The Central Ohio DB2 Users Group (CODUG) no longer exists, but we are taking action to bring it back as a tremendous resource for the community and an amazing opportunity for leadership. CODUG is going to be a great DB2 regional users group because the members of the central Ohio DB2 community are going to make it so.

We are going to start out with all of you being a valuable contribution to your community by completing the RSVP for the June 25th, where you will have the ability to choose the presentations that you want to see from our amazing speakers. Use the URL below:

http://goo.gl/mpWT0

The short URL above links to a Google Docs form, which some company firewalls block, in which case you will need to make the extra effort of forwarding and filling out the form from home. Your input is essential to the success of the group. Whether you are planning to come on 6/25 or not, please fill out the form with your information and your vote. It’s free and it puts you in direct communication with the new CODUG!

You would be a further contribution to your friends and coworkers who have built their careers around DB2, on any platform, if you forward this message to them to make certain that they know about this amazing kickoff meeting. Don’t worry about them getting multiple copies, worry about them getting none. Forward this message now, while you’re thinking about it. If you wait, you will forget to do it later, and you will have missed the chance to connect someone to their community.

The meeting will be formatted with a single track in the morning and two tracks in the afternoon, one for DB2 z/OS and one for DB2 LUW. We will actually physically split the room at the lunch break. We have three well known names in the world of DB2 who will be presenting at the meeting. The bios of these three awesome individuals you can find after the attached agenda.

We are building towards an amazing day. Fill out the form, share it, and we will be one step closer to creating something powerful in our lives.

Thank you for your time and your commitment to DB2,
Please don’t forget to join us at Facebook and Linkedin to get to know about future activities at CODUG.
Linkedin group:  http://www.linkedin.com/groups/CODUG-Central-Ohio-DB2-Users-5014603/about
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CODUG
Agenda

09:00 – 09:30    CODUG Possibility (Jim Herrmann)
09:30 – 10:00    IBM Announcements (Monte Bauman)
10:00 – 10:15    Break
10:15 – 11:30    “DB2 101” or “I didn’t know IBM Information Management could do that!” (Frank Fillmore)
11:30 – 12:45    Lunch
12:45 – 14:15    First afternoon presentation block (Scott Hayes and Robert Catterall)
14:15 – 14:30    Break
14:30 – 16:00    Second afternoon presentation block (Scott Hayes and Robert Catterall)

Frank C. Fillmore, Jr., DB2 Gold Consultant and IBM Champion, is the Founder and President of The Fillmore Group, Inc., a Premier IBM Business Partner that specializes in Information Management (IM) software sales, consulting, and training.  Frank has appeared on the IDUG Experts Panel and frequently presents to customers and local DB2 users groups.  Franks 25 years of field experience spans IBMs Information Integration, Data Governance, Data Warehousing, and Big Data portfolios.

Scott Hayes is a well-known DB2 LUW performance expert. He is a regular speaker at IDUG conferences, IBM DB2/Data Management conferences, and is frequently sought as a speaker for regional DB2 user group meetings. Scott has authored several published articles on DB2 UDB performance, is an IBM DB2 Gold Consultant (an elite, exclusive group of IBM recognized top DB2 advocates), has obtained IBM DB2 Certifications, and is widely regarded by the worldwide DB2 community as a top performance expert for DB2 on distributed (UNIX, Linux, and Windows) platforms. Scott also speaks at regional ISSA and ISACA user group meetings on topics of database security and auditing, and has also published articles on these topics. DBI, Scott’s second company, specializes in DB2 and Oracle Performance and Accountability Solutions. Scott enjoys growing companies and helping team members achieve their fullest potential. He also finds it very personally rewarding to help organizations improve profitability, performance, accountability, and security.

Robert Catterall, Internationally recognized DB2 consultant, speaker, and author.

• Began IT career in 1982, working as a Systems Engineer for IBM in Dallas, Texas.
• Spent the 1990s as a member of the DB2 for z/OS National Technical Support team at IBM’s Dallas Systems Center, providing DB2-related consulting and training services to organizations throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.
• Joined CheckFree Corporation in 2000, played a leading role in database technology strategy and planning, working with DB2 (and other DBMSs) on mainframe and Linux, UNIX, and Windows server platforms.
• Launched Catterall Consulting in 2007.
• Rejoined IBM in 2010. 
• Earned a bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics at Rice University, and an MBA at Southern Methodist University. 
• Past President of the International DB2 Users Group (IDUG), and a member of the IDUG Speakers Hall of Fame.
• Author of numerous articles published in IBM Database Magazine (http://www.ibmdatabasemag.com/), including each issue’s “Data Architect” column.
• Author of two blogs, “Robert’s DB2 blog” (my current blog, at http://www.robertsdb2blog.blogspot.com/), and “Robert’s blog” (my old one, to which I no longer post but which is still viewable at http://catterallconsulting.blogspot.com/)

I apologize if I didn’t respond individually to anyone who contacted me with feedback (it was good to hear from so many people, but wow!)  Overall the response was quite reassuring, as I have often wondered why it seems IBM customers are so reluctant to invest in education and skills.  Maybe they aren’t!

Today, I understand IBM intends to select 3-5 global organizations to take over the management, marketing and delivery of public training classes.  The IBM announcement about the new program is on their website. 

These vendors will manage the selection of instructors, delivery locations (cities and classrooms), and develop their own class schedules.  I’ve spoken to several of the vendors being considered and they seem to have some specific ideas as to how things will work, although quite honestly, there were some significant differences in their expectations.

For those of you who are instructors, I have been told the Global Training Partners will be able to select instructors based on criteria they establish independent of IBM, within their organizations, which essentially negates the IBM instructor authorization process. 

For those of you concerned with the availability of classes in Q3 and Q4 of 2013, it looks like IBM is working with a few providers vying for the Global Training Provider slots (Arrow, Avnet, TUV Rheinland and Learnquest) to build out a skeleton schedule of classes to be delivered in North America in Q3.  Most will be held in NYC and Colorado.  These classes are listed on the IBM training site by location.

As for private classes, I understand IBM intends to continue to coordinate and deliver private classes for customers. 

I hope this helps keep everyone up to date with the changes.  I am anxious and hope The Fillmore Group is able to continue to deliver training to IBM customers.

Catch the replay here.

The common method for moving data from DB2 for LUW tables to DB2 for z/OS could be a serial process where the data is

1. extracted from DB2 for LUW
2. transported to the z/OS platform
3. loaded into DB2 for z/OS

This can be done as three discrete steps in a variety of ways.  The problem with three discrete steps is the I/O overhead of landing the data to disk three times: to the local extract file, FTPed to z/OS, loaded into DB2.  In addition, the steps are serial (e.g. the extract must complete before the FTP can begin).

 An alternative is using a cursor-based LOAD (aka the “cross-loader”).  The cross-loader has been available in DB2 for z/OS since v7.

 Steps to enable the cross-loader:

1. Set up DRDA definitions in the DB2 Communications Database (CDB) in the DB2 for z/OS subsystem that will be running the loads (i.e. the “target”).
2. Create DB2 for z/OS nicknames for the tables to be loaded from the DB2 for LUW source.

In the example below the table PAOLOR7.DEPT is a nickname.  The LOAD utility jobs can be scheduled to minimize the impact on production workloads.

This would be relatively easy to set up and test in a development environment.   This is the fastest, easiest, simplest way to move the data to z/OS.  This method will also use the least machine resources.

References for cursor-based load

DB2 10 for z/OS Information Center “Loading data by using the cross-loader function”

Redbook “Moving Data Across the DB2 Family”

<snippet from Redbook pages 60 – 61>

Declaring a cursor for use with the Cross Loader

The cursor definition has to be put between the EXEC SQL and ENDEXEC keywords in the utility input stream:

EXEC SQL DECLARE cursor-name CURSOR FOR select statement ENDEXEC

In Example 4-11 we declare a cursor for extracting rows with ADMRDEPT = ‘A00’ from PAOLOR7.DEPT.

Example 4-11 Declare a cursor for the Cross Loader

EXEC SQL

DECLARE C1 CURSOR FOR

SELECT * FROM PAOLOR7.DEPT

WHERE ADMRDEPT = ‘A00′

ORDER BY 1 ASC

ENDEXEC

In Example 4-12 we show how this cursor can now be used in a LOAD statement (Cross Loader.)

Example 4-12 Usage of a cursor in the LOAD statement

LOAD DATA

INCURSOR C1

INTO TABLE PAOLOR2.DEPT

The SQL statement in the declare cursor definition can be any valid SQL statement including joins, unions, data conversions, aggregations, special registers, and UDFs.  The source data can be on a local server or remote server using DRDA access.

That brings to four – including Joe – the number of IBM Champions affiliated with The Fillmore Group:

• TFG Vice President of Business Development Kim May
• DB2 Gold Consultant and raconteur David Beulke
• and yours truly

Learn more about the IBM Champion program.

The project succeeded thanks to the above and beyond efforts of local (to us in Baltimore) web design and branding specialist, Ida Cheinman, Substance151′s Principal and Creative Director.   Ida’s team did a terrific job with the user group integration.  Then her team updated the website to accurately reflect who we are and what we do at The Fillmore Group – and wowed us with the results. 

And now our website (or Ida’s team, actually) won an award!  Take a look at the press release below:

Substance151 Takes Home 6 Horizon Interactive Awards
April 15, 2013
The Horizon Interactive Awards, a leading international interactive media awards competition, announced the 2012 award winners to highlight this year’s “best of the best” in digital media.

Substance151 was recognized with 6 awards: Gold, Silver and 4 Bronze in 3 separate categories, competing with over 1000 entries from over 25 countries around world.

Client projects for EBA Engineering, J. A. Rice, Inc. and The Fillmore Group website redesigns placed bronze in the Business to Business / Corporate category; U.S. Green Building Council Maryland website redesign took bronze in the Advocacy / Non-Profit category; and SouthPaw website took silver in Consumer Information category. In addition, Substance151’s holiday promotion “100% Extraordinary Blends” placed gold in Self Promotion category.

“The 2012 competition has, once again, raised the bar for future competitions,” Said Mike Sauce – Founder of the Horizon Interactive Awards. “I can speak for the Judges by saying that we all were very impressed by the quality of the digital solutions by all of the entrants this year. There really seems to be a convergence of all forms of media providing rich user experiences with a renewed focus on sound marketing and design principles that clearly communicate a message.”

“While Substance151’s primary focus is on addressing the needs of our clients, we are proud of our work that continues to set the standards of excellence for the graphic design discipline,” Said Ida Cheinman, principal and creative director of Substance151. “We are honored to add these six awards to our growing list.”

Join us Thursday, May 9th from 11am-12pm Eastern for an overview of the announcement and learn how your organization can benefit from IBM’s continued investment in data management.  Register here.

Presenter:
Warren Heising, Certified Consulting IT Specialist IBM
Warren is a Certified Consulting IT Specialist for IBM working in the Mid-Atlantic region.  He has over 25 years experience in the database field including 9 years at Informix prior to the IBM acquisition. He has a strong background in both OLTP and DSS Informix products and has worked with numerous clients in both Commercial and Federal accounts. Currently, he supports the full family of IBM Informix products along with DB2 and big data products for the Mid-Atlantic region and is actively involved in Proof of Technology and Proof of Concept scheduling and delivery.