Data Management Today by Craig Mullins

zPrime to Revolutionize Mainframe Affordability

cmullins — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 17:02:00 GMT

On June 30, 2009, NEON Enterprise Software announced the availability of NEON zPrime, a software solution that dramatically reduces the cost of mainframe computing. NEON zPrime can save mainframe users millions of dollars in IT costs by taking full advantage of IBM System z specialty processors.

NEON zPrime can save companies with System z mainframes 20 percent or more of their annual mainframe hardware and software costs under conventional use-pricing structures. Unlike any approach to date that attempts to offload processing from a System z central processor, or CP, to IBM specialty processors such as zIIPs or zAAPs, zPrime easily enables the shift of huge amounts of routine workloads running on CPs to these equally-fast but lower-cost processors.

zPrime can facilitate the transfer of as much as 50 percent or more of a company’s IMS, DB2, CICS, TSO/ISPF, and batch workloads from System z CPs to zIIP and zAAP processors, and consequently reduce mainframe costs significantly. Mainframe users now have more options of what workloads to move to a specialty processor to meet capacity planning and cost optimization objectives.

This is significant, especially for DB2 for z/OS users. If you read IBM’s overview of the zIIP you’ll note that “DB2 for z/OS V8 and DB2 9 for z/OS exploit the zIIP capability for portions of eligible data serving workloads.” (italics added)

Just what are those “portions?” Well, it is mostly distributed workload and XML processing. In other words, pieces of the more modern processing can be redirected to the zIIP. But the bulk of most DB2 mainframe processing is the mission critical, legacy workload being run through CICS or IMS online, and in batch. NEON zPrime brings this workload to your specialty processors, vastly improving the ROI of your mainframe environment.

With specialty processors priced at only about 20% the cost of a CP, just think of the savings that can accrue…

Specialty Processors on the Mainframe

cmullins — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 17:55:00 GMT

Anyone who uses an IBM z Series mainframe has probably heard about zIIPs and zAAPs and other specialty processors. But maybe you haven't yet done any real investigation into what they are, what they do, and why they exist. So, with that in mind, let's take a brief journey into the world of specialty processors in today's blog entry!

Over the course of the past decade or so,IBM has introduced several different types of specialty processors. The basic idea of a specialty processor, is that it sits alongside the main CPUs and specific types of "special" workload is shuttled to the specialty processor to be run there, instead of on the primary CPU complex. Why is this useful or interesting to mainframe customers? Well, the specialty processor workload is not subject to IBM or ISV licensing charges... and, as any mainframer knows, the cost of software rises as capacity on the mainframe rises. But if capacity can be redirected to a specialty processor, then software license charges do not accrue -- at least for that workload.

Another benefit of the specialty processors is that they are significantly cheaper to acquire than standard CPUs. A standard mainframe CP costs around $250K, whereas a specialty processor costs less than $50K -- less than one fifth the price of the standard processor.

But there is a catch! The specialty processors can only run certain types of workloads -- at least that is so as configured by IBM "out of the box."

There are four types of specialty processors:

ICF: Internal Coupling Facility - used for redirecting coupling facility cycles in a data sharing environment.
IFL: Integrated Facility for Linux - used for processing zLinux workload on an IBM mainframe.
zAAP: Application Assist Processor - used for the Java virtual machine
zIIP: Integrated Information Processor - used for processing certain, distributed database workloads.

When you activate any of these processors, some percentage of that type of workload can be redirected off of the main CP onto the specialty processor... but not 100% of the workload. Indeed, one of the frustrating issues, particularly with the zIIP, is that it is difficult to understand exactly what is redirected exactly when and exactly how much of it. In general, distributed DB2 for z/OS workload and XML processing can be redirected to zIIP processors.

Additionally, to run on a zIIP, the workload must run under an enclave SRB.So, code written to execute under a TCB will usually be unable to execute under an SRB without major changes. If you didn't understand that sentence, don't worry about it too much. If you are interested, more details about zIIPs can be found at this link.

The bottom line though is that specialty processors can help to reduce the cost of mainframe computing... and there will be software innovations coming to help organization more effectivly utilize specialty processors for more and varied types of workloads...

Salaries for Data Professionals Inching Upward

cmullins — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:39:00 GMT

One of the more popular topics for my blog has been IT salaries -- more accurately, salaries for data professionals -- so every time I hear about some new survey or news related to salaries I fire up the blog and get to posting.

Today's news comes from the Dice 2008-09 Annual Salary Survey of technology professionals. This survey of more than 19,000 technology professionals was conducted late in 2008 (between August and November). The average increase was 4.6 percent. But broad averages are not really that interesting to me and probably not to you, either. If we dig a little deeper we will see some reasonably good news if we just pull out and examine the data-related items (especially given the current economic conditions, which are probably not fully reflected in this survey given the timeframe during which it was conducted).

At any rate, the two data-related job that were tracked both showed gains. The job of DBA rang in a 5.5 percent increase with an average salary of $89,742 in 2008, comapred to $85, 092 the year before. The news was not as rosy for Database Developers though, showing only a 1.2 percent increase over 2007 with an average salary of $84, 176 in 2008 versus $83,163 in 2007. So maybe this helps to explain why many DBAs used to be developers?

The survey also contained some additional information for specific technologies.Most readers are probably interested in how their specific DBMS skills fared, so let's start there.

Sybase: increased 7.2 percent from $88,174 to $94,479
Oracle DB: increased 5.3 percent from $86,624 to $91,252
DB2: increased 5.8 percent from $85,367 to $90,305

The survey did not have any salary information for Microsoft SQL Server, which is troubling given how pervasive it is in the market. It did, however, touch on some other database development and administration skills.Having PL/SQL skills helped to merit folks an average 5.2 percent increase (from $84,490 to $88,903). JDBC skills were even better though earning an average 7.9 percent bump from $89,645 to $96,710. And the survey even tracked TOAD skills, which earned its users an average 8.0 percent increase (from $88,111 to $95,120). TOAD sure has come a long way from its genesis as a free downloadable tool for managing Oracle databases!

The data warehousing specialties are still doing well, as highlighted here:

ETL – Extract, Transform and Load: 6.0 percent increase from $96,559 to $102,364
Business Intelligence: 7.7 percent increase from $94,317 to $101,585
Data Warehouse: 6.6 percent increase from $93,200 to $99,323
SAS: 4.2 percent increase from $84,653 to $88,225

The survey also tracked two new data warehousing categories this year: Cognos and Informatica. Since these specialties were new to the survey there was no data from previous years, but both scored relatively high on average salary with Cognos specialists averaging $95,736 and Informatica specialists bringing in six figures at $101,337.

If you have ERP skills, don't despair because this specialties pay very well. New to the survey this for ERP was ABAP (Advanced Business Application Programming) skills, which average a salary of $106,975. Other ERP-related average salaries include:

ERP – Enterprise Resource Planning: 3.9 percent increase from $95,589 to $99,332
SAP: 5.5 percent increase from $86,922 to $91,667
Peoplesoft: 6.7 percent increase from $82,200 to $87,715

So, overall, working with data and database management systems is still a good way to spend your IT career... or at least, it was as of November 2008.

DBA Certification? Meh.

cmullins — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:50:00 GMT

In this blog entry I attempt to answer some questions about certification: Namely:

what is certification?
why is it so popular?
and is certification worth it for DBAs?

Professional certification is a popular trend in IT and is available for many different IT jobs. The availability and levels of certification has been growing at an alarming rate for database-related positions. You can take tests to become a certified DBA, programmer, trainer, etc. Let's just focus on the DBA certification programs, though.

DBA certification programs are available for most of the popular DBMS platforms including IBM DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle. The concept behind certification of DBAs is to certify that an individual is capable of performing database administration tasks and duties.

This clearly is a laudable goal, but the biggest problem with the concept is that passing a test is not really a viable indicator of being able to perform a complex job like database administration. Some things you just have to learn by doing. Now I am not saying that certification is useless. Indeed, taking the test(s) and focusing your subsequent practice and study on those areas where you performed poorly can help you to improve your skills. It is easier to better yourself when you know your areas of weakness. But does anyone really believe that someone passing a formalized test will be as capable as someone with several years of experience as a DBA? Organizations should hire DBAs based on past experience that indicates a level of capability. Of course, someone with both experience and certification is better than someone with only one of the two, right?

So for some folks, taking the time to study and pass the certification exams can be a useful task. But certification will not necessarily make you a better DBA, though it might make you more employable. Some companies will hire only certified professionals. The trend toward using certification to guide hiring practices will almost certainly continue because of increasing IT (and DBMS) complexity. If you think you might change jobs at some point in your career (and who among us will not), then certification can be a worthwhile pursuit.

Keep in mind that the DBA certification tests sometimes ask arcane syntax questions that are not really good indicators of a DBA’s skills. Getting the syntax 100% accurate is what manuals and design tools are for. There is no reason to memorize syntax because it tends to change quite often. It is better to know where to find the syntax, parameters, and answers to your questions when you need them. That is, which manuals and text books contain the needed information.

DBAs should possess a broad over-arching knowledge of DBMS concepts, IT fundamentals, and a good knowledge of the way in which their organization’s database systems work. Memorizing every detail about SQL syntax and database commands is a waste of time because things are complex and changing all the time. In other words, it is better to know off the top of your head that something can (or cannot) be done than to know the exact syntax for how to accomplish it.

Of course, a solid knowledge of basic syntax is useful because you don't always want to be running to a manual just to do your daily job!

So what advice can I give you? Well, if you decide to pursue certification, take the time to prepare for the tests. There are books and self-learning software titles available that can be quite useful. These books and programs cover the most likely test topics and provide sample questions to help you prepare. In many ways it is like preparing for a college entrance exam, like the SATs. You might have to take the test(s) more than once to earn your certification. Don't be dissuaded if you do not pass the first time you try -- just study harder and try again.

And once you earn your certification, make sure you display it proudly on your resume and even on your business cards (if your company allows it).

By the way, if the title of this blog entry confuses you, then you are probably not a fan of The Simpsons. Meh is a word coined by that show and its meaning is to convey indifference.

Keeping Up With the DBMS

cmullins — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 04:36:00 GMT

One of the more troubling trends for DBAs is keeping up with the latest version of their DBMSs. Change is a fact of life and each of the major DBMS products change quite rapidly. A typical release cycle for DBMS software is 18 to 24 months for major releases with constant bug fixes and maintenance delivered in between major releases. Indeed, keeping DBMS software up-to-date can become a full-time job.

The troubling aspect of DBMS release migration these days is that increasingly, the majority of organizations are not on the most recent version or release of the software. For example, the uptake of Oracle 11g is slower than past versions. And some mainframe organizations are still struggling with DB2 V8, and therefore the uptake of DB2 9 for z/OS is very slow (even though it has been available for more than 2 years now).

Slow migration cycles occur for many reasons including the desire to let others work out the inevitable early bugs, the lack of compelling new features that would drive the need to upgrade immediately, and lack of time to adequately upgrade as often as new releases are unleashed on us. And with the economy in a downturn, delaying the time, effort, and cost of upgrading to a new DBMS release can be a wise economic decision.

The DBA team must develop an approach to upgrading DBMS software that conforms to the needs of their organizations and minimizes the potential for disrupting business due to outages and database unavailability.

You may have noticed that I use the terms version and release somewhat interchangeably. That is fine for a broad discussion of DBMS upgrading, but a more precise definition is warranted. Versions typically are very broad in scope, with many changes and new features. A release is typically minor, with fewer changes and not as many new features. But DBAs must meticulously build implementation plans for both.

In some situations, upgrading to a new DBMS version can be treated as a special case of a new installation. All of the procedures required of a new installation apply to an upgrade: you must plan for appropriate resources, you need to reconsider all system parameters, and you need to ensure that all supporting software is appropriately connected. But there is another serious issue that must be planned for, and that is existing users and applications. An upgrade needs to be planned so as to cause as little disruption to the existing users as possible. Therefore, upgrading can be a tricky and dificult task.

Keeping the DBMS running and up-to-date without incurring significant application outages requires an on-going effort that will consume many DBA cycles. The approach undertakan must conform to the needs of their organization, while at the same time minimizing business impact and avoiding the need to change applications.

Upgrading to a new DBMS release offers both rewards and risks. By moving to a newer DBMS release developers will be able to use the new features and functionality delivered in the new release. For purchased applications, you need to be cognizant of the requirements of application releases on specific DBMS versions. Additionally, new DBMS releases tend to deliver enhanced performance and availability features that can optimize existing applications. Often the DBMS vendor will provide better support and respond to problems faster for a new release of their software. DBMS vendors are loath to allow bad publicity to creep into the press about bugs in a new and heavily promoted version of their products. Furthermore, over time, DBMS vendors will eliminate support for older versions and DBAs must be aware of the support timeline for all database management systems they administer.

An effective DBMS upgrade strategy will balance the benefits against the risks of upgrading to arrive at the best timeline for migrating to a new DBMS version or release. An upgrade to the DBMS almost always involves some level of disruption to business operations. At a minimum, as the DBMS is being upgraded databases will not be available. This can result in downtime and lost business opportunities if the DBMS upgrade has to occur during normal business hours (or if there is no planned downtime). Other disruptions can occur including the possibility of having to convert database structures, the possibility that previously supported features were removed from the new release (thereby causing application errors), and delays to application implementation timelines.

The cost of an upgrade can be a significant barrier to DBMS release migration. First of all, the cost of the new version must be planned for (price increases for a new DBMS version can amount to as much as 10 to 25 percent). You also must factor in the costs of planning, installing, testing, and deploying not just the DBMS but also any applications using databases. Finally, be sure to include the cost of any new resources (memory, storage, additional CPUs, etc.) required by the DBMS to use the new features delivered by the new DBMS version.

Also, in many cases the performance benefits and improvements implemented in a new DBMS release requires the DBA or programmers to apply invasive changes. For example, if the new version increases the maximum size for a database object, the DBA may have to drop and re-create that object to take advantage of the new maximum.

Another potential risk is the possibility that supporting software products may lack immediate support for a new DBMS release. Supporting software includes the operating system, transaction processors, message queues, purchased application, DBA tools, development tools, and query and reporting software.

And we haven’t even touched on applying maintenance to the DBMS. The bottom line is that keeping up with new DBMS releases and functionality has become a very significant component of the DBA’s job.

The Many Different Types of DBAs

cmullins — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:18:00 GMT

Although DBAs, at a high level, are tasked with managing and assuring the efficiency of database systems, there are actually many different DBAs. Some focus on logical design; others focus on physical design; some DBAs specialize in building systems and others specialize in maintaining and tuning systems; and there are specialty DBAs and general-purpose DBAs. Truly, the job of DBA encompasses many roles.

Some organizations choose to split DBA responsibilities into separate jobs. Of course, this occurs most frequently in larger organizations, because smaller organizations often cannot afford the luxury of having multiple, specialty DBAs.

Still other companies simply hire DBAs to perform all of the tasks required to design, create, document, tune, and maintain the organization’s data, databases, and database management systems. Let’s look at some of the more common types of DBA.

System DBA

A system DBA focuses on technical rather than business issues, primarily in the system administration area. Typical tasks center on the physical installation and performance of the DBMS software and can include the following:

Installing new DBMS versions and applying maintenance fixes supplied by the DBMS vendor
Setting and tuning system parameters
Tuning the operating system, network, and transaction processors to work with the DBMS
Ensuring appropriate storage for the DBMS
Enabling the DBMS to work with storage devices and storage management software
Interfacing with any other technologies required by database applications
Installing third-party DBA tools

System DBAs are rarely involved with actual implementation of databases and applications. They might get involved in application tuning when operating system parameters or complex DBMS parameters need to be altered.

Indeed, the job of system DBA usually exists only if the organization does not have an official system administration or systems programming department.

Database Architect

Some organizations create a separate position, database architect, for design and implementation of new databases. The database architect is involved in new design and development work only; he is not involved in maintenance, administration, or tuning of established databases and applications. The database architect designs new databases for new or existing applications.

The rationale for creating a separate position is that the skills required for designing new databases are different from the skills required to keep an existing database implementation up and running. A database architect is more likely than a general-purpose DBA to have data administration and modeling expertise.

Typical tasks performed by the database architect include:

Creating a logical data model (if no DA or data modeler position exists)
Translating logical data models into physical database designs
Implementing efficient databases, including specifying physical characteristics, designing efficient indexes, and mapping database objects to physical storage devices
Analyzing data access and modification requirements to ensure efficient SQL and optimal database design
Creating backup and recovery strategies for new databases

Many organizations do not staff a separate database architect position, instead requiring DBAs to work on both new and established database projects.

Database Analyst

Another common staff position is the database analyst. There is really no set definition for this position. Sometimes junior DBAs are referred to as database analysts. Sometimes a database analyst performs a role similar to that of the database architect. Sometimes the data administrator is referred to as the database analyst or perhaps as the data analyst. And sometimes a database analyst is just another term used by some companies instead of database administrator.

Data Modeler

A data modeler is usually responsible for a subset of the DA’s responsibilities. Data modeling tasks include the following:

Collecting data requirements for development projects
Analyzing the data requirements
Designing project-based conceptual and logical data models
Creating and updating a corporate data model
Ensuring that the DBAs have a sound understanding of the data models

Application DBA

In direct contrast to the system DBA is the application DBA. The application DBA focuses on database design and the ongoing support and administration of databases for a specific application or applications. The application DBA is likely to be an expert at writing and debugging complex SQL and understands the best ways to incorporate database requests into application programs. The application DBA must also be capable of performing database change management, performance tuning, and most of the other roles of the DBA. The difference is the focus of the application DBA—it is on a specific subset of applications rather than the overall DBMS implementation and database environment.

Not every organization staffs application DBAs. However, when application DBAs exist, general-purpose DBAs are still required to support the overall database environment and infrastructure. When application DBAs do not exist within an organization, general-purpose DBAs are likely to be assigned to support specific applications while also maintaining the organization’s database environment.

There are pros and cons to staffing application DBAs. The arguments in favor of application DBAs include the following:

An application DBA can better focus on an individual application, which can result in better service to the developers of that application.
The application DBA is more often viewed as an integral component of the development team and therefore is better informed about new development plans and changes.
Because the application DBA works consistently on a specific set of applications, he can acquire a better overall understanding of how each application works, enabling him to better support the needs of the application developers.
With a more comprehensive understanding of the application, an application DBA will have a better understanding of how the application impacts the overall business. This knowledge will likely result in the execution of DBA tasks to better support the organization.

But all is not favorable for application DBAs. There are cons to implementing an application DBA role:

An application DBA can lose sight of the overall data needs of the organization because of his narrow focus on a single application.
The application DBA can become isolated. Lack of communication with a centralized DBA group (if one exists) can result in diminished sharing of skills.
When an application DBA implements useful procedures, it takes more effort to share these procedures with the other DBAs.
Due to the application-centric nature of the position, an application DBA can lose sight of new features and functionality delivered by the DBMS group.

In general, when staffing application DBAs, be sure to also staff a centralized DBA group. The application DBAs should have primary responsibility for specific applications, but should also be viewed as part of the centralized DBA group.

Task-oriented DBA

Larger organizations sometimes create very specialized DBAs that focus on a specific DBA task. However, task-oriented DBAs are quite rare outside of very large IT shops. One example of a task-oriented DBA is a backup-and-recovery DBA who devotes his entire day to ensuring the recoverability of the organization’s databases. Security, compliance and data protection are other subjects that could be the focus of a task-oriented DBA.

Most organizations cannot afford this level of specialization, but when possible, task-oriented DBAs can ensure that very knowledgeable specialists tackle very important DBA tasks.

Performance Analyst

Performance analysts are a specific type of task-oriented DBA. The performance analyst, more common than other task-oriented DBAs, focuses solely on the performance of database applications.

A performance analyst must understand the details and nuances of SQL coding for performance and be able to design databases for performance. A performance analyst will have very detailed technical knowledge of the DBMS so that he can make appropriate changes to DBMS and system parameters when required.

However, the performance analyst should not be a system DBA. The performance analyst must be able to speak to application developers in their language in order to help them facilitate appropriate program changes for performance.

The performance analyst is usually one of the most skilled, senior members of the DBA staff, a role that s/he has grown into due to experience and the respect s/he has gained in past tuning endeavors.

Data Warehouse Administrator

Organizations that implement data warehouses for performing in-depth data analysis often staff DBAs specifically to monitor and support the data warehouse environment. Data warehouse administrators must be capable DBAs, but with a thorough understanding of the differences between a database that supports OLTP and a data warehouse. Data warehouse administration requires experience with the following:

Business intelligence, query, and reporting tools
Database design for read-only access
Data warehousing design issues such as star schema
Data warehousing technologies such as OLAP (including ROLAP, MOLAP, and HOLAP)
Data transformation and conversion
Data quality issues
Data formats for loading and unloading of data
Middleware

Synopsis

There are many types of data management jobs and it can be confusing when you try to match job title up against the responsibilities of the job. This document outlines the various “jobs” that can be considered (at least somewhat) physical, database administration duties.

Web Resources for Data Professionals

cmullins — Wed, 20 May 2009 15:57:00 GMT

The web is a rich and fertile source of data-related information. But tracking things down on the web can sometimes be difficult – especially if you do not know where to look. Several good sources of DBMS information on the web can be found by reviewing the web sites of DBMS vendors, database tool vendors, magazine sites and consultant sites.

One of the best resources for the data professional is the vendor web site for the DBMS software you use. On such sites you can find up-to-date news, information on release schedules and bug fixes, downloadable manuals, and technical support. Be sure to bookmark the site for your DBMS vendor and visit regularly to keep tap of what’s going on with your favorite database management systems. The web sites for the major DBMS vendors are:

IBM DB2 at http://www.ibm.com/software/data/db2/
Informix at http://www.ibm.com/software/data/informix/
Microsoft SQL Server at http://www.microsoft.com/sql/default.asp
Oracle at http://www.oracle.com
Sybase at http://www.sybase.com

Another useful web resource for data folks can be found on database tool vendor web sites. The tool vendors employ many DBMS experts and former DBAs who are willing to share tips, techniques, and scripts in order to promote their company and its products. Of course, my primary recommendation would be to visit the web site of my employer, NEON Enterprise Software... but I also provide an exhaustive list of vendor links at http://www.craigsmullins.com/rellinks.htm.

Online magazines are also a worthy place to seek advice. Many useful data-related articles are published every week in technical magazines of every sort. And several magazines focus almost exclusively on database and DBA-related issues. Even better, many of these publications are provided free-of-charge, in return for filling out a subscription request with company and demographic information. Additionally, most print magazines also host web sites that offer many, if not all, of their articles online. Some of these publication offer online content to subscribers only, but many offer some content to all browsers. Some of the better magazine web sites out there include:

Oracle Magazine at http://www.oracle.com/oramag/index.html
IBM Database Magazine at http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com/
Database Trends and Applications at http://www.dbta.com
Information Management (formerly DMReview) at http://www.information-management.com/
SQL Server Magazine http://www.sqlmag.com

And don't forget to check out consultant's web sites.There are a boatload of consultants who specialize in DBMS technology. However, there are some consultants that have risen to the level of guru because they are willing to share their knolwedge and experiences at conferences, events, and through writing articles. Many of these premier consultants have set up content-rich web sites containing numerous documents, presentations, and tips to anyone visiting their web sites. The consultants do this to promote their business and gain leads for future business. Some of the leading consultant web sites containing interesting and useful information for DBAs include:

Yevich, Lawson & Associates focusing primarily on DB2 at http://www.ylassoc.com
TUSC focusing on Oracle at http://www.tusc.com
Fabian Pascal’s site devoted to debunking erroneous beliefs about relational and other database technologies at http://www.dbdebunk.com
And, of course, you can check out the author’s web site at http://www.craigsmullins.com for an exhaustive on-line catalog of his published writing and more.

And that doesn't even touch on the many expert blogs out there. Keeping up with a ton of blogs can be difficult though, so you might want to rely on the Log Buffer carnival supported by The Pythian Group. Every week the Log Buffer highlights what is going on in the data blogosphere.

There are also many web portal sites that offer a convenient collection of database- and DBA-related information. A portal typically provides a vast amount of information on a single topic, as well as links to related information, a search engine, customization options, and the ability for users to be notified by e-mail when relevant content is posted. The following web sites function as portals for database professionals.

TechTarget publishes a veritable plethora of web portals. SearchOracle and SearchDataManagement are two that should appeal to data professionals. There are other TechTarget sites worth looking into depending on your area of expertise, too. They offer portals on topics ranging from security to ERP to storage to data backup.

The Data Administration Newsletter (http://www.tdan.com) is another combination portal/magazine site, this one focusing on data administration issues.

There are numerous other portal sites that provide useful data-related information. Some of the best focus on a single DBMS technology. For example, all of the following offer useful services for the specific DBMS they cover:

Oracle links and news at http://www.lazydba.com, http://www.orafans.com, and http://www.oraworld.com
DB2 links and news at http://www.db2-portal.com and http://db2usa.blogspot.com/
SQL Server links and news at http://www.sqlserver.com, http://www.sswug.org, http://www.sql-server-performance.com, and http://www.swynk.com/sql

Many other web sites may prove to be useful or interesting for data professionals. One of the best things about the Internet is its ability to provide a forum for anyone with information to share. New and intriguing sites are popping up every day. But let’s take a look at some of the best web sites for DBAs that already exist.

Providing a very useful service for DBAs is DBAjobs.com (http://www.DBAjobs.com). This site lists as its mission to advance the careers of all database professionals and to recruit the best database talent for its clients. For DBAs looking to advance their careers be sure to visit this site for access to many database-related jobs as well as assistance in preparing your resume, interviewing tips, salary guidelines, and database news.

Sites hosting information on industry standards can be quite helpful, too. For example, ANSI (American National Standards Institute), ISO (International Standards Organization), and NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology all provide web sites:

Perhaps closer to the technical information required by DBA is the SQL standard web site at http://www.jcc.com/sql_stnd.html. This site purports to be a central source of information about SQL standards. It contains links to various other sites that document the SQL standard.

DAMA, the Data Management Association, is a coalition of professionals dedicated to the advancement of data resource management. The DAMA web site (http://www.dama.org) documents the conferences and meetings sponsered by DAMA, but also offers links, resources, newsletters, and publications on data resource management.

User groups have been founded for each of the major DBMS vendors. These groups sponsor annuals international conferences and promote the sharing of information by database professionals. The web sites for these groups offer useful information on conference locations and dates, as well as articles, presentations, and tips:

International DB2 User Group at http://www.idug.org
International Oracle User Group at http://www.ioug.org/
Professional Associates for SQL Server at http://www.sqlpass.org
International Informix User Group at http://www.iiug.org/
International Sybase User Group at http://www.sybase.com/ISUG/

There are literally thousands of other web sites that might be useful to you as you embark on your career as a data professional. Here are a few of the ones I have found to be worthwhile.

Richard Hackathorn’s web farming site at http://www.webfarming.com
SQL Weaknesses at http://dbtips.wordpress.com/
The XML portal at http://www.xml.com
The Journal of Conceptual Modeling at http://www.inconcept.com/JCM/about.html
The Data Warehousing Institute at http://www.dw-institute.com
The Metadata Coalition at http://www.mdcinfo.com
The OLAP Council at http://www.olapcouncil.org/

All of these types of sites are very useful for obtaining up-to-date information about DBMS releases and version, management tool offerings, and the like, but sometimes the information on these types of sites is very biased.

Good luck to you as you peruse the Internet to keep up-to-date on data and database management!

More of My Favorite Quotes

cmullins — Tue, 05 May 2009 20:45:00 GMT

As my regular readers know every now and then I take the time to share some of my favorite quotes and how they apply to database professionals... this is one of those posts!

One of my favorites comes from the famous behavorial psychologist, B.F. Skinner, who said:

"It isn't that they can't see the solution.
It is that they can't see the problem."

This applies to IT as easily as it applies to life in general. If you cannot see the problem then you'll never formulate a workable solution to that problem. This one applies to vendors quite a bit. How many times has some sales weenie tried to sell you a "solution" when all he really has to sell is his product. You cannot sell a solution if you don't know what the problem is, folks!

Disagree with that? Then I'd offer you another couple of quotes, the first one comes from French author Pierre-Augustin Caron De Beaumarchais, who said:

"It is not necessary to understand things in
order to argue about them."

And this one comes from Thomas Edison:

"There is no expedient to which a man will not
go to avoid the labor of thinking."

Both of these quotes speak of our inherent laziness. Quite often we start to argue before knowing what it is we are arguing about. Or we get so caught up in our own position that we don't stop to listen and hear what others are saying. I admire people who change their minds when they are confronted with different facts or a changing ideology. If you believe the same things today that you did when you were in college then you aren't likely to be very bright (at least IMHO).

Maybe one of the most applicable quotes for software vendors comes from American psychologist Abraham Maslov, the man who invented the hierarchy of needs that we all learned in school. Maslov said:

"If the only tool you have is a hammer,
you tend to see every problem as a nail."

I would add to that one, this one from historian Thomas Fuller:

"A bad workman never gets a good tool."

Matching tools to problems can create solutions. But this (usually) applies only if you have the right tools.

And finally, one of the world's brightest sages was W.C. Fields who said:

"The world is made up of only three things:
oxygen, nitrogen, and baloney!"

Remember that one the next time you are knee deep in a data modeling session and you might be able to reduce the number of data elements you're dealing with!!!

Wanna Be A Data Know-It-All?

cmullins — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 14:13:00 GMT

OK, so nobody can know-it-all about any topic, let alone data. But I thought the title of today's blog entry might be enticing enough to get you to read about a new book series from publisher Morgan Kaufmann named, appropriately enough, know-it-all. The idea behind this book series is to compile useful information from many experts into a single book.

I recently received two data-related books in this series: Data Mining Know It All and Database Design Know It All. These books are both interesting and contain useful information, but they can be a bit disjointed. In some cases, the material was simply lifted directly out of another book and placed into these books. Heck, it might be in "all" cases, because I don't have all the books by the various authors of these two books. Due to the hopping around from author to author, the writing styles differ and the material, at times (not always) can be somewhat jarring.

However, there is useful information in each of these tomes. I think the books in this series will work better for you if you are looking for a reference book, not so much if you are looking to read straight through from Chapter 1 to the end. But heck, how many technical books do we read that way anyway?

So if you want to digest information a chapter at a time, without expecting a seamless transition from chapter to chapter, then the know it all books can be a nice choice. And if you are interested in seeing material from a wide variety of experts without having to purchase a wide variety of books, then these books are just what you are looking for.

But these are not the only new data management books I've been poring over lately. How we manage, use, and protect our data is of vital importance to organizations (and individuals) these days, so there has been a spate of interesting data books of late. Some of the more helpful, new data-related books include:

The Data Access Handbook by John Goodson and Robert A. Steward (Prentice-Hall)
Managing Your Business Data by Theresa Kushner & Maria Villar (Racom Communications)
Tapping Into Unstructured Data by William H. Inmon and Anthony Nesavich (Prentice-Hall)
Visualizing Data by Ben Fry (O'Reilly)
Executing Data Quality Projects by Danette McGilvray (Morgan Kaufmann)
Managing Catastrophic Loss of Sensitive Data by Constantine Photopoulos (Syngress)

All of the above are recently published titles that discuss topics on better managing and using corporate data. The last one is particularly noteworthy for its timeliness as it provides a roadmap for how to better protect your sensitive corporate data, an important topic in this day and age of frequent data breaches and increasing regulatory pressures.

As regular readers of my blogs know, I am a huge proponent of books as a means to keep abreast of technology, advance your knowledge, and maintain employability. And any (or all) of the books I've discussed here can help you to do that!

Oracle Singing “Here Comes the Sun”

cmullins — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:41:00 GMT

Just when it seemed like nobody was interested in acquiring Sun after the IBM deal fell through, Oracle swooped in with a bigger offer and nabbed Sun (on April 20, 2009) for $9.50 per share, or approximately $7.4 billion.

Although an IBM acquisition of Sun probably made more sense, there are definite positives for the Oracle deal. Both Oracle and Sun sell mostly to larger enterprises. Many of Sun’s servers run Oracle software – both the DBMS and the applications. By adding Sun hardware to the mix, Oracle can now offer completely integrated systems – including server, storage, OS, DBMS, middleware, and applications – without having to involve any other vendor. In point of fact, Larry Ellison highlighted this very notion saying "Oracle will be the only company that can engineer an integrated system—from applications to disk—where all the pieces fit and work together so customers do not have to do it themselves." Not even IBM can claim that.

What else does Oracle get by acquiring Sun? Well, it gets a huge piece of the open system DBMS market by adding MySQL to its DBMS portfolio. Remember way back in the fourth quarter of 2005? That is when Oracle acquired Innobase. Innobase was the maker of InnoDB, an add-on storage engine for MySQL. InnoDB is distributed under the GNU GPL open-source license. InnoDB is one of several storage engines used by MySQL for handling more complex transaction processing requirements. Now Oracle “controls” both Innobase and MySQL.

Oracle also later acquired Sleepycat Software another provider of open source DBMS software. Berkeley DB is the open source, embedded database software offering of Sleepycat Software. Berkeley DB is pervasive in the open source world as it is embedded in several popular open source products including Apache web server and the OpenOffice productivity suite, among others. Oh, and by the way, with the acquisition of Sun, OpenOffice is now under Oracle’s purview. So we see Oracle becoming not just the biggest DBMS software provider on the planet, but also the biggest open source DBMS provider.

Still on the DBMS area for a moment, it will be interesting to see what steps Oracle takes to bolster its “database machine” strategy. Late last year Oracle announced the Oracle Database Machine, touted as the world's fastest database machine. It boasts eight Oracle Database servers on 64 Intel processor cores running Oracle Enterprise Linux and Oracle Real Application Clusters. In the first quarter, Oracle sold its first Oracle Database Machine. Will Oracle adapt or augment that strategy with its newly acquired Sun/Solaris hardware? I don’t know why they wouldn’t.

Cloud computing is another interesting area to analyze here. Sun has some nice cloud computing and virtualization technologies that Oracle now owns. So Oracle could become a leading provider of cloud computing offerings with this acquisition.

By acquiring Sun, Oracle also stops IBM from acquiring it. Stopping a competitor is not usually the most compelling reason to acquire a company, but when there are as many synergies as this one for Oracle, throwing up that roadblock for IBM must only have been viewed as additional gravy when they made the decision to pull the trigger.

And, indeed, this acquisition is very disruptive to the market, for a number of reasons. One fails to see how Oracle won’t take advantage of Open Office and Star Office (the productivity suites it gains from Sun) to throw a wedge into Microsoft’s best selling Office productivity suite. Java developers will be wondering just what the heck Oracle will do controlling the Java reigns. The non-IBM server big boys, HP and Dell, have got to be re-evaluating their long-term plans for partnering with Oracle.

What are the risks for Oracle in acquiring Sun? Oh, there are some. Oracle has no experience with hardware, but it can mitigate those risks by leveraging the experienced folks it acquires from Sun. And Oracle has always been savvy about adding executives with skills it lacks when it needs to.

The deal is very costly, one of the biggest Oracle has taken on. But as Oracle points out in the press release, when Sun's cash assets are taken into account, the deal is valued at $5.6 billion. Oracle expects Sun to add at least 15 cents to its income on a non-GAAP basis in the first full year after closing, and to $1.5 billion to its non-GAAP operating profit.

So what will happen next? Well, Oracle could be on the lookout to bolster its services offerings if it is truly looking to become the next IBM; Microsoft will probably start to eyeball some enterprise hardware and software companies (Cisco? EMC?); and HP and Dell will scurry around looking for ways to replace Oracle as a partner. I bet that Dell will try to marry itself closer to Microsoft.

One thing is for sure, the rest of this year could get very interesting indeed!

Through The Looking Glass

cmullins — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 04:08:00 GMT

In today's blog entry we look for inspiration in some non-standard places as we progress happily through our day-to-day IT jobs. Often times, when the business of Information Technology frustrates me, I look for inspiration in what may seem at first glance to be odd places. For instance, I think the Lewis Carroll Alice in Wonderland books offer sage advice for our particular industry. I mean, how many times have you watched a salesman grin as he spoke and then expected him to simply disappear the way the Cheshire Cat does?

Which Way Should We Go?

But perhaps that is a bad metaphor. The Cheshire Cat was actually a pretty smart cookie (no disrespect to salespeople intended)! Recall the passage where Alice comes to a fork in the road and first meets the Cheshire Cat in a tree. She asks, "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" And the cat responds, "That depends a good deal on where you want to go." Alice, in typical end-user fashion, replies "It doesn't much matter where." Causing the cat to utter words that we should all take to heart - - "Then it doesn't matter which way you go!"

Of course, you could follow Yogi Berra's advice, instead. He said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it!" But, then where would that leave you? Unfortunately, that seems about as intelligent as some IT strategic planning sessions I’ve sat in on. The bottom line is that planning and understanding are both required and go hand in hand with one another. Those of us who practice the discipline of data management and administration understand the rigor of planning; but we also understand the benefits that can accrue!

If you have no plan for where you want to go, then at best you will just be going around in circles; at worst, you'll be going backward!Planning and keeping abreast of the latest technology is imperative in the rapidly changing world of information technology (IT). As Alice might put it, IT just keeps getting "curiouser and curiouser."

It Means What I Mean!

Then, just when I feel that things might be going in the right direction again, I invariably stumble across a Humpty Dumpty. You remember Humpty Dumpty, don't you? He was that good egg who sat on the wall and spouted off about everything under the sun, sometimes without the requisite knowledge to back up his statements. Humpty Dumpty is famous for saying "When I use a term, it means whatever I choose it to mean - - "nothing more, and nothing less."

As IT professionals, we must deal with this type of individual all too often. This type of imprecision is tolerated and excused all the time. Why else would there be so many synonyms and homonyms in our business and technical lexicon? There are too many Humpty Dumptys out there. And too many folks who accept this type of answer, too.

So What?

So what does all of this mean? Well, I guess I can sum up my feelings by quoting another sage who never gets the respect he deserves - - Uncle Joe from the old television series, Petticoat Junction. When asked his opinion on a dispute his family was having Uncle Joe replied "I’m for whatever's right."

Me too! I’m for whatever’s right!

I hope you don’t feel cheated taking advice from children’s books and old TV sitcoms. But sometimes you can find nuggets of wisdom in the strangest places. In this hectic day and age of downsizing and rapid change, we sometimes need to be grounded with basic realities. Things like "you need to have a plan in order to accomplish anything" and "you need to have common and well-understood definitions in order to effectively communicate" should be common sense. Try to make sure they are at your company.

This might prove difficult. Once people get stuck in their ways, they can be hard to change. But it is worth the effort. Its just like my Grandfather used to say - - "people have more fun than anybody."

Or do we

Enterprise Data World 2009

cmullins — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 01:22:00 GMT

This week I am attending the inaugural Enterprise Data World conference in Tampa, FL. Enterprise Data World bills itself as the business world’s most comprehensive vendor-neutral educational event about data and information management. The event, although new by name, is actually a revamped version of the DAMA Symposium and Metadata Conference previously held annually by Wilshire Confrences.If you've been there before, you know the high quality content offered by this event.

So far (as of Tuesday) the event has been everything it claims to be. I've attended sessions on master data management, data protection, and encryption, as well as delivering a presentation myself on database auditing. Attendance seems to be healthy (I'm guessing around 500 or so) and the halls are buzzing with data architecture talk.

The exhibition area also boasted a healthy mix of software vendors and data management consultants hawking their wares. So far this week, from the level of discourse and interaction on the show floor, you wouldn't know that there was an economic slowdown or that conferences, in general, were supposed to be "off" this year.

Looking forward to attending more sessions tomorrow...

Upcoming Speaking Engagements

cmullins — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 15:38:00 GMT

Just a short blog post today to update everybody regarding my upcoming speaking schedule.

First up, next week, is a speaking slot during the inaugural Enterprise Data World conference in Tampa, FL. Enterprise Data World bills itself as the business world’s most comprehensive vendor-neutral educational event about data and information management. The event, although new by name, is actually a revamped version of the DAMA Symposium and Metadata Conference held annually by Wilshire Confrences. If you've been there before, you know the high quality content offered by this event. If not, this is a good year to attend for the first time because they've added more sessions and case studies. I will be delivering a presentation on database auditing on April 7th.

I'm also going to be speaking about database auditing at a couple of regional ISACA events: one in Austin on May 4th and another in Birmingham on May 19th. ISACA is a worldwide association of IS professionals dedicated to the audit, control, and security of information systems. They have regional chapters that conduct regular meetings... sort of like regional DB2 user groups.

And I'll be speaking at the North American IDUG conference in Denver, CO, the week of May 11 through 15, too. I'll be delivering 2 presentations at IDUG, one on the new programming/SQL features of DB2 9 for z/OS (Wed, 5/13) and another on DB2 performance issues (Fri, 5/15). And I'll also be participating in the Data Privacy special interest group on Tuesday (5/12).

I will also be in Cleveland for the NEODBUG meeting on Thursday, May 21st. I'll deliver two presentations there: one on database auditing and another offering an hour of DB2 tips and techniques.

In June, it is off to San Diego, CA, to participate in the Data Governance Conference. This event focuses on data governance, the discipline of responding to both regulatory requirements within business requirements. I will be talking about database auditing within the context of data governance.

And I also will be in Toronto June 8 and 9 for the Central Canada DB2 User Group.

Of course, these are only the public events where I'll be speaking. There are some other private and company events in which I will be participating, but no reason to share those here!

And that takes us through the middle of 2009...

To REBIND or Not to REBIND

cmullins — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:14:00 GMT

As regular readers of my blogs know, I sometimes choose to post answers to questions I get via e-mail. Today's post is one of those times!

The question that was posed is this: When would you go for REBIND? Can rebinding be done for plans as well as for packages?

And here is my response:

There are two basic mindsets on when to REBIND your plans and packages. The first -- which I believe is the best approach -- is to REBIND regularly after running RUNSTATS (and perhaps REORG). Some call this approach the Three R's, but I call it the Five R's. By using this approach you can ensure that your access paths have been formulated by the DB2 optimizer using the most up-to-date information available on your data. Of course, the DB2 optimizer is not perfect so sometimes rebinding can cause the performance of certain SQL statements to degrade. You will have to be ready to handle these problems using one of several approaches (such as using optimization hints [OPTHINT in the PLAN_TABLE], changing statistics, or tweaking the SQL).

The second approach is the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" approach. In this scenario, you will continue to run RUNSTATS regularly but you will not REBIND your plans and packages until performance degrades. This approach is embraced by shops that do not have the manpower or time to review all access paths after a mass REBIND. By not running REBIND the thought is that performance will continue along as is until data volumes change so significantly that end users start to complain. Only then will individual plans and packages be rebound following the next scheduled RUNSTATS or immediately if the problem is large enough.

Examine your shop's approach to the REBIND issue to see which approach is best for you. Although philosophically I agree with the first approach, I understand that the second approach can be useful for some shops in practice. If you follow the second approach, be sure that you have pre-agreed Service Level Agreements (SLAs) for your DB2 applications. Then, you can reasonably argue that there is no reason to REBIND anything until, or unless you are no longer meeting the SLA.

Of course, I would be remiss if I did not also mention that there are tools on the market that can remove the risk with the first approach and make it an achieveable solution. I am speaking about NEON Enterprise Software's Bind ImpactExpert. Using the NEON solution you can eliminate the unpredictability of rebinds by filtering out the rebinds that are likely to have a negative impact on DB2 performance. By doing so, Bind ImpactExpert guarantees improved or consistent performing DB2 applications. And you no longer have to avoid binding everything using approach #2!

Bind ImpactExpert also offers an EarlyPrecheck feature to assist you in moving to new DB2 releases. This feature allows you to evaluate and correct access path problems for both dynamic and static SQL prior to an actual DB2 version upgrade.

So, bottom line, regularly rebinding is the way to go... and if that scares you, look at a solution like Bind ImpactExpert to remove the risk.

If you are interested, click here to get a white paper on introducing change control into the REBIND process.

Will IBM Acquire Sun?

cmullins — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 15:45:00 GMT

The Wall Street Journal reported today that IBM is in talks to acquire one of its arch-rivals in the server space, Sun Microsystems.

There are a lot of reasons why IBM would be interested in Sun. The server business is obviously Sun's biggest business, and it would benefit IBM to expand in this area by taking out a rival (Sun), growing against a large rival (HP), and positioning against a new entrant (Cisco, more on them in a moment). Additionally, one of Oracle's largest hardware platforms for their DBMS is Sun, so if IBM acquires Sun it could give them some leverage in dealing with Oracle. Although IBM has a version of DB2 that runs on Sun/Solaris, it has not been widely accepted. IBM's Informix has a bigger footprint on Sun than does DB2.

Sun has also been busy offering cloud computing and storage offerings, which is something that IBM has not yet pursued. Acquiring Sun would offer IBM a shortcut into that business.

But if you look past the server side of the equation, Sun offers some interesting technology/hardware/software that IBM is probably very interested in. A couple years ago Sun bought StorageTek and IBM's very healthy storage business would be happy to add Sun's storage business. Last year Sun bought MySQL, and IBM's data management group would be very happy to add the number one open source DBMS to its line of offerings. IBM tried to enter the open source DBMS fray a couple years ago with its Derby/Cloudscape offering, but it has not been very successful. And let's not forget than Sun created Java and IBM would be happy to add that feather to its software cap.

The bottom line will be the price: how cheaply can IBM snag Sun? If the price is right, the deal will get done and it could be a very good one for IBM overall. But a lot of the benefits from buying Sun would be in how the various pieces interact under one roof, and we all know that IBM is not the most adept company at getting its operating units to function in sync with one another.

And what about Cisco entering the server business? Ill-advised, in my opinion. Cisco partners with all of the server providers to sell its networking hardware. Does Cisco really want to take the risk that HP and IBM would get irked at them for competing in the server business (no matter what the public stance of the companies) and have them more aggressively partner with a Cisco competitor (e.g. Citrix)? And even if you look at it from just an internal Cisco perspective, the server business is a mature market with very large incumbent players. How many Cisco customers would rather have a server from a brand new player (Cisco) rather than an entrenched, solid company like IBM or HP? Some, perhaps, but I doubt enough to make Cisco a credible player in this market.

I guess we'll just have to keep our eyes on these events to see what transpires.