All,

Here are new DB2 related topics over the past month or so.

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Announcement - IBM DB2 V9.1 (code named 'Viper') for Linux, UNIX, and Windows delivers hybrid XML/relational data server
(http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/fcgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS206-128)

DB2® V9.1 for Linux™, UNIX®, and Windows™ delivers new features that address the needs of today's businesses, including integrating business data from across your organization, focusing limited IT resource on creating business value, or providing a secure and resilient information management system for your valuable information assets.

Data server for an XML-based service-oriented architecture

More information is in XML format, or directly storable as XML format, than in relational data tables. Most of this XML information is neither protected nor utilized to the same extent as other data because doing so has been cost prohibitive. DB2 V9.1 introduces the first hybrid data server for the industry, serving data from both pure relational and pureXML structures. This technology delivers unprecedented application performance and development time/cost savings that makes XML data cost effective for the first time, enabling greater business insight faster at lower cost.

To provide this innovative support for managing XML data, DB2 V9.1 features new XML-specific storage management, indexing, and optimization techniques. It also interfaces to a wide range of popular programming languages, allowing users to optionally validate their XML data prior to storage, and extends popular database utilities important for importing data and administering the environment.

Agile application development

An enhanced set of application development tools simplify database application development and ease application deployment, including a new Developer Workbench, enhanced functionality for Visual Studio 2005, and XML and XQuery support. DB2 V9.1 also introduces a unified debugger, rapid application deployment with a lightweight runtime client, and many other features that allow you to save time and develop applications that work across different DB2 data servers.

Reduced administration

IBM continues to simplify deployment of DB2. With new features such as nonadministrator installation on Windows, response file installation enhancements, and support for coexistence of multiple copies of the DB2 database system, DB2 V9.1 allows your IT staff to spend more time supporting your business needs instead of installing and deploying database systems. Autonomic features help reduce the time required to administer and tune your database system.

Enhanced security and resiliency

Administrators have improved control over database security with the fine-grained, label-based security and a new security administrator authority level. These provide greater control over access to information assets and improved reporting capabilities for monitoring access to sensitive data.

DB2 V9.1 improves data availability with online integrity processing and improved recovery capabilities. Large database management is further improved with table partitioning that allows for larger tables, facilitates fast roll-in and roll-out of data in a warehouse, improves query performance, and reduces the administration time by allowing administrative tasks on individual data partitions. Performance is further improved with statistical views, faster data loading capabilities, and Materialized Query Table (MQT) enhancements.
 
Electronic General Availability:  July 28, 2006
Media and Documentation Availability:  September 22, 2006

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Redbook - SQL Performance Diagnosis on IBM DB2 Universal Database for iSeries
(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246654.html )

The goal of database performance tuning is to minimize the response time of your queries. It is also to optimize your server's resources by minimizing network traffic, disk I/O, and CPU time.

This IBM Redbook helps you to understand the basics of identifying and tuning the performance of Structured Query Language (SQL) statements using IBM DB2 Universal Database for iSeries. DB2 Universal Database for iSeries provides a comprehensive set of tools that help technical analysts tune SQL queries. The SQL Performance Monitors are part of the set of tools that IBM i5/OS provides for assisting in SQL performance analysis since Version 3 Release 6. These monitors help to analyze database performance problems after SQL requests are run.

This redbook also presents tips and techniques based on the SQL Performance Monitors and other tools, such as Visual Explain. You'll find this guidance helpful in gaining the most out of both DB2 Universal Database for iSeries and query optimizer when using SQL.

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Redbook - WebSphere Information Integrator OmniFind Edition: Fast Track Implementation
(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246697.html)

This IBM Redbook provides a detailed description of WebSphere Information Integrator OmniFind Edition technology and documents the procedures for implementing it in a single-server Windows 2000 environment and a multiple-server AIX environment.

Supported data sources include DB2, Oracle, Windows and UNIX file systems, Web sites, news groups, DB2 Content Manager, WebSphere Information Integrator Content Edition, Lotus Notes, and Microsoft Exchange.

The book includes support for administrative-level, collection-level, and document-level security, and offers a custom portlet search application with viewer applications for accessing DB2, file systems, and news groups. Best practices recommendations are provided where appropriate.

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Redbook - DB2 UDB for z/OS Version 8 Performance Topics
(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg246465.html)

IBM DATABASE 2 Universal Database Server for z/OS Version 8 (DB2 V8 throughout this IBM Redbook) is the twelfth and largest release of DB2 for MVS. It brings synergy with the zSeries hardware and exploits the z/OS 64-bit virtual addressing capabilities. DB2 V8 offers data support, application development, and query functionality enhancements for e-business, while building upon the traditional characteristics of availability, exceptional scalability, and performance for the enterprise of choice.

Key improvements enhance scalability, application porting, security architecture, and continuous availability. Management for very large databases is made much easier, while 64-bit virtual storage support makes management simpler and improves scalability and availability. This new version breaks through many old limitations in the definition of DB2 objects, including SQL improvements, schema evolution, longer names for tables and columns, longer SQL statements, enhanced Java and Unicode support, enhanced utilities, and more log data sets.

This redbook introduces the major performance and availability changes as well as the performance characteristics of many new functions. It helps you understand the performance implications of migrating to DB2 V8 with considerations based on laboratory measurements. It provides the type of information needed to start evaluating the performance impact of DB2 V8 and its capacity planning needs.

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Redbook - WebSphere Replication Server Using Q Replication High Availability Scenarios for the AIX Platform
(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247216.html)

This IBM Redbook provides detailed instructions and scripts on managing failover and switchback in a bidirectional Q replication environment for the AIX platform.

A typical business scenario is used to showcase the bidirectional failover/switchback implementation. The redbook also includes a HADR high availability scenario for the source system in a Q replication environment involving unidirectional replication. Key considerations in designing and implementing such environments are discussed.

This redbook is organized into the following topics:
- High availability concepts
- WebSphere Replication Server Q replication overview
- Failover and switchback scenarios
- HADR and Q replication coexistence scenario
- Summary of code and scripts used in the scenarios
- Exception processing in a bidirectional Q replication environment
- Overview of HADR and DB2 Client Reroute

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Redbook - WebSphere Replication Server for z/OS Using Q Replication: High Availability Scenarios for the z/OS Platform
(http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247215.html)

This IBM Redbook provides detailed instructions and scripts for managing failover and switchback in a WebSphere Replication Server for z/OS bidirectional Q replication environment for the z/OS platform. A typical business scenario is used to showcase the bidirectional failover/switchback implementation. This book also includes a WebSphere MQ shared disk and WebSphere MQ shared queue high availability scenario for the source system in a Q replication environment involving unidirectional replication. Key considerations in designing and implementing such environments are discussed.

This book is aimed at an audience of IT architects and database administrators (DBAs) responsible for developing high-availability solutions on the z/OS platform.

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Announcement - IBM Entity Analytic Solutions V4.1.0 delivers powerful, anonymous identity recognition and relationship awareness
(http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/fcgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS206-117)

Entity Analytic Solutions, the world's leading solution for identity and relationship resolution, is a suite of four enabling technologies:

* IBM Identity Resolution answers the question, Who is who? In other words, it provides the ability to identify who people, organizations, or things are.
* IBM Relationship Resolution answers the question, Who knows who? In other words, what relationships exist between people, organizations, or things.
* IBM Anonymous Resolution provides the ability to share this information with third parties without disclosing the identity of the person (or organization) to whom the information relates, thereby avoiding contravention of data protection and other similar laws.
* IBM Global Name Recognition answers the question, What's in a name? In other words, it recognizes customers, citizens, and criminals across multiple cultural variations of name data.

Entity Analytic Solutions (EAS) is unique identity disambiguation software that provides public sector organizations or commercial enterprises with the ability to recognize and mitigate the incidence of fraud, threat, and risk. This EAS offering provides insight on demand, and in context, on "who is who," "who knows who," and "anonymously."

This industry-leading, patented technology enables enterprise-wide identity insight, full attribution, and self-correction in real time, and scales to process hundreds of millions of entities — all while accumulating context about those identities. It is the only software in the market that provides in-context information regarding non-obvious and obvious relationships that may exist between identities, and can do it anonymously to enhance privacy of information.

For most businesses and government agencies, it is important to figure out when a person is using more than one identity package (that is, name, address, phone number, social insurance number, and other such personal attributes) intentionally or unintentionally. Identity resolution software can help determine when two or more different looking identity packages are describing the same person, even if the data is inconsistent. For example, by comparing names, addresses, phone numbers, social insurance numbers, and other personal information across different records, this software might reveal that three customers calling themselves Tom R., Thomas Rogers, and T. Rogers are really just the same person.

It may also be useful for organizations to know with whom such a person associates. Relationship resolution software can process resolved identity data to find out whether people have worked for some of the same companies, for example. This would be useful to an organization that tracks down terrorists, but it can also help businesses such as banks, for example, to see whether the Hope Smith who just applied for a loan is related to Rock Smith, the account holder with a sterling credit rating.

Sometimes organizations want to share information across nontraditional boundaries — such as between a business and a government agency — and that poses serious privacy challenges. IBM Anonymous Resolution allows you to "disguise" sensitive data before you share it with others for purposes of identity resolution and relationship detection.

This technology makes it easy for businesses and governments to gain a lot of insight from their records while reducing the risk that criminals will steal and misuse information about innocent people. Resolving identities and their relationships is serious business. It can help reduce fraud or prevent crimes ranging from unwarranted insurance claims, credit card fraud and identity theft, to terrorist activity.

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Announcement - IBM DB2 and IMS tools expanded and enhanced to help better manage database environments
(http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/fcgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS206-126)

Two new products and two new versions offer many innovative features to assist database administrators (DBAs) and system programmers in managing aspects of DB2® and IMS™ database environments.

New Products

* DB2 Cloning Tool for z/OS®, V1.1 (5655-N10) makes it easier to quickly clone a DB2 subsystem by automatically using IBM FlashCopy® or STK SnapShot or by using any volume level fast replication or splits of continuous mirror tools.
* DB2 Recovery Expert for z/OS, V1.1 (5697-H74) provides a simple, self-managing recovery solution that enables database recovery operations with minimal disruption. Features provide intelligent analysis of altered, incorrect, or missing database assets, including table spaces, tables, indexes, and data. Recovery Expert also automates the process of rebuilding these assets to a specified point in time, often without taking the database or the business operations offline. All of these features are accessible through an easy-to-use GUI interface.  Trade-ups are available from DB2 Object Restore for z/OS, V2.1 (5697-I20).

New Versions

* IMS Performance Analyzer for z/OS, V4.1 (5655-R03) provides a wide variety of performance, usage, and availability reports. IMS Performance Analyzer has become the standard for IMS resource and performance management.
* IMS Problem Investigator for z/OS, V2.1 (5655-R02) enables IMS systems and application programmers to interrogate and determine problems with IMS Transaction Manager and IMS Database Manager systems. Its ISPF dialog interface enables these programmers to interactively navigate, investigate, and analyze IMS log and monitor records, IMS Common Queue Server (CQS) log records, and IMS Connect event data. IMS Problem Investigator also features batch reporting capabilities.

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Announcement - IBM DB2 tools expanded for multiplatform environments
(http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/fcgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS206-130)

DB2® Change Management Expert (CME) for Multiplatforms V1.1 is designed to help DBAs:

    * Improve productivity and reduce human errors by automating and managing complex DB2 structural changes
    * See the impact of proposed changes prior to implementation
    * Automatically find all related schema change elements and integrate the changes made by a team
    * Expedite the process of developing and implementing DB2 database-related changes

DB2 CME lets DBAs:

    * Manage the deployment of changes on the target databases
    * Compare two applications (sets of objects) to determine where they differ
    * Migrate a set of objects or redefine the target objects to be like the source
    * Create a historical baseline for future reference
    * Create, view, add, delete, and modify change commands (DDL, DML, DCL, utilities, DB2 commands, and system commands)
    * Preserve data, such as running DB2 import and export utilities
    * Run maintenance utilities such as rebind or RUNSTATS
    * Deploy changes to a single database or multiply provision
    * Automatically undo CME changes, if needed

By automating and simplifying the change management process, DB2 CME is intended to give DBAs the reliability they need to manage DB2 structural changes, while consistently ensuring data integrity and reducing application downtime.

DB2 High Performance Unload (HPU) for Multiplatforms V3.1 and DB2 High Performance Unload for Workgroups V3.1 are high-speed tools for unloading, extracting, and repartitioning data from DB2 databases on Linux™, UNIX®, and Windows™. DB2 HPU is made to help reduce the maintenance window through shorter elapsed time operations and new capabilities.

DB2 HPU V3.1 now has both 32-bit and 64-bit executables, and is designed to install either one, or both, depending on the operating environment. An executable is selected and used at runtime, based on the wordsize of the DB2 instance where the table being unloaded resides. Also, if you are extracting from a DB2 backup that is managed by a storage manager (such as IBM Tivoli® Storage Manager (TSM)), DB2 HPU is engineered to use the same storage manager client, by way of the same DB2 library, as DB2 itself uses.

Enhancements to the DB2 HPU support for extracting tables from backups:

    * In a DB2 DPF environment, you may start DB2 HPU on a system other than the one from where the backup is taken.
    * For online backups, DB2 HPU is designed to extract the data as it is on the backup itself, with no effort to apply any log records to restore it to a consistent state. This functionality is useful for disaster recovery situations and situations where data inconsistencies do not cause problems (such as summarizations and aggregations for warehousing).

Additional enhancements offered by DB2 HPU V3.1:

    * Support for the following operating environments:
          o Linux on System x™ (x86-64)
          o Linux on System p™
          o Linux on System z™
          o Solaris 10
    * New output format of XML, which may be useful for cross-system movement of data

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IBM DB2 Connect V9.1 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows shortens development time and reduces cost
(http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/fcgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS206-127)

DB2 Connect™ V9.1 for Linux™, UNIX®, and Windows™ delivers new features that address the needs of today's businesses, whether those needs are integrating business data across your organization, reducing IT costs, focusing limited IT resources on creating business value, or providing a secure and resilient information management system for your company's valuable information assets.

DB2 Connect V9.1 is designed to leverage your enterprise information — no matter where it is stored. For those enterprises that have made DB2® on IBM eServer® zSeries® and iSeries™ servers the cornerstone of their On Demand Business solution, DB2 Connect provides application enablement and a robust, highly scalable communications infrastructure for connecting Web, Windows, UNIX, Linux, and mobile applications to data.

DB2 Connect is the industry-leading solution integrating zSeries, iSeries, and other enterprise data with client/server, Web, mobile, and service-oriented architecture applications. The new release of DB2 Connect delivers significant feature enhancements to improve programmer productivity, provide a more robust infrastructure, and enable the deployment of DB2 technology.

Simply application development

An enhanced set of application development tools simplifies database application development and eases application deployment, including a new Developer Workbench and enhanced functionality for Visual Studio 2005. DB2 V9.1 also introduces a unified debugger, rapid application deployment with a lightweight runtime client, and many other features that allow you to save time and develop applications that work across different DB2 data servers. Also, significant enhancements to the IBM DB2 Driver for JDBC and SQLJ have been made that keep developers on the leading edge of Java™ technology. Improvements to DB2 Connect V9.1 federation capabilities simplify the programming challenge by adding support for two-phase commit capabilities for multi-vendor data sources.

Reduce administration costs with advances in performance, manageability, and installation

IBM continues to simplify deployment of DB2 Connect. With new features such as nonadministrator installation on Windows, response file installation enhancements, and support for coexistence of multiple copies of the DB2 database system, DB2 Connect V9.1 allows your IT staff to spend more time supporting your business needs instead of installing and deploying database systems.

Autonomic features such as adaptive self-tuning memory allocation and new Object Maintenance Policy wizards for DB2 UDB for z/OS® reduce the time required to administer and tune your database system.
 
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Announcement - IBM WebSphere Information Integrator OmniFind & Content Starter Editions V8.3 provide easier-to-use, affordable, secure enterprise search & content integration capabilities
(http://www-306.ibm.com/common/ssi/fcgi-bin/ssialias?subtype=ca&infotype=an&appname=iSource&supplier=897&letternum=ENUS206-134)

WebSphere Information Integrator OmniFind Starter Edition:

    * Provides an affordable entry point for secure departmental search solutions to enhance productivity of employees, partners, and customers
    * Brings together Domino, file system, Web, DB2®, and other content into a single search interface, eliminating the pain of finding information spread across multiple content silos
    * Integrates easily with WebSphere Portal out-of-the-box

IBM WebSphere Information Integrator Content Starter Edition:

    * Enables federated read/write access to multiple disparate content sources, exposing each repository's rich underlying functionality
    * Combined with DB2 Records Manager, it provides a federated records management solution for consistently managing recordkeeping policies across multiple content sources
    * Can expand the reach of OmniFind to more than 20 additional content management and workflow systems

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developerWorks Article - Get off to a fast start with DB2 Viper
(http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0603saracco/)

The DB2® Viper release, now in beta, features significant new support for storing, managing, and searching XML data. Master these new XML features quickly through several step-by-step articles that explain how to accomplish fundamental tasks. In this article, learn how to create database objects for managing your XML data and how to populate your DB2 database with XML data.

You've probably heard the buzz about DB2's new Viper release -- IBM's first database management system to support both tabular (SQL-based) and hierarchical (XML-based) data structures. If you're curious about DB2's new "native" support for XML and want to get off to a fast start, you've come to the right place.

To help you quickly get up to speed on DB2's native XML features, walk through several common tasks, such as:

   1. Creating database objects for managing XML data, including a test database, sample tables, and views
   2. Populating the database with XML data using INSERT and IMPORT statements
   3. Validating your XML data. Develop and register your XML schemas with DB2, and use the XMLVALIDATE option when importing data.

Future articles will cover other topics, such as querying, updating, and deleting DB2 XML data with SQL, querying DB2 XML data with XQuery, and developing Java applications and Web components that access DB2 XML data.

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developerWorks Article - Leverage the Spatial Extender: Creating an automatically maintained spatial table from latitude-longitude column data (DB2 Edition)
(http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0604uleman/)

If you have location information in your database in the form of separate latitude and longitude (or X and Y) columns, the value you get from that information is limited. To take full advantage of the spatial intelligence in your data, you need to turn the separate numeric columns into a single spatial column, so you can display the locations on a map and analyze spatial relationships, using a Geographic Information System (GIS) or the spatial functions provided by the IBM® DB2® Spatial Extender. This article shows you how to create and maintain such a column, using a step-by-step approach that covers all the aspects that complicate this simple process, including map projections, spatial indexing, and error handling. As an application example, it shows how to perform simple, distance-based queries. A separate appendix covers how to use a federated table from another DB2 instance as a source (including those on iSeries™ and zSeries® hosts). Sample code included.

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developerWorks Article - From DAD to annotated XML schema decomposition
(http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0604pradhan/)

The annotated XML schema decomposition in IBM® DB2® Viper allows you to decompose XML documents into relational tables more efficiently than the DB2 XML Extender. While DB2 XML Extender also supports the ability to shred documents into relational schema, it only allows for a very limited function and is also constrained by the proprietary mapping format, DAD. Annotated XML schema decomposition, on the other hand, provides an XML schema-based flexible mapping language that provides granular control to the users over the entire process of decomposition. It is also much faster than XML Extender shredding. Learn about the benefits of migration to annotated XML schema decomposition at various levels, such as functionality, usability, and performance. Then follow the steps required for migration from XML Extender shredding to annotated XML schema decomposition. This article also provides a tool (Dad2AS) that can be used to convert the XML Extender RDB_Node DADs to the annotated XML schema.

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alphaWorks Download - Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails
(http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com/tech/db2onrails/evaluation?open&S_TACT=106AH62W&S_CMP=NEWS)

Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails

A set of tools that enables rapid building of Web applications with Ruby on Rails and DB2.

What is Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails?

Users starting with Ruby and Rails are faced with the task of downloading source code, obtaining compilers, compiling code, and finding a relational database to use. Starter Toolkit for DB2® on Rails is a conveniently-packaged set of products and technologies that enables the quick creation of a configuration for building DB2 Web applications using Ruby on Rails technology.

All requirements are included: DB2 Express - C; DB2 driver for Ruby; DB2 Adapter for Rails; a "free to build, deploy, distribute" data server; and tutorials, examples, and other learning materials.

This technology runs on Windows® and Linux®.

How does it work?
Starter Toolkit for DB2 on Rails comes with a unique, one-click installer for pre-tested and reconfigured installation of not only Ruby and Rails, but a complete DB2 Express - C solution. Running the the set-up file will start Ruby and Rails and will configure Rails for use with DB2.

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DB2 Magazine Email Newsletter - Volume 7, Issue 6
(http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0BqV70AP)

IN THIS ISSUE:

1. From the Editor
  * Small, medium, or large? IBM announces DB2 9 to suit all sizes
  * Talk back to me
  * Most viewed stories
2. Poll Positions
  * Which DB2 9 feature are you most interested in?
3. IBM Webcasts
  * Replays of recent Webcasts on data quality, Rational Data
    Architect, and more
4. Skills Set
  * The latest free materials, tutorials, and discounts for IBM
    certification programs
5. Must Reads
  * Querying XML: XQuery, XPath, and SQL/XML in context
6. In the Zone
  * The latest DB2 and Informix articles from developerWorks

*******************************

1. FROM THE EDITOR

* A DB2 to Suit All Sizes
This week, IBM made it official. After five years of development,
several rounds of previews, and plenty of opportunities for partner
and customer test-drives, the company formally announced DB2 9.
Editions for enterprise customers, SMBs (DB2 Express), and developers
(DB2 Express-C) will ship worldwide on July 28. Readers of this
newsletter probably know DB2 9 better by its now-retired code-name,
"Viper." Call it what you will, DB2 9 is set to speed into the
information management market equipped with some one-of-a-kind
technology. One of the most significant DB2 9 features, of course, is
the ability to store and manage XML documents and transactions without
shredding or conversions of any kind. IBM recently named this
technology "pureXML." But pureXML is one of many upgrades that IBM
expects will improve the way information is stored, managed,
and accessed. Other items of interest include row compression,
enhancements for SAP applications, label-based access control,
disaster recovery improvements, advanced data partitioning, and
automatic memory management. Then there are the optimizations included
to help application developers. In short, there's a lot to know about
DB2 9. How can you find out what's in it for you? I recommend the
recent DB2 Magazine article "The Rubber Meets the Road," a good
overview of the highlights by IBM's Deb Jenson.
Read it online at
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EawF0Ay

Of course, IBM has plenty to say on the subject. Start at
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EUED0Au .

And don't forget to browse developerWorks. In fact, there's a
DB2 9 article featured in the In the Zone section below. Look for
extensive coverage of the developer features(and plenty of how-to
information)in the next print issue of DB2 Magazine, which ships,
conveniently, about the same time as DB2 9. --Kim Moutsos

* Talk Back to Me
Drop me a thoughtful note about what DB2 9 will mean to your company
or the industry at large. I've got a mighty selection of IBM Press
books burdening my bookshelves, and I might be willing to part with a
few to reward the most interesting responses (as judged by me).
Impress me with your insight. Send your thoughts to db2@....

*Most Viewed Stories
Here are some popular DB2mag.com articles to add to your summer
reading list.
--DB2 DBA: By Any Other Name, Robert Catterall
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawa0AR

--Table Spaces and Locking Levels, Part 2, Bonnie Baker
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawb0AS

--Table Spaces and Locking Levels, Part 1, Bonnie Baker
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawc0AT

--Master Data Management, Dan Druker and Robert Rich
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawd0AU

*******************************

2. POLL POSITIONS

* The quick and easy way to make your opinion known? Take this month's
DB2 Magazine poll. Which DB2 9 feature are you most looking forward
to?
--Participate in the poll.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Bw8K0AL
--Browse past polls and results.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EMWq0Ap

*******************************

3. IBM WEBCASTS

* Taking Data Quality to the Enterprise Through Data Governance
Over the past four years, data quality has changed from a backwater IT
concern to a business issue of importance. However, organizations
still need help selling, implementing, and sustaining programs that
deliver high-quality data. Data quality tools and services can play a
significant role in helping organizations achieve their data quality
goals. To meet these needs, TDWI issued a sequel to its original
(2002) data quality report, complemented by this Webinar. The new
report gauges the progress we've made in raising awareness about the
importance of data quality, and assesses the current status of data
quality in corporations around the world. It also provides
prescriptive advice about how to sell, implement, and maintain
programs designed to turn data quality quagmires into
pristine playing fields for data-intensive applications.
--Watch the replay.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EawI0A2

* IBM Rational Data Architect
Watch this Webcast to learn about the latest data modeling and
integration design tool that will help you to simplify data modeling
and integration design, facilitate an enterprise-wide understanding of
your data assets, and more. Hear about the unique mapping and
mapping-discovery capabilities that will uncover existing
relationships between your heterogeneous data sources and allow you to
easily define new relationships all with a simple click. Learn how to
discover, design and deploy federated databases with Rational Data
Architect and how to put it to use in your environment.
--Watch the Webcast.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawe0AV

* Leveraging Existing Data Assets in SAP NetWeaver Deployments
SAP customers are beginning to adopt SAP NetWeaver, adding it into an
already heterogeneous landscape. As companies strive to be more
efficient, decrease their costs, and meet internal customer
application needs, IT departments must rationalize their
infrastructure and make their data ready and usable. This means
preparing and cleansing data when consolidating applications and
servers, migrating applications and data, and federating access to
systems, particularly when the data resides externally. How will
companies fit SAP NetWeaver technology with existing databases and
applications in different formats, spread across hardware platforms
and data centers? Clients must ensure their SAP NetWeaver investment
can co-exist, interoperate and integrate with existing data assets.
Learn how information integration solutions from IBM can help reduce
risk and time spent on integrating SAP NetWeaver into a multi-vendor
IT landscape.
--Watch the Webcast.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawf0AW

* Successfully Integrating Master Data
Organizations can mitigate risk, collapse time to value, increase
productivity and recognize higher quality deliverables by leveraging a
complete information integration platform together with methodology,
accelerators and a full range of implementation services from IBM and
partners. Join experts Dick Hoffman, IBM, Business Development BCS and
Robert Rich, Senior Product Manager for this one-hour Webcast to learn
how MDM can deliver a unified accurate view of core business data
including: implementing a data integration platform that accesses
facts about core business entities from anywhere in the enterprise;
automating the creation of a single accurate view based on your
business rules that agrees with facts in the real world; and
delivering high quality master data to business applications in real
time.
--Watch the replay.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EQoL0Ag

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4. SKILLS SET

* Discount: Essential Books for DBAs
IBM is offering a bundle of important books for DBAs at a savings of
more than $29 USD off list price. The bundle includes the definitive
reference and self-study guide that covers every aspect of deploying
and managing DB2 Universal Database v8 on Linux, Unix, and Windows
platforms, a certification guide for the IBM DB2 Universal Database
Advanced Database Administration Exam, and a volume that explains how
to deliver high availability for your data server system.
--Find out about the discount.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0CQZq0Au

* No-Cost Certification Preparation
IBM offers preparation materials for Information Management
certification exams at no charge. Each document covers role
descriptions, requirements, objectives, and preparation suggestions.
--Download the preparation documents.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawg0AX
--Browse a list of certification books and guides.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawh0AY

* Tutorial: Introduction to architecting WebSphere Information
Integrator solutions
A new tutorial provides an overview of WebSphere Information
Integrator, including what information integration is, business needs
for integrating information across enterprises, and how IBM WebSphere
Information Integrator meets these needs.
--Learn more about the tutorial:
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EVKT0AJ

* Business Intelligence Best Practices Chats
This Chat with the Lab program is put on by the Business Intelligence
Best Practices Team and the Toronto and Silicon Valley Labs. The BI
Best Practices Chat is a technical program designed for DBAs, system
administrators, and architects interested in the latest technical
information regarding DB2 data partitioning feature within a BI
environment.
--Find out how to participate or listen in.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0C8T30AN

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5. MUST READS

* Querying XML, : XQuery, XPath, and SQL/XML in context
By Jim Melton and Stephen Buxton

Querying XML, which includes a forward by IBM Fellow Don Chamberlin,
teaches software developers and systems architects useful approaches
to querying XML documents and repositories. The book includes:
* Illustrations and examples to teach XML querying concepts
* Comprehensive coverage of XML query languages and related concepts
(such as the XQuery Data Model).
* Examples of how to query XML documents and data using XPath, XQuery,
XQueryX, and SQL, featuring SQL/XML extensions
* Links to downloadable code and data samples for an extensive set of
XQuery, XPath, SQL, Java, and other examples.
--Find out more about Querying XML
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawi0AZ

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6. IN THE ZONE

* pureXML in DB2 9: Which way to query your XML data?
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawj0Aa

* A step-by-step how-to guide to install, configure, and test a Linux,
Apache, Informix, and PHP server
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawk0Ab

* IBM DB2 Enterprise Server performance with Power5+ and AIX 5L
multipage support
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawl0Ac

* Search WebSphere Portal Document Manager using WebSphere Information
Integrator OmniFind Edition
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawm0Ad

* Leverage MySQL skills to learn DB2 Express: DB2 versus MySQL backup
and recovery
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawn0Ae

* Set up a Multi-tier SPECjAppServer2004 cluster with DB2
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0Eawo0Af

* Developing with Apache Derby -- Hitting the Trifecta: Part 4
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/exIF0FhO7y0FLd0EaxM0A7

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Jay Allen (ja@...)
Consulting Software IT Specialist
IBM Data Management Solutions
(602) 217-2937 - Phone
(602) 217-2937 - Fax