Blogs

Life Is Too Short to Rush

By Bob Vargo posted 2 days ago
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Everyone is in a rush! When we look around, we find that everyone is anxious to move forward, to rush to the next thing—whether it’s an event, a meeting, the store, anything just to get out of the house, and in current times, to get out of this pandemic (with good measure). What we are failing to realize is that life is too short to rush. We need to step back and savor the good that comes from each moment we live in, each event that we participate in, each person we meet, and those we know and love. Time does not stand still, and yet we are all in a rush to move through it. Let us step back and take a moment to reflect on all that we have accomplished together ...
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Ready for Change

By Bob Vargo posted 30 days ago
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Wow, how the weather has changed in just a short 24 hours. We had been enjoying decent spring-like weather, sunny, highs in the 60s, the trees starting to bud, the grass turning a vibrant green, and it had been just awesome! We had been enjoying getting outdoors more, cycling, walking, and appreciating the change. However, within just 24 hours, we woke up to a blustery, snowy, cold April 1 st day. Was this an April Fools’ joke? We hoped so! We are so ready for change! This is not what we expected nor the direction we were heading. IDUG is also hopeful for change. We are hoping to get business back to normal. We are hoping to be able to meet and nurture our ...
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Continuous diagnostic data collection and archival

By Joe Geller posted Apr 05, 2021
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Continuous Diagnostic Data Collection and Archival – Introducing db2histmon Historical Monitoring - David Sciaraffa, Software Engineering Manager – IBM Db2 When a problem arises in your Db2 stack, the availability of diagnostic information before, during, and after the time-frame of the problematic event is often paramount to successful diagnosis. When the diagnostic messages in the db2diag.log or notify log are insufficient, it is not uncommon for IBM support to provide instructions to enable a specific set of diagnostic data collection, and wait for a re-occurrence of the problem, in order to begin narrowing the root cause. The new Db2 Historical ...
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March 2021 Recap, plus more

By Emil Kotrc posted Mar 30, 2021
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March 2021 Recap, plus more (by Emil Kotrc ) New DBA topics The topic for March 2021 was "New DBA" and the main goal was to publish articles especially for new Db2 administrators. I believe it was a very good month and we were able to collect and publish great articles; not only for new DBAs. If you haven't had a chance to read them, see the links below and enjoy them as much as I did when was reviewing them: Martin explained us what it means to be a Data Pioneer Tony made a great summary of Tablespace Recovery Sowmya and Haakon walked us through the Db2 tablespaces and discussed why to use Universal Tablespaces Security is always ...
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How to Call a Db2 Stored Procedure in SPUFI or DSNTEP2

By Emil Kotrc posted Mar 29, 2021
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Call Procedure in SPUFI or DSNTEP2. Use UDF to do something useful with an IBM supplied stored procedure (by Brian Laube ) Stored Procedures are a powerful Db2 object that are being used by more and more of our applications. Famously, we all know that traditional “tools” like SPUFI or batch DSNTEP2 cannot call stored procedures. So inside TSO, it is hard to actually use and CALL stored procedures. Technically, we could build COBOL or REXX programs to call them. But that seems like work. Writing application code is for developers and I am a DBA. My first tactic for any task is to try to do it via SQL alone! I really want to be able to ...
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Introduction to Db2 for z/OS Security

By Emil Kotrc posted Mar 22, 2021
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Introduction to Db2 for z/OS Security (by Gayathiri Chandran ) Securing the database is critical to protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of enterprise data. There are many different components in managing database security. Understanding the fundamentals is crucial to efficiently secure the system. This paper introduces the basics of Db2 for z/OS Security. What is Db2 for z/OS Security? Control access to Db2 subsystems and resources in Db2. Provide functions and encryption capabilities to meet the security objectives and regulatory requirements. Provide audit capabilities to monitor and determine ...
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Why Universal Table Spaces (UTS)

By Emil Kotrc posted Mar 15, 2021
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Why Universal Table Spaces (UTS) ? by Sowmya Kameswaran and Haakon Roberts Let’s start with some basics and history. Table space, as the name indicates, is where tables reside. And since tables hold all the great data your company needs and hosts, the way data is stored and organized becomes very important. With the growth in the fields of analytics and explosion in the quantity of data required to run advanced analytics, data stores and decisions around how to organize them are becoming key to the success of companies. IBM has consistently delivered enhancements in this space to ensure high data availability and that access to data is highly performant ...
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Basic Tablespace Recovery

By Emil Kotrc posted Mar 08, 2021
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Basic Tablespace Recovery (by Tony Andrews ) Db2 provides means for recovering data to its current state, as might be required after a system failure, or to a specific earlier state. The units of data that can be recovered are tablespaces, datasets (partitions), single pages, or RBA ranges in the log. In a distributed network consisting of multiple Db2 subsystems, if you recover one subsystem to a certain point in time, you may also need to recover to the same point in time some or all of the other subsystems defined in the network. In a referential set of tables, you may also need to recover the set of tables together. To ensure that a tablespace can ...
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The Data Pioneer

By Emil Kotrc posted Mar 01, 2021
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The Data Pioneer (by Martin Hubel ) Let’s say you’ve joined a new company as the first DBA, or you’re promoted into the role. In taking on this role, you’re going to face many challenges as you introduce the procedures necessary to ensure data integrity. There are a number of things for you to consider: the nature of start-ups, the need for data integrity, and how to introduce structure into a rapidly growing IT environment. Note: You can be a data pioneer in a big organization where a new division is not (yet) supported by the IT infrastructure. I have used the term “data pioneer” to refer to setting up a new database environment, which is likely to include ...
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Waiting Is Making Us Impatient!

By Bob Vargo posted Feb 26, 2021
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It is that time of year between holidays, seasons, and events that makes us all impatient. What do you do with your time between these calendar events and those of your family’s schedule? We wait—wait for the next event with anticipation and excitement of something new to come, some form of change to our everyday routine. We have noticed a lot of changes recently in our neighborhood; the sun has been trying to shine more in wintery, cloudy Cleveland, more neighbors are out walking with their pets and kids, and soon we will see the tapping of maple trees for us to enjoy fresh maple syrup. However, spring has not arrived quite yet. It is still too early, and the ...
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Time Series Analysis and forecast for people in a rush

By Javier Estrada Benavides posted Feb 03, 2021
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The interactive version of this article can be viewed here: https://nbviewer.jupyter.org/github/Salzinni/idug_power_to_your_monitors/blob/master/Time_Series_Analysis_for_people_in_a_rush.ipynb If you’re a fan of Star Trek you would probably say that space is the final frontier, but today I would argue that it’s actually time, as things we experience are sorted in our memory according to relative time. The same holds true for our daily work in Db2, especially monitoring, since everything we see is time sensitive: Metrics we track, connections that come and go, utilities running, etc. Of course, the most common phone calls/emails we get are around ...
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The Key to Success Is to Focus on Goals, Not Obstacles

By Bob Vargo posted Feb 01, 2021
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There were so many challenges and obstacles this past year; however, we set our sights on finishing 2020 together and are truly blessed to have been able to do so. We quietly rang in the New Year with hopes that 2021 would turn out to be a good year. News that the COVID-19 vaccine would begin distribution brought us so much hope for what is to come. We look forward to getting back to some form of a “normal” way of living, being able to move about freely in public, visiting with relatives and friends, and maybe even taking a family vacation. We started off this year just like so many, complete with our list of our New Year’s resolutions, plans, dreams, and ...
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Db2 Python Programing, IBM_DB vs IBM_DB_DBI

By John Maenpaa posted Jan 29, 2021
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Python Database API The Python Database API is defined in PEP 249 . PEP stands for Python Enhancement Proposal, which is the method used to track modifications to Python through their lifecycle. The Database API is an attempt to create a standard interface definition for database access. Using it brings a level of consistency across DBMS products and should make it easier to port programs or use multiple database engines more easily. Unfortunately, the PEP documents tend to be oriented toward the people implementing the features/specifications rather than the people using them. That means we need to play around a little to see how it really works. Useful ...
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Mateja Jankovič, Informatika

By IDUG Admin posted Jan 18, 2021
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Today's Member Story features Mateja Jankovič! Mateja works with Informatika d.d. as a senior solution designer, and IBM Champion. Here are a few rapid fire questions and Mateja's replies: Can you explain what you do? Mostly I work on BI & data warehouse projects. Do you play sports? I like skiing, hiking, cycling– spending time in nature. I was born under the mountains and as a teenager I spent many winter weekends skiing in the mountains ski ground nearby. Now I mostly go skiing to the ski ground half an hour away from my home. Slovenia where I live gives us nice opportunities for hiking. What is something we may not know about you? In the summer ...
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Enterprise-Grade Machine Learning at Scale with IBM Db2

By John Maenpaa posted Jan 08, 2021
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by Shaikh Quader Many Data Scientists start their machine learning (ML) projects on an open-source stack installed on their laptop. They load a comma separated value(csv) file into a Python Dataframe, explore and clean the data, engineer new features, build and tune a few different models, and finally, choose the best model. This mode of machine learning is not an option for enterprise-grade machine learning with massive data. If your dataset fits into any of the following domains, you probably have large data and the challenges that come with it. IBM Db2, equipped with in-database machine learning capabilities, can help enterprises learn from data at scale. ...
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Ian Bjorhovde, XTIVIA

By IDUG Admin posted Dec 28, 2020
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Today's member story features Ian Bjorhovde! Ian is an IBM Gold Consultant and the Db2 Team Lead at XTIVIA. Here are a few rapid fire questions and Ian’s reply: Who is your favorite team? I love the Red Sox, but before 2020 you could also find me at many DBacks games. FUN FACT: Ian has visited 20 of the 30 MLB parks! Do you have any pets? I’ve got 2 cats, but my home office has become something of an animal refuge – I share it with a tortoise and a hare (literally) Coffee, tea, or other? I’ve been called a coffee snob more than a couple of times. In the before times, I would seek out great local coffee shops in the places I’d travel to for work or ...
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Les King, IBM

By IDUG Admin posted Dec 21, 2020
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We're excited to start our new series "Member Stories". We'll take a few moments to interview IDUG members. You might be surprised by how much you have in common! Today's Member Story features Les King! Les is IBM's Director of Hybrid Data Management Solutions & a part-time professor at a Canadian college in Toronto. Here are a few rapid fire questions and Les's replies: Who is your favorite team? Toronto Maple Leafs (hockey!!) 🏒 What is your favorite meal? 🦞 Surf & Turf—bone-in ribeye and shellfish Do you play an instrument? Piano and electric guitar (poorly) Do you have any pets? Black lab, a COVID dog 🐾 Got him as a puppy when we ...
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How This Year's Challenges Have Made Us Stronger

By Bob Vargo posted Dec 07, 2020
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Tis the season! Hard to believe we are rounding the corner, and this year is about to end—relief? We hope! It has certainly been a trying year and one we will not forget. We, like so many, have experienced a few hardships, yet one must step back and think about all the good things that came out of this year. I, for one, am incredibly grateful for the extra time we got to spend together as a family. It has been years since our boys have been in the same country, state, city, or house for that matter, for any length of time. This year provided us the opportunity to reconnect and really communicate with each other while living and working together under one roof ...
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Bringing IDUG EMEA to the Virtual World

By Laura Steele posted Dec 02, 2020
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After shifting this year’s IDUG EMEA Db2 Tech Conference from an in-person event to a virtual platform, the Conference Committee was interested to see how the IDUG experience would translate to the screen. With more than 750 attendees and speakers from around the globe, the event brought the Db2 community virtually together for deep explorations of the technology as well as a look ahead to the future. As always, the generous and collaborative spirit of the IDUG community was out in full force. Although we missed having everyone together in person, we were so impressed with the enthusiasm from both attendees and speakers. As usual, the caliber of the technical ...
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SQL Tricks - Part 3 Using ROW_NUMBER to Assist in Deleting Duplicates

By Tony Andrews posted Dec 01, 2020
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This topic comes from a presentation at IDUG EMEA from Marcel Scheibe that was a part of many topics in his presentation. I thought it was appropriate for SQL Tricks topic. Thanks Marcel! Often times we have all seen duplicate rows in table data that occurred thru some incorrect SQL or program logic. In this example the timestamp column makes up part of the composite key along with the employee number. So how do we delete the duplicates? Write a program and order the data through a cursor by primary key and execute deletes ? Write a single SQL statement to fix the problem? That is what this article is about. 1) Table of data with duplicates. ...
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