June 7th marked the 25th anniversary of the launch of IBM’s DB2 database on the MVS operating system. 

This InformationWeek article describes how a close knit community of researchers and programmers caused the “accidental birth of an empire”.

At first, relational database was a highly mocked product, halting in its performance compared to the programmed-path systems. Skeptics like John Cullinane, founder of Cullinet Software, once took this reporter aside to instruct him that relational database would never amount to anything compared to his firm’s IDMS product. Last year, relational database represented an $18.6 billion a year market, according to IDC. Ecommerce would be impossible without it.

ITWorldCanada discusses the contributions of the IBM Toronto Lab and the development of DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows.

We have just released 11 best practice papers for DB2 9.  The papers are available at no charge.  You can download them from IBM developerWorks.

These Best Practice papers present advice on the most optimal ways you can use DB2 to satisfy key business data processing needs. These papers are authored by leading experts in IBM’s development and consulting teams, and have been extensively tested.

Each Best Practice paper is designed to provide practical guidance for the most common DB2 9 product configurations. By applying these recommendations, you may improve the value of your DB2 data servers and align yourself with IBM’s technical direction for DB2.

Currently there are papers covering the following topics:

1. Database storage
2. Physical database design
3. Data life cycle management
4. Minimizing planned outages
5. IBM data server security
6. Deploying IBM DB2 products
7. Writing and tuning queries for optimal performance
8. Tuning and monitoring database system performance
9. Managing XML data
10. Improving data server utilization and management through virtualization
11. Frequently asked questions from problem management reports

Expect more papers on other topics in the near future.

A few weeks ago, the DB2 Monitoring Console was released.  The monitoring console is “a light weight, web based console for DB2 for Linux, UNIX and Windows.  It is also a set of building blocks for rapidly developing your own console or PHP Web-based application.”

It has been released under the Apache License and is hosted at SourceForge.  To learn more, visit: http://sourceforge.net/projects/db2mc

DB2 Viper 2 is out of beta and now available as DB2 9.5 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows.  The What’s New guide provides a complete list of all the new features. If you’d rather take a test drive, download DB2 9.5 now.

PS.  If you’re looking for a version of DB2 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows that is free to develop, deploy, and distribute, check out DB2 Express-C.

A paper I co-authored was accepted into the 33rd International Conference on Very Large Data Bases (VLDB 2007).  The conference will be held at the University of Vienna, Austria

The paper is titled “Efficient Bulk Deletes for Multi Dimensionally Clustered Tables in DB2“.

(more…)

Continuing our conservation on things I learnt at FaceBookCampToronto… 

As it turns out, developers are responsible for providing their own server for their Facebook application. I had simply assumed applications would be hosted directly on the Facebook servers either in sandboxed partitions or on separate dedicated servers sharing the same high-speed network.  It appears Facebook has a BYOB policy (“Bring Your Own Box”).

In addition to APIs, the Facebook Platform allows developers to access user data using an SQL-like query language called Facebook Query Language (FQL). Compared with SQL, FQL has a number of noticeable limitations.

(more…)

Rav Ahuja has been posting video interviews with DB2 Viper 2 architects on YouTube.   This is part of his “Voice of the DB2 Community” podcast series. 

You can find all the videos on YouTube’s Channel DB2.  The videos are also available at the Channel DB2 social network.

The International DB2 Users Group (IDUG) is inviting all database professionals to compete in an industry-wide contest that aims to highlight the benefits of the Deep Compression technology in DB2 9 on Linux, UNIX, and Windows.  All entries will be eligible for prizes including full-event registration to one of the 2008 IDUG events.

You don’t have to be a DB2 user to enter this contest. 

Follow this link to get all the details.

The DB2 Viper 2 Open Beta has begun.

Now’s your opportunity to test drive the new features we’ve been working on, interact with the development team, and provide feedback. 

Join the DB2 Viper 2 Open Beta today.

Fear not loyal reader, your humble scribbler has not forsaken his blog.

Life has been very hectic the past couple of months. I was in San Jose speaking about MDC performance and customer experiences at the IDUG North America 2007 conference.  I also took some time off for a family event.  Lately, my team and I have been heads down with my team putting the finishing touches on a new feature for DB2 Viper 2.