DB2 Magazine E-Newsletter

March 17, 2004

DB2 Magazine Email Newsletter
Volume 5, Issue 3
www.db2mag.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:
1. Now Online: DB2 for z/OS v.8 Documentation
* Shortcut to just-published IBM documentation
* DB2Mag.com guide to DB2 for z/OS v.8 resources 2. IBM News
* IBM to Acquire Trigo
* IBM Unveils Basel II Compliance Offering
* IBM's Karen Parrish Talks BI With IE 3. DB2 Magazine Trivia Contest
* Enter to Win $100
4. Asked and Answered
* Sorting out SRTPOOL and MAXRBLK
5. Skills and Certification News
* Free certification materials; book discounts; education centers;
and more
6. At the Bookstore
* DB2 UDB V.8.1 Certification Exams 701 and 706 Study Guide,
by Roger E. Sanders
7. Now Playing at the DB2 Developer Domain


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1. NOW ONLINE: DB2 FOR Z/OS V.8 DOCUMENTATION
* Shortcut to Just-Published Documentation and RedBooks In advance of the March 26 general availability date for DB2 UDB for z/OS v.8, IBM has published a slew of downloadable guides and references. You won't find the docs in the IBM Publication Center as of yet, but they're available as PDFs on the DB2 for OS/390 and z/OS Web site. To round out your v.8 information, DB2Mag.com compiled a list of v.8 resources in one simple guide. Go to DB2Mag.com's DB2 for z/OS v.8 guide
http://www.db2mag.com/education/zostechref.shtml Access the documentation on the IBM Web site
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/zos/v8books.html

2. IBM NEWS
* IBM To Acquire Trigo IBM announced it will acquire all the shares of Brisbane, Calif.-based Trigo Technologies Inc. Trigo's information management middleware, which will become part of the WebSphere brand, lets companies integrate and centrally manage comprehensive product information that is typically scattered. Trigo technology also links product-related information with terms of trade (such as pricing) and then synchronizes this information with internal and external (business) partner systems. Trigo's middleware provides product information for WebSphere Commerce solutions and delivers multi-media content managed by DB2 Content Manager. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions, including government regulatory approval. The two companies expect to close the deal in the second quarter of 2004.

Read more about the acquisition.
http://www.ibm.com/news/us/2004/03/091.html

* IBM Unveils Basel II Compliance Offering A new IBM offering that combines software, hardware, and consulting services promises to help financial institutions integrate, manage, and gain insight on the business information generated by everyday operations and customer activity. The offering can also help banks manage information in a way that is consistent with the requirements of the Basel II Capital Accord. The Basel II Accords - official guidelines that standardize measurements of credit risks, market risks and operational risk - state that banks should have between three and seven years of information on hand by the end of 2006. The Basel II Information Management Offering works with a company's existing technology framework to connect scattered data repositories in order to make information automatically accessible. IBM's new offering is built around the IBM Banking Data Warehouse (a banking-specific data model that can be used for Basel II or for a better understanding of customers) and DB2 UDB, which provides built-in analytics for storing and analyzing information. Read details of the offering.
http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release_html_b1?release_id=64401 * IBM's Karen Parrish Talks BI With IE Intelligent Enterprise is featuring audio clips of interviews with executives from the companies featured in The 2004 Dozen, the editors' picks of the most influential IT companies providing strategic business applications. The executives, including IBM VP of Business Intelligence Karen Parish, share their insights into critical trends in business intelligence, analytics, data warehousing, and other technologies that enable companies to gain high value from their information resources. Listen to the interviews.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/efuA0FKfDh0FLd0CO340AP

3. ASKED AND ANSWERED
* I thought that the DB2 v.7 for z/OS ZPARMS SRTPOOL and MAXRBLK referred to the global respective sort spaces, but I recently read somewhere that they refer to SORT and RID SORT pools for each individual user. Mine are each set to 8,000 (4K pages). If what I read is true, I'm worried that I'm crowding below the line (number of users times 8,000k - and possibly

* 2 if a RID sort is also involved). Can you clarify?

Find out what Robert Catterall recommends.
http://www.db2mag.com/qanda/040316.shtml

4. DB2 MAGAZINE TRIVIA CONTEST
* How closely have you been watching the news about DB2 for z/OS v.8 enhancements? If you've kept up, you should be able to answer this month's trivia question in a heartbeat: How many partitions can an object have in v.8? Answer correctly and enter the drawing for a $100 American Express Gift Cheque. If you're a bit nd on your v.8 studies, take heart. The answer lies in the DB2 Magazine article listed below.
Answer the trivia question.
http://www.db2magazine.com/
Read "Independence Day," by Andrew Ward, to find the answer.
http://www.db2mag.com/story/showArticle.jhtml;jsessionid=DKLOFWMIZWTX0QSNDBCCKHY?articleID=17701065

This month's DB2 Trivia Contest is sponsored by Quest Software,
http://www.quest.com/

5. SKILLS AND CERTIFICATION NEWS
* Free DB2 Certification Exam Study Materials Recently updated version 7 preparation documents help candidates better prepare for DB2 UDB certification exams. Each document covers role descriptions, requirements, objectives, and preparation suggestions.
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/education/certprep.html

* DB2 Information Management Book Discounts The DB2 information management book site features the latest certification titles. Each title links to a discount Web site where you can purchase titles at a discount of up to 40 percent.
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/education/bookstore/

* University-Level DB2 Programs
A simplified "Getting Started" process for the IBM Scholars DB2 Information Management Program lets university professors join the program, learn about DB2, download materials, and stay connected to the latest advancements in database technology. Send DB2 Scholars link to your alma mater and others to help foster the growth of DB2 in the workplace.
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/info/university/products/data/

* Education Centers for IBM Software
Education Centers for IBM Software offer IBM customers a network of partners offering training on DB2 information management software around the world.
http://news.db2mag.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/efuA0FKfDh0FLd0B8pL0AQhttp://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/education/

6. AT THE BOOKSTORE
* DB2 UDB V.8.1 Certification Exams 701 and 706 Study Guide by Roger E. Sanders

As a member of the team that developed the tests, DB2 Magazine columnist Roger E. Sanders brings special insight to this in-depth study guide for the version 8.1 certification exams 701 and 706 (DB2 UDB for Linux, Unix, and Windows Database Administration and Database Administration Upgrade). The book covers all the information DBAs should know before they take the exams; and every chapter includes practice questions and detailed explanations of each correct answer.

Find out more at the DB2mag.com bookstore, featuring Amazon.com's discount rates.
http://www.db2mag.com/bookstore/

7. NOW PLAYING AT THE DB2 DEVELOPER DOMAIN
* Tips for improving INSERT performance in DB2 Universal Database? --http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/tips/dm-0403wilkins/index.html

* Using DB2 Information Integrator for Content V8 JavaBeans for template-based queries
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/zones/db2cm/samples/dm-0403daniel2/

* Using Content Manager V8 Windows Client OLE APIs to import documents
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/zones/db2cm/samples/dm-0403daniel3/

* DB2 UDB for iSeries cursor sensitivity enhancements
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0403milligan/index.html

* Automating the DB2 UDB installation process with ANT
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0403venn/index.html?ca=dnl-db2mag

* Working with DB2 Universal Database tables using ASP.NET Web Services written in Delphi 8 for .NET
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0403swart/index.html?ca=dnl-db2mag

* Installing DB2 UDB on non-RPM Linux distributions
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0403swart/index.html?ca=dnl-db2mag

* Migrate DB2 V7 databases to DB2 UDB Version 8.1
http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/db2/library/techarticle/dm-0403liu/index.html?ca=dnl-db2mag

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