MDUG Seminar

Date: March 12, 2009

Hotel: Crowne Plaza Hotel (Novi)

Seminar Program

Presentation Abstracts

Stored procedures have been widely used for years in DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows application environments. On the mainframe side, adoption of the technology has been somewhat more limited. That situation is likely to change with the advent of native SQL procedures, delivered in DB2 for z/OS V9. This presentation will lay out a vision of a modern DB2 data-serving system in which stored procedures play a very important role. It will also provide a review of DB2 for z/OS stored procedure enhancements, with a particular emphasis on the advantages of DB2 V9 native SQL procedures. The presentation will conclude with some "go-forward" recommendations.

When DB2 debuted in 1983, it was positioned as a technologically innovative base for decision support applications. Over the years, DB2's OLTP performance improved dramatically, and run-the-business applications built on DB2 proliferated. The past couple of years have seen resurgence in data warehouse activity on the DB2 for z/OS platform. This session will describe the strengths of DB2 for z/OS as a foundation for data warehousing, compare performance management in DB2 data warehouse versus OLTP environments, and provide recommendations for system- and statement-level performance tuning for DB2-based BI applications.

This session provides a step-by-step approach to creating a complete workload management solution for your DB2 9.5 data server. Learn how you can employ best practices to meet business objectives according to their importance and priority. The best practices presented here use the new DB2 Workload Manager (WLM) introduced in Version 9.5 to achieve real-time resource management, work prioritization, system overload protection and enhanced real-time monitoring of work running on your data server.

In DB2 9.5, significant new monitoring functionality was introduced in support of the Workload Manager and this functionality will form the basis of the exciting monitoring features coming in the next release. In this session, learn how to leverage this new monitoring functionality to better understand your workloads, determine the root cause of system slowdowns related to changes in workload, and easily track adherence to performance Service Level Agreements.

Java is no longer a new technology, but has been used for business applications for years now. However, not everyone has had the opportunity to work very closely with this application platform. Also, business applications written in Java continue to evolve and morph over time. This session will provide a quick review of basic terms and concepts for the language, how applications are developed, and the environment in which they commonly execute. We'll also look at some of the ways that DB2 is accessed from Java and the web including how security is handled to the application and to DB2. Finally, we'll address some common issues encountered by customers who deploy and maintain applications as well as changing trends. This presentation was originally made at IDUG NA 2007, but has been updated.

See the experiences of a Java development team that had the guts to call DB2 for z/OS stored procedures written in COBOL. See how the application was developed, challenges faced ranging from Workload Manager to developer diversity, and tips for support. Java experience is preferred, but not a must.

Speaker Biographies

Keith McDonald is software developer on the DB2 Workload Management development team at IBM. Previously, he was a developer on the DB2 Query Patroller product and has over eleven years experience developing features for DB2. Keith holds a Master of Applied Science degree from the University of Waterloo.

John Mallonee is an applications architect for Highmark, Inc. in Pennsylvania. He began working in the area of application development for mainframes in 1984 and open systems in 1997. His focus has been on Java applications development since 2000. He was a speaker at the IDUG North America Conferences from 2003 through 2008, and at IDUG Europe in 2006. Additionally, he has been a speaker at several regional user group (RUG) meetings. He is certified in DB2 UDB v8.1 Family Application Development and was named a Top 10 User speaker at IDUG North America 2007.

Robert Catterall is President of Catterall Consulting; a firm that helps clients apply DB2 technology to address data management challenges and opportunities. Robert started his IT career with IBM in 1982, and worked throughout the 1990s as a member of the Company's DB2 National Technical Support team. In 2000, Robert joined CheckFree Corporation (now part of FiServ), where he played a leading role in database technology strategy and planning. He launched Catterall Consulting in 2007. Robert is a past President of the International DB2 Users Group, a member of the IDUG Speakers Hall of Fame, and one of IBM's inaugural Data Champions. He is also the author of the "Data Architect" column in IBM Database Magazine.