DB2 Magazine E-Newsletter

May 20, 2003

DB2 Magazine Email Newsletter
Volume 4, Issue 6
www.db2mag.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Online Only: Taking Control of User Queries
2. IBM News: New data warehouse editions of DB2 UDB
3. DB2 Magazine Trivia Contest: Where in the world (and when) was IDUG's first conference held?
4. Skills and Certification News: Free certification tests
5. Asked and Answered: Why do 4GB DB2 objects max out at 5,826 cylinders of 3390 storage?
6. At the Bookstore: SQL Bible
7. Now Playing at the DB2 Developer Domain

1. ONLINE ONLY: TAKING CONTROL OF USER QUERIES
Increasingly, databases combine traditional online access with reporting and decision support infrastructures. With the relatively cheap cost of storage, for example, some companies save data from every click a customer makes on their Web sites. They populate this data into a warehouse so they can tailor subsequent customer visits accordingly. Telecommunications companies populate operational data stores with information used to perform real-time fraud detection. In these environments, it's important to prevent reporting queries from hogging system resources so online operations can complete quickly. Without some sort of query management facility, doing so can be next to impossible. The latest version of IBM's DB2 Query Patroller lets the DBA control which queries from which users will run — and when — in order to use system resources efficiently.
http://www.db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2003/q2/snow2.shtml

2. IBM NEWS: DB2 UDB DATA WAREHOUSE ENTERPRISE AND STANDARD EDITIONS
IBM this week announced two new editions of DB2 UDB v.8.1 that combine new and existing applications to support decision making. DB2 UDB Data Warehouse Enterprise Edition includes DB2 UDB Enterprise Server Edition v.8.1 and database partitioning feature, DB2 Cube Views for integrated OLAP, DB2 Intelligent Miner Modeling, Visualization, and Scoring, enhanced ETL, and DB2 Query Patroller V8.1, DB2 Office Connect Enterprise Web Edition, DB2 Warehouse Manager Standard Edition, and DB2 Information Integrator Standard Edition (available at a later date). DB2 UDB Data Warehouse Standard Edition includes DB2 UDB Workgroup Server Unlimited Edition v.8.1, DB2 Cube Views, DB2 Intelligent Miner Modeling, Visualization, and Scoring, and DB2 Office Connect Professional Web Edition.

Details regarding both editions, which IBM plans to make available this summer, are available at the IBM site.
http://www.ibmlink.ibm.com/usalets&parms=H_203-137

You can read more about DB2 Cube Views in "The OLAP Aware Database," by Michael L. Gonzales and Gary Robinson, in the current issue of DB2 Magazine.
http://www.db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2003/q2/gonzales.shtml

3. DB2 MAGAZINE TRIVIA CONTEST
Many DB2 professionals are enriching their skill sets at sessions of the International DB2 Users (IDUG) Group's North American conference in Las Vegas this week. So it seems an apt time to test knowledge of IDUG history. If you remember when and where IDUG held its first annual conference, you could win a $100 American Express Gift Cheque.
http://www.db2magazine.com/

Need a hint? Take another look at the poster celebrating DB2's 20th anniversary.
http://www.db2mag.com/db_area/archives/2003/q1/AnvPostrTimelineSide.pdf

4. SKILLS AND CERTIFICATION NEWS
Free Certification Testing Options
IBM is offering DB2 professionals three opportunities to take a DB2 certification exam for free in the coming months. You can certify at no cost at the IBM Content Management & WebSphere Portal Technical Conference, which takes place June 9-11 in Orlando, Fla. Both DB2 UDB and DB2 CM exams will be offered. Free testing will also be available at the Data Management Technical Conference, held October 27-31 in Las Vegas. You'll find more information about both of these testing options on IBM's Web site.
http://www-3.ibm.com/services/learning/conf/us/content/certification.html

A voucher program that began May 15 makes it possible to qualify to take one of the following exams for free at a testing site: DB2 Content Manager V8 (442); DB2 v.7.1 for OS/390 Database Administration (516); DB2 UDB v.8.1 for Linux, Unix, and Windows Database Administration (701); DB2 UDB v.8.1 Family Application Development (703); DB2 UDB v.8.1 for Linux, Unix, and Windows Advanced Database Administration (704); and Business Intelligence Solutions v.8.1 (705).

For more information about the offer, go to:
http://www-3.ibm.com/software/data/db2/skills/voucher.html

5. ASKED AND ANSWERED
Without using SMS, DB2 has an object size limit of 4GB. According to the documentation I can find, this would equate to about 4,704 cylinders of 3390 storage. Yet when we see physical DB2 objects reach this limit, they always max out at 5826 cylinders. Do you know why?

Do the math with Robert Catterall.
http://www.db2mag.com/qanda/

6. AT THE BOOKSTORE
SQL Bible
by Alex Kriegel and Boris M. Trukhnov
SQL Bible covers the information necessary to understand and use SQL and its implementations in accordance with the established SQL99 standard. Tutorials and code examples in each chapter are intended as a reference for every level of expertise. Topics covered in the book (which includes a CD-ROM with an evaluation copy of DB2 UDB Personal Edition v.8.1 for Windows) include:

• The definition and characteristics of relational databases (RDBMSs)and SQL's role in an RDBMS
• Implementation variations among Oracle, DB2, and Microsoft SQL Server
• Creating and modifying RDBMS objects such as tables, views, indexes, and schemas using Data Definition Language
• Data Manipulation Language (DML) from vendors' perspectives
• Single-table select statements and multitable queries
• SQL functions, operators, and data types
• New SQL developments, including XML, OLAP, and Web services.

Read about the book in the DB2mag.com bookstore.
http://www.db2mag.com/bookstore/

7. NOW PLAYING AT THE DB2 DEVELOPER DOMAIN
Tutorial: IBuySpy Conversion for Use With IBM DB2 UDB V.8.1
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/tutorials/0305gross/

Exploring DB2 Data Connections in Visual Studio .Net
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305alazzawe/0305alazzawe.html

SQL Access to DB2 Monitoring Data: Capturing Snapshots
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305deroos/0305deroos.html

Meet the Experts: Nelson Mattos IBM Distinguished Engineer and Director, Information Integration
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305mattos/0305mattos.html

Our Experience Writing Entity EJBs over Disparate Data Sources
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305saracco/0305saracco.html

Sample Chapter: DB2 UDB V8 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Certification Guide, 5th ed.
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/db2udbv8cert/index.html

Client-Side Information Integration Using Office Connect
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305singh/0305singh.html

Managing DB2 UDB for iSeries Schemas and Journals
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305milligan/0305milligan.html

Capacity Planning and Sizing Strategy for DB2 Content Manager for OS/390
http://www7b.boulder.ibm.com/dmdd/library/techarticle/0305heyl/0305heyl.html

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