Additional V7 Information

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A simple discussion of the new features and enhancements IBM has made to DB2 for V7 actually provides incomplete coverage of Version 7. There are several nuances of the new release that also must be discussed.

The first issue is IBM's new utility packaging. As of V7, only a subset of base utilities will ship for free with DB2. Customers will now have to purchase the IBM DB2 utilities as a package (at an additional cost). In every past release of DB2, customers received the utilities (such as LOAD , RECOVER , and REORG ) at no charge as part of their DB2 software package.

Most customers will likely choose to purchase the full suite of IBM DB2 utilities, even if they use ISV utilities to enhance performance and functionality. This is the case because of how IBM chose to package the utilities. IBM offers three utility packages:

  • Operational Utilities COPY , EXEC , LOAD , REBUILD , RECOVER , REORG , RUNSTATS , STOSPACE , and UNLOAD

  • Recover & Diagnostic Utilities CHECK , COPY , COPYTOCOPY , MERGE , MODIFY RECOVERY , MODIFY STATISTICS , REBUILD , RECOVER

  • Utilities Suite ” Both Operational Utilities and Recover & Diagnostic Utilities as a single package

Organizations will need to evaluate the IBM DB2 utilities along with ISV DB2 utilities to determine what utilities are needed at their site. And, of course, you will need to consider the budget impact of purchasing utilities, because they will now be a separate line item on your purchase orders.

CAUTION

Proceed with caution before deciding to eliminate the IBM DB2 utilities. Some third-party utilities call the IBM utilities for certain functionality. Additionally, some of the IBM utilities use interfaces to DB2 that are not documented for third party use. Be sure to consult with your vendors to understand the various nuances of utility functionality and performance before choosing your DB2 utility vendor(s).


The second issue is the formal announcement made by IBM in late 2000 that they officially entered the DBA tools business. IBM announced several DBA tools for performance management, recovery management, application development, and database administration that will compete with the more entrenched DBA tools vendors (such as BMC Software and Computer Associates).

Do not misunderstand IBM's intent here. They plan to sell these DBA tools ”they are not giving them away with DB2. So users do not get these additional DBA tools simply by migrating to DB2 Version 7. They will need to buy the tools from IBM the way they do today from other DBA tool ISVs. Also, keep in mind that IBM has provided some DBA tools for a long time (such as DB2-PM), so not all of these tools are new. And the tools are not all developed by IBM; some are simply DBA tools from other ISVs that are marketed and sold by IBM.

One final issue: migration. It will be possible to migrate to V7 directly from V5 without first migrating to V6. However, before deciding to make such a dramatic migration, please take time to consider the impact on your organization. DB2 V6 was a very large release of DB2. Additionally, DB2 V6 removed features from DB2 that were supported for several releases. Refer to Appendix H, "Reorganizing the DB2 Catalog," for exhaustive coverage of the features removed from DB2 as of V6.

Version 6 was the first release of DB2 to remove features. So, you will need to not only prepare for all the new features added to DB2 V7, but also all the new features added to DB2 V6, and ensure that you are not using any of the features removed from DB2 V6. If you are on V5 and want to move quickly to V7 it might be better to plan a staged migration where you move to V6 first, and only after several weeks of V6 operation plan to move to V7. Just because it is possible to move directly from V5 to V7 does not necessarily make it a wise idea.

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DB2 Developers Guide
DB2 Developers Guide (5th Edition)
ISBN: 0672326132
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2004
Pages: 388

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