for z/OS. To learn about these drivers and how to install them, see the DB2 10 for z/OS Application Programming Guide and Reference for Java.

(Note: As of DB2 Version 9.1, the JDBC/SQLJ Driver for OS/390 and z/OS is no longer supported. All Java application programs and Java routines that are currently written to work with the JDBC/SQLJ Driver for OS/390 and z/OS must be modified to work with the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ -- formerly known as the DB2 Universal JDBC Driver. See the DB2 10 for z/OS Installation and Migration Guide to learn more about installing the IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ.)

Despite the growing need for mainframe pros to work with LUW environments, lack of awareness remains an issue. For instance, many people still don't realize that a Java application running on z/OS can be connected to a system with DB2 for LUW, or that a web-based application running on z/OS under UNIX System Services can be connected to another system with DB2 for z/OS.

A couple other relevant resources, starting with this list of IBM Data Server Driver for JDBC and SQLJ versions and DB2 for z/OS APARs. And to receive notifications about potential migration issues due to incompatible changes in DB2 10, you can track information APAR II14619 (DB2 V10.1 DDF MIGRATION INFOAPAR).

The point I was trying to make is that people still are not aware that you can connect a JAVA application running on z/OS to a DB2 running on LUW or a web based application running on z/OS under unix system services to DB2 for z/OS. I put the DB2-L comment in to show that even as of last month questions still come in asking is this possible.

 

The Emergence of IMDB Technology

Businesses as well as consumers demand that more information be placed at their fingertips. When using mobile devices such as iPhone and Android, people expect answers to their questions in seconds rather than minutes. This reality is driving the emergence of in-memory database (IMDB) technology.

With the low cost of memory, data is increasingly being moved to IMDBs, which can provide up to 10 times faster data access than traditional disk storage devices.

Until I glanced at the above Wikipedia link, I hadn't realized that IBM acquired solidDB in 2008. The solidDB database supports both IMDB technology and disk storage access. It's used in consumer hand-held devices as well as on UNIX, AIX, Linux and Windows servers.

Once the application connects to solidDB, a subset of data from the back-end database is stored in memory. That's the role of solidDB Universal Cache, which supports DB2 for z/OS as well as DB2 for LUW, Informix, SQL Server, Oracle and Sybase. Updated data is kept in sync using IBM Infosphere CDC (Change Data Capture).

For details on solidDB 7.0, check out these links:

* The list of products included with solidDB 7.0

* An overview of the architecture

* A list of supported back-end data servers 

Another good solidDB resource is the IBM Redbook, "IBM solidDB: Delivering Data with Extreme Speed" (published May 2011).

Is your company taking advantage of IMDB technology? Please share your experiences in comments.

zEC12 and zIIP Processors

Following up on last week's post about the zEnterprise EC12, IBM has just come out with a new Redbook, the "IBM zEnterprise EC12 Technical Guide."

As the title suggests, this publication is technical. However, even if you're not a hardware or OS guru, I think you'll get something out of it, if only for the pictures. No, that's not a putdown of you less technical folk; the illustrations and images that explain the zEC12 technology are really quite interesting. They allow you to see -- as I did -- just what an amazing machine the zEC12 is.

The zEC12 is designed to run z/OS, z/VM, z/VSE, z/TPF, Linux on System z (SUSE Linux and RedHat). On the zBX blades you can run POWER7 hardware with AIX, PowerVM, Linux on System x (SUSE SLES and Red Hat), Windows Server 2008 R2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 (Datacenter Edition) 64-bit.

Since I work with z/OS and DB2, I’m very interested in specialty processors such as zAAP, zIIP and IFL. The zAAP processor is designed to offload Java workload, zIIP for DB2 workloads (such as DRDA access over TCP/IP, JDBC, ODBC, parallel queries, XML parsing and some DB2 utilities) and IFL for Linux workloads. 

I recently learned that zAAP workloads can run on a zIIP specialty engine if you don't have a zAAP processor. I wasn't sure this has been supported on z/OS, but I searched around and found this great cheat sheet about zAAP and zIIP parameters. Looking at this document I see that z/OS 1.11 provides this support using the parameter, ZAAPZIP=YES. By applying APAR OA27495, you can use parameter zz=YES on 1.9 and 1.10.

All this made me wonder why a customer would buy a zAAP specialty engine when both Java and DB2 workloads can now run on a zIIP. The answer comes in this IBM statement of direction:

"IBM zEnterprise EC12 is planned to be the last high-end System z server to offer support for zAAP specialty engine processors. IBM intends to continue support for running zAAP workloads on zIIP processors (zAAP on zIIP). This is intended to help simplify capacity planning and performance management, while still supporting all the currently eligible workloads. In addition, IBM plans to provide a PTF for APAR OA38829 on z/OS V1.12 and V1.13 in September 2012 to remove the restriction that prevents zAAP-eligible workloads from running on zIIP processors when a zAAP is installed on the server. This is intended only to help facilitate migration and testing of zAAP workloads on zIIP processors."

I’m sure this will greatly help customers plan their hardware upgrades, because it removes the need to guess how much new workload will be Java or how much will be DB2 for z/OS work. Instead of having to purchase another zAAP engine or a zIIP engine, now customers can just buy zIIP engines and know they'll handle both Java and DB2 workloads.

More on zEnterprise

As a follow-on to last week's post about IT pros in the LUW space who need to educate themselves on the mainframe and z/OS, here's a quick list of informational and technical resources.

As a starting point, visit IBM's zEnterprise home page. Here you'll find an overview of mainframe servers and other hardware.

The Linux on IBM System z homepage provides an overview of the benefits of using Linux in mainframe environments.

Here are some zEnterprise IBM Redbooks that have been updated in the past month:

IBM zEnterprise 196 Technical Guide

IBM zEnterprise 114 Technical Guide

IBM zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager: Building an Ensemble

A Structured Approach to Assessing Heterogenous Workload Deployment to the IBM zEnterprise System

Finally, here are some of my previous posts related to the topic of zEnterprise:

• IBM Introduces IDAA to Speed Analytics
• The Significance of the IBM zEnterprise System
• The Mainframe and Information Management
• The System of Systems

Hopefully you find this information helpful. Please share your own sources of information in Comments.

The Ambidextrous IT Workforce

Over the years IT pros working on distributed platforms (Linux, UNIX, Windows) have often asked me how they can learn more about the mainframe and z/OS. When it comes to broadening one's horizons, I think mainframe DBAs have an easier time picking up UNIX or Linux (and in some cases Oracle and SQL Server) to support DB2 UDB. Being able to download tools, particularly Linux, is the best way to get started with something new.

Still, I'm seeing more and more people from the Linux world who find themselves needing to learn about the mainframe. This trend really got rolling with last year's introduction of the z/196, and with the increasing use of zBX blades running zLinux as well as z/OS on z/196 and z/114, I think the next generation of IT pros will only continue to find themselves more involved with the mainframe.

If you're an "ambidextrous" worker moving from LUW environments to z/OS, make it a point to bookmark the IBM z/OS basic skills information center. You'll find tons of material on mainframe and z/OS concepts. It'd also be nice to hear about your experiences and how you compare the challenges of managing z/OS and non-Z/OS system, so please share in Comments.