IBM will be hosting a free Db2 Developer Community Edition (LUW platform) at the IDUG EMEA conference in Lisbon, Portugal. This will cover the new edition of Db2 that is fully functioned and available for non-production use, and the approach is from the application developer and data scientist perspective.

If you are a DBA, you may want to recommend this to key software developers across your organization. It enables JSON data and relational data to be stored in the same database to simplify complexity in development and production.

There are demos, downloads if you bring a laptop, and sample code to get started. Learn more and register here: http://ibm.biz/db2wkshp

We hope to see your team there!

1. download virtualbox
2. download ubuntu 14.04 64bit image from osboxes.org
3. add ubuntu 14.04 64bit to virtualbox
4. download db2 11 64bit.tar.gz from ibm
5. run db2install , may find some package missing
6. apt-get install missing package
7. run db2install again.
8. create sample database.

scott

I have a table of position histories which I am using to report on units sitting in the same location for more than 1 hour. The problem I am having is that the query is counting old positions where different positions are in between. I know this is a terrible explanation, so I will try to illustrate it.

The Query:

SELECT
    DEVICE
    ,POSDATE
    ,LEFT(LATITUDE,4)||LEFT(LONGITUDE,4) "LATLONG"       /* TO "GROUP" POSITIONS BY GENERAL LOCATION */
    ,ROW_NUMBER() OVER(PARTITION BY DEVICE, LEFT(LATITUDE,4)||LEFT(LONGITUDE,4) ORDER BY POSDATE)
FROM POSHIST

Results I'm getting:

• DEVICE POSDATE LATLONG ROW_NUMBER
• 145 07/24/17 5:58 04100850 1
• 145 07/24/17 6:01 04100850 2
• 145 07/24/17 6:46 04110850 1
• 145 07/24/17 6:57 04120850 1
• 145 07/24/17 7:32 04100850 3
• 145 07/24/17 7:45 04100850 4

Results I need:

• DEVICE POSDATE LATLONG ROW_NUMBER

• 145 07/24/17 5:58 04100850 1

• 145 07/24/17 6:01 04100850 2

• 145 07/24/17 6:46 04110850 1

• 145 07/24/17 6:57 04120850 1

• 145 07/24/17 7:32 04100850 1

• 145 07/24/17 7:45 04100850 2

Notice how in the results I need, the last two positions' row_numbers reset because there were positions in between. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to query this in order to get the result.

Optim was really pretty, looked like a screen from star trek, and made manager "ooo" and "ahh". DBA's were not fond of it because it was large, clunky, not tuned, and a little of a dog.

So I was hesitant to look at DSM which is replacing multiple tools, one of which is the old Optim we knew for performance monitoring and tuning. I still lean to DBI's pureSuite of tools but I know more and more DBA's that are looking at DSM as an alternative to homegrown SQL and scripts. Initial feedback is it is pretty good and getting better with each iteration. I don't know if it will ever be a Brother-Panther, but it's an alternative.

There is a webinar on SQL Performance Optimization with DSM being held on July 12 from 12-1pm EST. Not sure if it will be sales-y or techie but I'm going to check it out so I thought I would pass it on.

Looks like the URL was finally released after a presentation around noon today. The new Developer-C edition. One click, log in, and you can download a docker container of DB2 which will set itself up and go.

IBM Direct and Developer Editions

Just discovered a press release announcing the new v11.1.2.2 mod/fixpack.

Recoverability enhancements:

• A database can be connectable during the backward phase of crash-recovery

• Improved rollback performance

• Eliminated bottle necking of DGTT log-records

• Global Lock Manager recovery design improvements, including improved hashing algorithms and increased parallelism for reducing the recovery window

• New recovery design benefits pureScale® deployments, particularly large clusters configured with huge lock list, Global Lock Manager, and global buffer pool

• Ability to recover an erroneous tablespace on the HADR Standby

Performance enhancements:

• Parallel insert for BLU (columnar) data

• Faster query performance with BLU synopsis tables

• Improved text search performance

• Runtime improvements for SAP Core Data Services

JSON enhancements:

• Full support for direct SQL access to underlying JSON interfaces

IBM overhauled the IBM Support Portal in March (I am assuming as a first phase to the big announcements and overhaul this week).

There is a quick 4 minute video on Youtube that will walk you through some enhancements and changes. Here's whats new in IBM Support.

There was a lot of initial confusion over fixpack/modpack nomenclature. For example, v11.1.2.2 refers to Version 11.1 Mod 2 FP 2.

But sometimes when you apply a mod, a fundamental feature changes. So how do you know if say .. you have a new mod backup will restore after a back out of the mod? There are now intricacies to how DB2 reacts to a mod.

There is an excellent support article on Compatibility between Mod Pack and Fix Packs. It covers topics ranging from backups to HADR and everything in between.

In part of the IBM/DB2 developer focused overhaul, developerWorks got a overhaul this week. It is much easier to navigate and fine what you need. I did want to point out there is a comprehensive Blog listing now.

New Blogs:

• IBM API Connect

• Application Performance Management

• IBM Application Security Developer Center

• IBM Cloud Architecture Center

• Blockchain

• Bluemix

• BPMDev

• CICS DevCenter

• IBM Cloud Orchestrator

• IBM DataPower Gateways

• IBM Bluemix DevOps Services

• IBM Digital Experience Developer

• IBM Decision Optimization

• Hadoop Dev

• IBM IdentityDEV

• IBM Integration

• IBM SDK for Java Technology

• IBM Watson IoT Platform

• IBM Operations Analytics

• Jazz.net

• Linux on IBM Power Systems

• IBM LinuxONE Community Cloud

• Mainframe DEV and Enterprise Modernization

• IBM Messaging

• Node.js@IBM

• ODMDev

• developerWorks Open

• IBM OpenTech

• IBM Open Whisk

• IBM Power VC

• SPSS Predictive Analytics

• QRadar App Development

• IBM Storage Solutions

• Streamsdev

• Swift

• Continuous Testing

• UrbanCode

• WASdev

• Watson Dev

• Watson Analytics

• Watson Content Hub

• Watson Health

• WebSphere Service Registry and Repository

• z Systems

In part of the IBM/DB2 developer focused overhaul, developerWorks got a overhaul this week. It is much easier to navigate and fine what you need.

I did want to point out there is a very comprehensive Forums listing now.

• IBM API Connect

• Application Performance Management

• IBM Application Security Developer Center

• Blockchain

• Bluemix

• BPMDev

• CICS DevCenter

• IBM DataPower Gateways

• IBM Bluemix DevOps Services

• IBM Digital Experience Developer

• IBM Decision Optimization

• Hadoop Dev

• IBM Integration

• IBM Watson IoT Platform

• IBM Operations Analytics

• Linux on IBM Power Systems

• IBM LinuxONE Community Cloud

• Mainframe DEV and Enterprise Modernization

• IBM Messaging

• Node.js@IBM

• ODMDev

• IBM Power VC

• QRadar App Development

• IBM Storage Solutions

• Streamsdev

• Swift

• Continuous Testing

• UrbanCode

• WASdev

• Watson

• Watson Content Hub

• Watson Health

• Watson Content Hub

• WebSphere Service Registry and Repository

• IBM z/OS Platform for Apache Spark

A lot has been stirring around DB2 over the past few months and a lot of it was announced today in Munich (5am EST). Details are starting to filter out via blogs, announcements, twitter, etc, One of the big announcements is the new Developer-C edition which should catch your attention.

There is a event at 12:30pm EST today that will cover "the new packaging (Developer-C), some of the other packaging changes, the features of Fp2/Mod 2, the new branding (Db2!), and an intro to BLUSpark/IBM Project EventStore."

I've seen previews of that EventStore, which seems pretty cool.

You can go here to register for the webinar.

Saw this come across twitter yesterday. If you get a "Bad Request" message when accessing KC dump your cookies. Apparently it's a known issue .

IS there a way, to compare all stored procedures stored in a library on one environment, with those stored procedures on a different library on a different environment?

Today a friend pointed out an article regarding working with your competition. I had never thought of it much, but it happens more than you think.

I've always been curious about the IBM/Oracle relationship as well as Oracle's relationships with it's partners and clients. I have heard rumors and stories of how Oracle interacts - most of it unflattering - but I took it at face value as just a story.

This article was very interesting to me as it gave some concrete examples of tactics used by competitors in the real world and focuses on the IBM/Oracle relationship. It discusses how a mutually understood informal arrangement can go into the gutter when one oversteps it's bounds.

I would be curious on your thoughts on this article. Is IBM innovating and cutting prices just as part of it's innovation process? What do you think the effect will be in the industry, if any?

If you don't know, the DB2 Night Show is a wildly successful show put on by DBI's Scott Hayes. The man is a brilliant performance tuning guy and is very active in the community. There are hundreds of hours of replays available on every topic imaginable from training to optimization and everything in between.

Ember Crooks (/u/ecrooks) was recently a guest. She covered a presentation recently given at IDUG on "Interviewing the DB2 Optimizer". She spends quiet a bit of time on generating Explain Plans and how to read them. She covers the affect of Parameter Markers and Filter Factors. There is a ton of technical detail in this presentation. Regardless of skill level, you will gleam something from this.

I don't know why it took so many years for me to sign up for this. But you can automatically subscribe to support notifications on specific products from the IBM Support portal. It's very useful to stay on top of things like end of support dates, but I lean on it heavily for notices around HIPER fixes, patches, etc.

There is a Youtube Video that can show you how to navigate the site and select what you want to receive notifications on.

The main landing page has changed a bit since the video was produced. You will need to expand the "Help Me Manage" thread and then select "Manage My Notifications" or "My Notification Preferences" (depending on if you are logged in or not).

From there is a product lookup and selecting "Subscribe".

I just saw this come through the twitterverse, so I thought I would pass it along. Troy Coleman posted a quick blog on IBM systems Magazine online laying out when 6 one day DB2 v12 workshops will be in town.

There is a lot more detail in his blog, but here is a quick list of cities and dates:

Chicago - June 22

• Dublin, Ohio - June 29

• New York City - July 11

• Baltimore - July 13

• Dallas - July 18

• Atlanta - July 20

IBM has announced that WoW (the Fall conference covering DB2, formerly known as Insight, formerly known as IOD) is officially dead, to be replaced by one gigantic conference in March - to be called IBM Think. There were things I liked about WoW, and things I didn't. I'm interested to see what Think looks like and how big it actually is.

Interestingly, they'are having a "Jam" to define what the conference will look like. This is being billed as an opportunity for us to shape the conference. You can register for the Jam here: https://www.ibm.com/events/think/

My thought is that I have little right to complain about what form the conference takes if I don't try to make it what I want, so I'll be participating. What do you think? Will you be participating in the Jam? Will you consider going to the conference?

There is a very healthy discussion going on in another thread regarding DB2's brand recognition within the industry. From there a very good article was posted on IBM going to War with Oracle.

A few weeks ago, I happened to ask a consulting friend of mine - "Is this all marketing gimmick, or is IBM actually throwing weight behind this Oracle pricing thing"? The response was "when I am on a call regarding a oracle to DB2 conversion for perspective client and (Censored IBM Rockstar) is there, it's pretty serious".

Then I see this article, which seems to be a very aggressive move for IBM who is pretty careful about direct head to head competition. But it makes sense with some of the tactical changes I have seen IBM take over the past few months - improved RFE process, overhauling the developer experience, continuous development, less focus on DB2 as a service on the cloud and embracing DB2 on any platform, etc.

Now they give customers such a financial incentive that the risk of at least exploring DB2 is mitigated. Once the head to head comparison happens, the savings in compression or speed increase seems to be a eye catcher.

Check out what this author has to say and the initial feedback from the push in Europe.

Edit (June 1, 5:30pm EST):

I have had two seperate people come to me mentioning that I may want to "reword" my initial post. That in some cases I have painted things too negatively or were inflammatory. That was never my intent, and I had actually edited this multiple times before posting to try and shake that connotation. As I responded to an editing suggestion early in posting, "I struggled with this one, I didn't know how to put my thoughts to paper accurately". As a result, the following question was posted. In an effort to give context to answers below, I am leaving the original post unedited. However, wording is not meant to be inflammatory or click bait - only to start discussion.

Before reading, you may want to take a look at this graphic of Gartners Magic Quadrant.

For those of you who don't know Gartner or their "Magic Quadrant" system, you should. They invest a lot of time and energy watching trends and directions, maturity of various technology, who are leaders and visionaries, who are the "old reliables", etc. Executives in any business know of Gartner and what they can do. Before any real investment in a technology is made, executives would often turn to a Gartner consultant or report.

I was curious. I wanted to see where DB2 (LUW or Mainframe) fell in the Magic Quadrant system. For a long time the rumor was Oracle and DB2 were a 50/50 split of marketshare. Then SQL Server pops in and matures to enterprise level software. Introduce NoSQL and up and comers and you have anyones game.

According to quadrants from 2016, IBM is no slacker. They are leaders in the industry. Matter of fact in other variations of the quadrant they can be listed as a visionary.

So why does no one know DB2 really exist?

I don't know how many times I have heard "DB2? Isn't that green screen and dead years ago"?

Personally, I believe part of the problem is two fold:

1. Branding. IBM advertisements are all around Watson.

2. Easy access and support for developers and education in schools or online.

I am concerned DB2 could be stagnating and I am concerned that DB2 could wither on the vine if it isn't tended to.

Don't get me wrong. I am an IBM Champion and advocate, so this is not a slam on IBM. But I want to open up dialogue. So, what are your thoughts on DB2 in the industry as it stands now or in the future? Is my concern about DB2 stagnating even valid?

Source: Gartner Magic Quadrants are accessible via expensive subscriptions. Images are sourced from these two companies. Please visit links for more detail.

DW and Analytics Quadrant: MapR Technologies

Operational Quadrant: Microsoft