This month is a quick run through of the z/OS presentations from the IDUG NA22 Boston – the first in-person event in three years!
It was great to actually meet and greet real people again! The only problem I had, was the extreme cold of the Hotel rooms: The expo was set to be like a freezer and, for a European person whose normal air-conditioning is an open window, it was a pretty uncomfortable experience.
If you were there physically, or even virtually, you can now download all the PDFs from all the tracks, so I have grabbed all the A, B, E Tracks and half of the F and G Tracks (Only the z/OS relevant stuff for me!)
Off we Go in Alphabetical Sequence
A01 Create value from data and where the DBA counts is an excellent overview of the modern world and where data and DBAs sit. It also contains a bunch of very nice SQL that you can indeed simply run in your shops as cut-and-paste. (I did!)
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A02 was a very good intro into all the performance changes in Db2 12 and 13 (Check out my Db2 13 blog post as well for that matter!) and also on the hardware side with z15 and the brand new z16 box!
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A03 & A04 were all about AI, including a bunch of example SQLs for the three new AI BiFs in Db2 13 and how to get it all working, as well as Distributed Connection control.
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A05 was all about getting “value” from your Db2. Are you really using all the “newest” functionality that you could?
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A06 from Haakon Roberts was an excellent update all around Utilities and latest APARs. The highlight being, at least for me, the ICLIMIT TAPE for REORG which finally enables easy migration to UTS PBR RPN Tablespaces. The heads up about the LOAD FORMAT DELIMITED was also good!
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A07 concerned The Trilogy of originating SQLs and how to measure and tune them. At the end was an extra part called “Additional Tuning” that is well worth a read, as it fully explains the internal Db2 data flow from SQL to RDS to DM to Media manager.
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A08 was all about SWAT Tales and had some great interaction! The best bit was one attendee stated that his Db2 system is going through 93 x 768 GB log datasets in less than 6 hours… The important take-away was to keep up to date with PTFs, especially HIPERs (Here you can subscribe to my monthly APAR reports to aid in this), and make sure you have enough logs! Plus, take care with high performance DBAT usage. Finally: Watch out for over- and mis-use of PBG spaces!
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A10 was all about migrating to UTS and to Db2 12 – Do not underestimate the time and effort required to do this!
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A11 contained details about using the RTS to work as a “monitor” enabling you to get a different view of GETPAGES for example.
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A12 tied in with the A01 presentation and was all about Dynamic SQL problems and solutions including a nice way to “purge” single SQLs from the DSC! Included some very interesting SQLs to calculate your DSC KPIs.
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A13 was all about configuring Data Sharing as well as solving some common issues with it. It was a great intro to everything DS. Plus, it contained a list of new and improved things that came along in Db2 12 and 13.
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A14 was all about inactive data impacting your performance. A very interesting topic that all sites probably have an issue with without really knowing it! Archive Enabled Tables could be very useful… Towards the end were a couple of nice features in Db2 with UNION ALL.
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A15 was a journey through TRACES, SMF and IFCIDs. If you ever wanted to know about any of these things then here’s the best starting place!
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A16 launched Python at the DBAs and sysprogs! Scary stuff! All about installing Python on z/OS and latest bug fixes etc etc. My favorite bit was the “disable auto commit” and “remember to commit before disconnect”!
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B-Track
B01 was all about getting prepared for Db2 13. Starting with a review of all the FLs of Db2 12 right up to FL510 which is the major prereq for Db2 13, of course!
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B02 contained a ton of details all about the “Black hole” of Db2 statistics – Page Latch Suspensions, plus a very handy list of how to fix these suspensions – if at all possible…
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B03 took you into the first steps of the Machine Learning (ML) world. Started off with penquins and then I got sort of lost … 🙂
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B04 was another migration session about getting from Db2 12 FL501 to Db2 13, this time incorporating Deprecated functions and Incompatible changes etc.
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B05 gave us four different ways to migrate away from multi-table tablespaces to PBGs. From Unload/Drop/Create/Load, MOVE TABLE (Db2 12 FL508), create “%_new” tables => INSERT from original => rename original to “%_old” => rename “%_new” to original => drop “%_old”, and lastly, using a vendor tool to do the work for you!
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B06 was all about the pre-migration query DSNTIJPE and what you do, or don’t do, with the resulting 23 odd reports.
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B07 showed how MasterCard monitors any and all Db2 Alerts to take proactive actions before things go pear-shaped. This includes disk space, messages, sql codes, access path changes, memory, storage, DDF, physical media limits (size, extents, volumes etc.) There is a very handy full list of “things to monitor” at the end of the presentation as well. Check out the RTDX SAX tool timings!
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B08 Explain explained – Complete introduction as to how the Db2 Optimizer makes its cost-based decision. At the end were a couple of nice “best practices” slides summing it all up very well.
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B10 Db2 for z/OS housekeeping. This was all about a methodology for REORG/RUNSTATS/REBIND. The interesting take away here was the idea to *never* run a RUNSTATS based soley on RTS counters from the last RUNSTATS. In other words, just do a RUNSTATS when you are doing a REORG.
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B11 was all about client configuration and was a cross-platform presentation (naturally!) It contained all you need to know about the setup and installation and use of the db2cli among many other things!
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B12 had Tips for DBAs and programmers to help reduce costs – Always a good topic! In here was also a nice tip about keeping up to date with your COBOL compiler!
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B13 got secure on us by using Multi-factor Authentication for Db2 z/OS. This included setting up MFA and examples of when it works or does not work.
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B14 carried on the security theme by going into detail about how to protect yourself from Ransomware attacks. Here multi-layer protection is the best – MFA, Pervasive encryption, Separation of duties (SECADM usage…), Controlling access to Db2 datasets etc. etc.
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B15 came back to more “normal” territory about stopping runaway applications by using the RLF tables DSNRLSTxx and/or DSNRLMTxx, including a nice selection of examples to give you a head start.
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B16 presented a way to use MS Excel to help in analyzing performance data. A nice introduction into getting data down to the PC and then using advanced plug-ins like ToolPak.
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E-Track
E01 was all about the Optimizer and its various access path and resultant performance. Tons of notes all about access paths make this well worth a read!
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E02 was a recap of Continuous Delivery, going over the why’s and how’s including vendor responses, and then ran through all the FL levels that we have so far had.
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E03 SQL Performance for application developers was an introduction, with examples, about what an application developer should know about SQL at a minimum!
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E04 was one of my presentations all about esoteric Db2 functions – Db2 stuff that is rarely used or not well understood. Covering FIT/FTB, Spatial Indexes, REGEX, Clones and scrollable cursors. All good fun!
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E05 was all about IBM Db2 Developer Extension and Db2 Administration Foundation – Obviously the live demos are missing but it gives you a good idea!
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E06 Advanced Db2 Performance Tuning for Beginners – the title says it all. Six objectives done great by Joe – It covered both LUW and z/OS and contained a “Steps to Solve the Crime” section.
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E07 was a run through of all good stuff we got in Db2 12 including comparisons between 11 and 12 and an introduction to RESTful calls.
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E08 was a plea for testing. How to generate test data and how to actually test and measure. Included examples of PLSQL to generate test data, and proposes the mantra to Measure and Monitor what you are doing and what you have done.
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E10 was another one of my presentations where I go into detail about all currently deprecated features of Db2 12 and 13. It gave pages of SQL that you can use to check your own Db2 subsystem, or you can download our freeware MHC2 Migration HealthCheck program that does it all for you. (This is continually updated whenever anything new is deprecated, by the way!)
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E11 all about “Things your DBAs hear”. A very good, light-hearted look at the “normal craziness” of being a DBA these days!
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E12 A DBA’s epic journey covered how to deal with SLOW SQL and then the taming of four common SQL “problem statements”.
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E13 was a very apt Session code! All about the usage and requirement of RECOVER these days. It covered why you should be able to do it and preparing for it as it will be required at some time…
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E14 was a modernization call for Db2 stored procedures and RESTful services. Examples were included as well as Hints & Tips especially around DSNULI, Parameters and File usage of existing stored procs.
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E15 covered how to fall back from a schema change as quickly as possible! Use of high speed flash copies to a clone show you a way to handle this.
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E16 An overview of a “true” HTAP system. This showed how using an accelerator processing the logs you can indeed get to the Holy Grail of Transactional and Analytical processing happening at the same time on the same data.
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F-Track
F01 was all about JAVA performance – and we all need better JAVA performance these days! Kudos for the callouts on Spring Batch and Hibernate.
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F04 Back to basics with Db2 Buffer Pools – Covered everything you would ever need to know about Db2 Buffer Pools! Set-up, Monitor, Configure and Tune.
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F06 explained the use of Indexes, how they look internally and all about performance, including when to REORG them at the optimal moment.
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F07 SQL went crazy using Pivot and Transpose, some for z/OS some for LUW – a real smorgasbord of SQLs!
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F11 contained a ton of detail about connecting Clients to Servers which is not quite as straightforward as some people think…
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F12 Ran through the Db2 Catalog and Directory as it was, as it is and how to migrate to Db2 13.
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F13 covered how to use the TRACE facility of Db2 including all the information you could ever want to know about which Trace is which class is which IFCID…
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F14 was all about the perennial problem of Db2 logging and Commit frequency including full information about what is logged, what is written in the BSDS and adding/removing Active Logs.
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F16 was DSC (Dynamic Statement Cache) usage, how it actually works, how to improve it and a quick glimpse into using the IDAA (Accelerator).
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G-Track
G02 discussed the requirement for a Next Generation DBA. Having fewer people with the skills drives the demand for AI to help out.
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G03 was very interesting as it was all about setting up Encryption through the SECPORT which is becoming standard these days. Full of configuration Hints & Tips. Also contained a full example of running NETSTAT and loading the output up into a Db2 table every few minutes so you can analyze who is accessing using just the TCPPORT – Heaven!
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G05 AI again but this time protecting your systems from bad DBAT problems.
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G06 Running through old Db2 releases up to current with special regard to the problem of RECOVERY and availability as they have changed over the years.
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G12 went into depth about cutting back-up costs by using a hybrid-cloud multi-temperature storage system. Using Db2 for z/OS Data Gate delivered through IBM Cloud Pak for Data enables all of this. The big idea here, was to take your rarely used archive data and move it into the cloud.
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G13 brought up the use of Redirected Recovery to ease your fears of recovery. You can simply validate, with no system interruptions of any kind, whether or not you are indeed even recoverable and, most importantly, how long it really takes.
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G14 went into the IBM Cloud Pak world again, this time with virtualization being the main theme. The fact that the data lake has “dried up” due to various problems (GDPR being amongst them!) leads to virtualization being the way forward. DaaS – Data as a Service.
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G16 and finally… we get to the last one, and it is a *very* big one all about Db2 Security Best Practices from David Beulke. An absolute treasure trove of Do’s and Do Not’s all related to the world of Audit. Our WLX Audit also gets a shout out so well done for that!
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Summary
All in all it was a vast amount of information to try and take-in. IDUGs are always places of learning and I always learn stuff – I am now really looking forward to the IDUG EMEA 2022 in Edinburgh coming up from October the 22nd through to the 26th.
I hope to see you there!
TTFN,
Roy Boxwell