Recently we've been analyzing which of the DB2 LUW Performance Blogs are the most popular. This presents us with an opportunity to weed out the clutter (news and announcements) and organize the most helpful blogs into a single indexed resource for your convenience. Here's most everything you need to know about DB2 LUW monitoring and tuning...

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Borrowing words from Texas Governor Perry, it is time for some "provocative language." I am an IBM DB2 GOLD Consultant and Information Management Champion. I've earned these merit badges over the years for my advocacy of DB2 and the DB2 community. But, I am not a puppet for IBM and I am concerned for the DB2 community regarding recent trends and events. The rant that follows is my opinion based on information, belief, and observations...

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What can over 103 hours of running teach you about DB2 performance? A lot! Here's Lesson #2 packed with more free advice. Read Lesson #1 first if you missed it.

Refresher: In December 2009, I weighed about 210LBs. My wife was nagging me about losing weight. My blood pressure was a bit high and so was my resting heart rate. Adding insult to injury, I stepped on our new Wii Balance Board and our Wii Fit Plus game verified I was overweight. You can argue (unsuccessfully) with your wife, but you can't argue with a game. There was only one thing I could do. I started running my butt off. By April 2010, I weighed 180LBs and ran in my first 10K race. In September 2010, I ran in the Philadelphia Half Marathon. By the end of 2010, I logged just over 500 miles for the year. Last month, April 2011, I ran in the Nashville Half Marathon. I've had a lot of time to think about how tuning "me" is like tuning DB2...

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What can over 102 hours of running teach you about DB2 performance? A lot! Read this story and the parts that follow and you can learn from my experiences even if you don't own a pair of running shoes!

In December 2009, I weighed about 210LBs. My wife was nagging me about losing weight. My blood pressure was a bit high and so was my resting heart rate. Adding insult to injury, I stepped on our new Wii Balance Board and our Wii Fit Plus game verified I was overweight. You can argue (unsuccessfully) with your wife, but you can't argue with a game. There was only one thing I could do. I started running my butt off. By April 2010, I weighed 180LBs and ran in my first 10K race. In September 2010, I ran in the Philadelphia Half Marathon. By the end of 2010, I logged just over 500 miles for the year. Last month, April 2011, I ran in the Nashville Half Marathon. I've had a lot of time to think about how tuning "me" is like tuning DB2...

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"DATA". What a simple title. DB2's GOT TALENT Top Finalist Thiru caught our studio audience and judges by surprise when he unveiled the "db2cat" command and showed everyone how to find a goldmine of information. I find Thiru to be brilliant yet humble; it is a treat to learn from him. But, YOU, the DB2 Community, are the Final judges. WATCH THE REPLAY, LEARN from Thiru, and then VOTE for your favorite contestants. Polls close 7 April 2011 at 3pm Central.

Remember, too, to register for your free seat in our virtual studio audience on 8 April 2011 when The DB2Night Show™ will announce our contest winners. The episode theme is " All about IDUG ".

Cheers, Scott
DBI Software

Judge Susan Visser loves his accent, his way with the English language, and has suggested that he might become the next Scott Hayes (not sure how I feel about this). Nonetheless, "he" is Norberto - a Top 4 Finalist in DB2's GOT TALENT. In his 25 March Final Round presentation, Norberto offered his fellow DBAs a truckload (that's a lot! ) of tips. Some tips were DB2 LUW related, and others were just good advice. WATCH THE REPLAY, LEARN from Norberto, and then VOTE for your favorite contestants. Polls close 7 April 2011 at 3pm Central.

Remember, too, to register for your free seat in our virtual studio audience on 8 April 2011 when The DB2Night Show™ will announce our contest winners. The episode theme is " All about IDUG ".

Cheers, Scott
DBI Software

Momi is a Top 4 Finalist in DB2's GOT TALENT. If you've been following the contest, Momi has offered many valuable tips and techniques for both DB2 z/OS and LUW. In his 25 March Finals presentation, Momi shared best practices advice on DB2 backups and recovery. If there are any Boy Scouts out there, you know their motto is "Be Prepared". Get Prepared! WATCH THE REPLAY, LEARN from Momi, and then VOTE for your favorite contestants. Polls close 7 April 2011 at 3pm Central.

Remember, too, to register for your free seat in our virtual studio audience on 8 April 2011 when The DB2Night Show™ will announce our contest winners. The episode theme is " All about IDUG ".

Cheers, Scott
DBI Software

Jeyabarathi ("JB") is a polished IBM Professional and DB2's GOT TALENT Top 5 Finalist. Throughout this contest, JB has consistently delighted our judges and impressed our audiences with quality advice on topics such as "db2dart", using HADR to migrate data, and tuning multi-terabyte databases. During her 25 March presentation, JB elaborated further on I/O optimization with a deep dive on Concurrent I/O. WATCH THE REPLAY, LEARN from JB, and then VOTE for your favorite contestants. Polls close 7 April 2011 at 3pm Central.

Cheers, Scott
DBI Software

She was once an Oracle DBA. She fell in love with DB2 LUW. Like Green Eggs and Ham, she learned to like something new. In this case, SHE is Mary - a Top 5 Finalist on DB2's GOT TALENT. During her 25 March presentation, Mary shared with us her secrets for success and best practices for using the DB2 LUW LOAD Utility. WATCH THE REPLAY, LEARN from Mary, and then VOTE for your favorite contestants. Polls close 7 April 2011 at 3pm Central.

Cheers, Scott
DBI Software

About a year ago I blogged Are you REALLY READY for Production?. I am following my own advice and very thankful! Perhaps, maybe, this is one of the most important blogs I've ever written! Let me tell you more...

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In 2010, the "DB2 LUW Performance Analysis and Tuning Workshop" drew top attendance numbers in North America, Australia, and EMEA. In 2011, this IDUG Ed Seminar has been updated and is being offered again as session Z04. Click Here for Details.

In this full day class, you will receive over three dozen SQL Snapshot commands to help analyze YOUR database. Together, we will learn about what to measure, we will discover the problems and "opportunities for improvement" in your database, we will discuss solutions, and you will return to your office fully equipped to make measurable performance improvements.

This blog post contains the specific instructions that you should use to prepare for this workshop...

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The DB2 Symposium is returning to the US this March 21-23 in Dallas, Texas. Based upon my very popular IDUG Ed Seminar "DB2 LUW Performance Analysis and Tuning Workshop", I am pleased to offer an enhanced version of this seminar as a 2 Day class via the DB2 Symposium.

In this two day class, you will receive over three dozen SQL Snapshot commands to help analyze YOUR database. Together, we will learn about what to measure, we will discover the problems and "opportunities for improvement" in your database, we will discuss solutions, and you will return to your office fully equipped to make measurable performance improvements.

This blog post contains the specific instructions that you should use to prepare for this workshop...

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A few weeks ago, I invited you to attend my new IDUG Education Seminar "Z06: DB2 for LUW Performance Analysis and Tuning Workshop". View the invitation and class preparation instructions. I'd like this Seminar to be the best attended Ed Seminar of the conference, and I've heard that Z06 is in the #2 position.

As we like to say in Texas, let me shoot you straight. I'm going to make you an unprecedented offer and guarantee. If you attend this Ed Seminar, and if, by the end of the class, you can't (in good faith) give the class a four or five star review, I'll buy a copy of Roger Sanders DB2 LUW certification book for you. Shoot, I might even give away a couple of copies as prizes.

A bit more...

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Dear DB2 LUW Professionals,

We need your help to improve DB2 LUW. We just ran Episode #16 of The DB2Night Show™ with special guest Adam Storm, Software Developer, DB2 Kernel Development, IBM Toronto Lab. We talked about Autonomic Memory and STMM updates. Watch the Replay. The studio audience asked a few good questions, but a vigorous email discussion ensued after the show.

Long story short, STMM is either "ON" for a parameter or "OFF". It has a VERY LONG LEASH to grow and shrink memory pools. There are some people in the DB2 LUW community that have experienced performance degradation or problems with STMM (about 20 percent in our audience survey), and a number of professionals would be more interested in using STMM if it were possible to give STMM "a short leash" - that is, for each memory pool under STMM's control, be able to specify a minimum and maximum value range. By specifying a range, one could keep STMM from making a pool too small or excessively large.

Adam told us that ranges had been considered, but were dismissed in favor of ON/OFF (I guess that was easier to implement). He also told us that range limits for STMM could be implemented if there was enough interest within the DB2 LUW community in favor of range specification capability.

Here's where you can help. We've made it really easy. Just click this MAILTO:ibmdb2stmm.developers@dbisoftware.com?subject=I support STMM Min Max Value Ranges link, add some text to the body of your message (optional), then click your SEND button.

Read just a bit more...

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Did you miss The DB2Night Show™ Episode #15 on "DB2 9.7 Online Table Moves" with special guest Ergin Babani from the IBM Toronto Lab? Make sure you check out the recorded replay. This show also set a new record for lively and excellent questions from the virtual studio audience - so be sure to listen through to the end to gain extra insights!

With this particular episode, we've also broken precedent and made Ergin's slide deck available as a PDF. He provided excellent examples of how to use DB2 ADMIN_TABLE_MOVE during his talk. You'll find the PDF link on the show replay page.

Have you registered for IDUG North America in Tampa Florida yet? There are still a few good seats left in my full day seminar Z06: DB2 for LUW Performance Analysis and Tuning Workshop. Attendees will receive over three dozen amazingly helpful SQL Snapshot commands (see a sample and learn more) ...

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Dear DB2 LUW Professional,

I invite and encourage you to attend my Education Seminar, Z06: DB2 for LUW Performance Analysis and Tuning Workshop, at IDUG NA 2010 in Tampa Florida. Without exception, I've never before put so much effort into preparing a full day seminar. In this class, you will receive over three dozen SQL Snapshot commands to help analyze YOUR database. Together, we will learn about what to measure, we will discover the problems and "opportunities for improvement" in your database, we will discuss solutions, and you will return to your office fully equipped to make measurable performance improvements.

In terms of preparation for this class, here's what you will want to do to optimally prepare:

1. Make copy tables of SYSIBMADM snapshot views and some catalog tables (CREATE LIKE)
2. INSERT INTO copy table SELECT * FROM original table or view
3. EXPORT TO IXF file SELECT * FROM copy tables
4. Binary transfer the IXF files to a laptop running DB2 LUW (Express-C (free DB2) will suffice)
5. IMPORT FROM IXF file REPLACE_CREATE INTO local copy of tables on laptop

All of the SQL commands provided to you during the class will reference the schema name IDUGCONF. The rest of this blog post contains the specific commands that you can use to prepare for the class. When you return back to your office with electronic copies of the SQL Snapshots, all you will need to do is change IDUGCONF to SYSIBMADM and you'll be ready to analyze your databases locally!

This should be a $5,000 course. IDUG is making Ed Seminars available "for a song" relatively speaking - only $425 with a conference badge or just $475 for the seminar alone. Click the IDUG logo above to register now! Early registration ends 26 March 2010.

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IBM is generating a lot of buzz with DB2 pureScale, and there is plenty of press to read on Database and Hardware wars. The DB2Night Show™ Episode #4 featured special guests from the IBM Toronto Lab who gave us an outstanding introduction to DB2 pureScale - catch the WMV replay if you missed it. On the heels of DB2 9.7 Oracle enablement, DB2 pureScale is an exciting response to Oracle RAC. But is pureScale right for your organization, or should you be considering Xkoto GRIDSCALE instead? First and foremost, IBM DB2 PureScale is NOT a Disaster Recovery solution, but Xkoto GRIDSCALE is. How else are these technologies different?

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IBM Data Management Magazine Q1 2010 arrived today and I was excited to find an article on Unleashing the value of Solid State Drives. Of course, I was thrilled to see DBI's new ad as well (grin). The article puts forth several good ideas about I/O tuning and begs for greater details. Whether you have SSD or not, the principle ideas of the article still apply to "faster storage" versus "slower storage". Let's take a deeper look...

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This blog post is for developers, testers, and QA professionals. If you are a production/operations DBA, it is okay if you'd like to read it too so that you can be aware of the proposed suggestions and best practices. I think we can all agree that discovering performance problems in production is NOT ideal, so let's see what can be done to arrest issues before they become detrimental, damaging, or costly to your organization. We'll begin by busting some myths and unwise practices...

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Despite all the hype about AUTOMATIC tuning, a remarkably large number of DB2 LUW customers are still suffering from inadequate and sub-optimal performance. AUTOMATIC tuning can provide some benefits, BUT it only works well when the database is free of significant physical design defects.

We have heard from DB2 LUW users that their ETLs take too long. Index changes were the solution.

We have heard that response times were too slow. Index changes were the solution.

We have heard that CPU utilization is too high, or that there are periodic spikes in CPU utilization. Index changes were the solution.

We have seen OLTP applications appear to "seize up" or "stall". Index changes were the solution.

We have seen DB2 users struggle to complete year end and quarter end reports on a timely basis. Again, Index changes were the solution...

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It was about a year ago that a DBA in Sydney Australia asked me if I knew of a way to correlate database tuning efforts to Energy savings. IBM's Smarter Planet campaign gave me renewed inspiration to research this important topic, for the fourth pillar of Smarter Planet involves seeking new ways to improve efficiency and lower costs of existing processes. What you are about to learn might be a real eye opener.

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I pushed my father in a wheel chair for the first time last month. As I looked at the man who was my Scout Master, who helped me achieve Eagle rank, who taught me to bowl, and inspired me with strong core values of helpfulness and community service, these wheel chair excursions marked a pivotal inspiration point for contemplating my own current health, and have given rise to my own self-improvement goals that you can read about in my personal blog. This year's new IDUG presentations and Ed Seminars will also include new information on DB2 Health monitoring. So, in this blog post, let's look into the health and fitness of your databases.

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