• Guru: Understanding Database Performance Using The Performance Data Investigator, Part 1

  June 21, 2021 Dawn May

  This is a two-part series on how to use the Performance Data Investigator (PDI) for investigating performance of Db2 for i. While the SQL Performance Center in Access Client Solutions is the tool of choice for Db2 performance analysis, there is valuable information that you can get from using PDI. PDI is often a useful starting point to help guide you in the correct direction when trying to identify performance issues. In my experience, PDI is under-utilized for Db2 investigation. For those not familiar with PDI, you may want to read the article, Getting Started with the Performance Data Investigator …

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• In Search of Multi-Modal Data Integration

  May 5, 2021 Alex Woodie

  As the number of data sources that companies use goes up, so too does the complexity of the data pipelines that bring it all together. Instead of using a mix of different tools and technologies for ETL, ELT, and batch integration, some users are seeking a single multi-modal data integration tool that can deliver multiple integration approaches.

  One company providing multi-modal data integration is Equalum. The company’s DataOps offering works in various methodologies, including capturing real-time database updates using change data capture (CDC) technology; batch-based extract, transform, and load (ETL) and ELT; and REST- and SOAP-based data integration using …

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• Query Supervisor Gives Database Engineers New Power

  April 14, 2021 Alex Woodie

  One of the most exciting new features in the upcoming releases of IBM i 7.4 Technology Release (TR4) and 7.3 TR10 is the Query Supervisor. We recently caught up with Scott Forstie, IBM’s Db2 for i business architect, who gave us the low down on the new tech for controlling the database.

  Forstie told IT Jungle said that the Query Supervisor was the biggest new feature added to Db2 for i with IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, which IBM announced yesterday (see “IBM Unveils Spring 2021 Batch of TRs” for more news about the TRs).

  So, …

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• IBM Unveils New and Improved IBM i Services

  April 14, 2021 Alex Woodie

  If you like IBM i Services — those SQL-based methods for executing a range of tasks in the operating system — then you’re in luck, because IBM has included a handful of new and improved IBM i Services in the Technology Refreshes (TRs) for IBM i 7.4 and 7.3, which were unveiled yesterday and ship this Friday.

  IBM has developed an affinity for IBM i Services in the last few releases of the operating system. And why not? Users seem to like having a SQL-based alternative to CL commands and APIs. And since the IBM i Services are so easily …

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• Big Blue Unveils Spring 2021 IBM i Technology Refreshes

  April 12, 2021 Alex Woodie

  IBM tomorrow will announce the latest round of Technology Refreshes (TRs) for the current versions of the operating systems. With IBM i 7.4 TR4 and 7.3 TR10, IBM is focusing its efforts on extending automation across various components of the operating system, including the database, security, and high availability. But a surprise also awaits IBM i enthusiasts who are visually inclined.

  IBM gave IT Jungle a preview of the announcements that will go public tomorrow, and (very kindly) gave us permission to cover them in today’s issue of The Four Hundred. That means that the announcement materials will not …

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• Oracle Versus Rimini Slogs On In Second Decade

  April 5, 2021 Alex Woodie

  The lawsuit that keeps on giving, Oracle Versus Rimini Street, is generating news again, as the two companies continue to duke it out in federal court. But the battle spilled out into the streets with a pair of dueling press releases issued April 1 that had us wondering if it was all a joke. It wasn’t.

  The last time we visited Oracle Versus Rimini Street was two years ago, when the Supreme Court ruled 9-0 in favor of Rimini on the issue of costs. After a jury decided that Rimini was violating Oracle’s copyright in its third-party software support business …

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• OpenShift Provides One Path To IBM i Modernization

  March 29, 2021 Alex Woodie

  The crown jewel in IBM’s $34 billion acquisition of Red Hat arguably is OpenShift, which is a Kubernetes-based container management system for running “cloud-native” applications. While it’s unlikely OpenShift will ever integrate directly with IBM i and its applications, IBM has high hopes the software will help usher in a new wave of application modernization and innovation among IBM i customers.

  IBM Power engineer Joe Cropper laid out the case for IBM i shops to get going with OpenShift two weeks ago during the IBM i Futures conference, which was hosted by COMMON. Cropper, you will remember, made a …

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• Low-Code API Development Gets A Boost From Profound

  March 10, 2021 Alex Woodie

  Profound Logic last week launched Profound API, a new product designed to enable the development and management of RESTful Web services with a minimal amount of coding. The browser-based product works with IBM i programs and data, as well as assets located off the box, and is designed to enable even entry-level IT professionals to get into the API game.

  Application programming interfaces (APIs) have been around for decades. Nearly every developer will call or expose an API at some point in their lives. But APIs have been gaining new momentum lately as a critical layer enabling the future of …

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• Matillion Founder Recounts Midrange Roots

  February 24, 2021 Alex Woodie

  In the mad rush to build data warehouses in the cloud, there’s one group that’s doing surprisingly well: ETL tool providers. Despite the sophistication of today’s AI and analytic endeavors, ETL tools are a critical link in the chain to the cloud. And one of the up-and-coming vendors in this space is Matillion, which last week raised $100 million in venture capital.

  Matillion was founded in 2011 to help companies build cloud data warehouses. The Anglo-American firm developed expertise in taking companies’ corporate data from on-premise systems and building data warehouse on emerging cloud systems, such as Amazon Web Services’ …

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• Guru: Prompting Stored Procedures

  February 22, 2021 Paul Tuohy

  In this tip I would like to touch on two items, in relation to stored procedures, that may have escaped your notice: prompting stored procedures and/or parameters (in Run SQL Scripts) and passing parameters by name.

  I must admit that, as I have gotten older, my ability to remember the names and parameters for stored procedures has, shall we say, decreased. At this stage, I am lucky if I can remember which library/schema one of my stored procedures is in!

  A case in point. I recently received an e-mail about a stored procedure I had written about (back in 2015) …

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