ProData Goes 'On Demand' with DBU

by Alex Woodie

ProData Computer Services last week introduced new way for customers to obtain its DB2/400 database utility: on-demand licensing. Instead of spending a minimum of $2,000 for a full Database Utility (DBU) license, OS/400 shops can now gain temporary access to the versatile tool for $10 per day, as long as they spend at least $300. On-demand licensing is one of the new features in DBU version 7.0, which ProData announced last week.

DBU is a handy utility that makes it easy for programmers, administrators, and even non-technical users to view and access any file in the iSeries database, without programming. Designed to replace IBM's Data File Utility (DFU) program, DBU has been very successful over the last decade, and the Omaha, Nebraska, company counts more than 15,000 DBU licenses.

With the new on-demand option, the number of users is bound to rise. ProData's new licensing option allows a user to purchase a set amount of days that the product will be enabled on the user's iSeries server or OS/400 partition. When the user encounters a situation that calls for DBU, such as performing emergency file maintenance on a server, or to test an application running in a new partition, they call ProData on the telephone to obtain the access code, and the product is activated at the rate of $10 per day. The company requires a minimum commitment of $300, or 30 days at this rate. By comparison, the standard DBU license, at $1,995, would be the more affordable option if the product was used more than about 200 days.

On-demand pricing and access isn't the only new DBU feature. With version 7.0, ProData is now enabling users to place "quick launch" buttons on their desktop to provide fast and easy access to the DBU GUI applications. (ProData launched a Windows-based version of DBU called DBU GUI in 2002.) Further customization is achieved through the new capability to re-map the DBU function keys to whatever the user wants, as well as the new "fast commands" function.

DBU 7.0 also includes new output options, including the capability to print single or multiple database records or selected fields in character or hexadecimal mode, and the capability to export DB2/400 records in XML, HTML, or comma-delimited formats. Support for languages other than English is now in the product for the first time, as well as new "user tips" displayed for the first 30-day trial of the products. This release also offers floating-point support and validity checking for DDS ranges and values, the company says.

The new version of DBU builds on version 6.0, which was unveiled a year and a half ago (see "ProData Now Supports Database Utility on Linux"). The new on-demand pricing model is supported by all of the different ways users can access DBU, including through DBU/GUI, through the iSeries Navigator plug-in, through the WDSc plug-in for DBU unveiled last year, through its DBUnifier development tool, and through the DBU Audit product ProData unveiled earlier this year).

ProData's on-demand licensing allows DBU to be used on any partition or iSeries server at any time. For more information on DBU or to download a free 30-day trial version of DBU, visit ProData's Web site at www.prodatacomputer.com.