Over 180 folks attended the “45 Minutes to Understand IBM Replication – Sources & Targets, Lower Latency, Costs” webinar on April 30, 2020 hosted by my colleague @KimMayTFG and me.  Thank you for joining us – along with the excellent questions and feedback.

These are the presentation materials IBM Data Replication Update 2020-04-30

You’ll find the recording of the webinar here.

If your organization is considering a year end CDC acquisition and plan a 2020 implementation, consider training and services from The Fillmore Group to accelerate your success.  The Fillmore Group is working to update the IBM Change Data Capture curriculum – course KM020G – adding optional sessions covering replication to Kafka and replication to and from PostgreSQL.  Please note: customers purchasing replication licenses prior to year end may qualify for free PostgreSQL or Kafka education.  Contact me if you are interested.

In addition, our team is also ready to assist with replication Quickstart services.  A TFG consultant will help your organization leverage the best features and functionality available in the IBM replication product family – quickly!

Training
2/3/20 – 2/5/20 Change Data Capture Essentials.  Prepare for planning, installing, managing and monitoring IBM replication with this IBM training class, KM020G.  Cost:  $2775.  View the course outline: KM020G Change Data Capture Essentials

2/6/20 – 2/6/20 CDC New Features – Kafka and PostgreSQL.  These 1/2 day sessions are designed to extend the KM020G class material with topics specific to Kafka and PostgreSQL replication.  Cost:  $350.  Outline: Kafka and PostgreSQL Replication Class Module Abstracts

Services

• Kafka Quickstart.  Leverage expert technical assistance for a successful implementation.  Overview: Kafka Replication Quickstart.
• PostgreSQL Quickstart.   The Fillmore Group’s PostgreSQL delivers a skilled consultant to work with your team to plan and execute a successful replication implementation.  View the offering summary: Postgres Capture Quickstart.
• Remote Capture Quickstart.  Work with a skilled replication expert to apply this new offering in your environment with services to help you design, install and administer replication away from System z, reducing MIPs consumption and lowering System z  data replication costs. View the offering summary: Remote Capture Quickstart.

Through a partnership with TechData, one of IBM’s select global training providers, The Fillmore Group delivers authorized training for the design, installation, maintenance, and troubleshooting of IBM Analytics solutions. This partnership allows The Fillmore Group to leverage the award winning IBM technical training content that is exclusive to IBM’s global training providers.

Thanks to my colleagues, Kim May and Ed Lynch, for a terrific IBM InfoSphere Data Replication (IIDR) new features webinar delivered today.  The recording of the webinar is found here.    These are the presentation materials: Data Replication Update 2019-02-07 – Final

Join replication experts Frank Fillmore and Ed Lynch for this information-packed webinar with news and announcements about IBM’s replication solutions. Whether you are a current IBM replication user, investigating replication for a new deployment, or working with a competitor’s solution, this webinar will help you understand what IBM offers today, and the enhancements that will help you succeed with replication in 2019.

At a sprint!

In forty-five minutes Ed and Frank will deliver an overview of IBM’s current offerings, the four most important 2019 enhancement announcements, and 3 special pricing offers that can help your organization realize significant savings. We know you want your data to be available when you need it and where you need it, and fast. We can help.

Registration is required. Please register HERE.

Date: Thursday, 2/7/19

Time: 1:00pm – 2:00pm EST

Presenters:

Frank Fillmore is the Founder and President of The Fillmore Group, Inc., an IBM Business Partner specializing in replication solutions in the IBM Analytics portfolio. Frank has been a Db2 Gold Consultant since 1998 and is currently an IBM Champion for both Analytics and System z. Frank frequently presents on cutting-edge topics at regional and international Db2 Users Group meetings and is an IBM authorized instructor for delivery of replication courses including Q Replication, ICDC and pureScale. Frank leads a team of expert consultants delivering presales, implementation and enablement support to IBM customers. Frank is currently supporting a pureScale implementation for a US Federal agency.

Ed Lynch was with IBM for over 25 years as a leader and innovator in Data Analytics and Information Integration.  Leveraging his balanced and diversified knowledge of data and Information Technology with business needs and capabilities, Ed consistently recommends and delivers best of breed technical solutions. A trusted advisor to his customers and colleagues, Ed’s cross-industry knowledge enables him to be an effective go-to resource, particularly for difficult and complex challenges, and his success in many diverse roles at IBM, including development, technical team management, marketing and sales, showcase his flexibility. Ed is currently supporting a complex replication implementation for a large, US-based financial institution.

Dr. Sheldon Cooper of “The Big Bang Theory” regularly records a YouTube video called “Fun with Flags” so I’m going to call this blog post “Fun with SQL”.  Sheldon may be a future Nobel Prize winner, but I’ve been named an IBM Champion for Analytics and System z for 2019. 🙂

The problem statement: a large US government agency is contemplating migrating a packaged application from System z to Linux.  The current and future database repositories are Db2 for z/OS and Db2 for LUW respectively.  As a System z Champion I’ve presented on the continued relevancy and efficacy of the IBM mainframe, but that’s not the focus of this post.  One of the challenges of porting data is the conversion of character encoding from EBCDIC (Extended Binary Coded Decimal Interchange Code) which is the legacy encoding protocol used on IBM mainframes and System i to Unicode.  Db2 for z/OS supports Unicode, but I’m not going to address anything other than EBCDIC encoding at the source and Unicode at the target (Sorry, ASCII).  In brief, EBCDIC represents an 8 bit binary encoding scheme that can represent 256 different characters.  For example: the letter “F” (one of my faves) is represented as 1100 0110 in binary and C6 in hexadecimal. For national language support amid the variety of Single Byte Character Sets (SBCS) used around the world – think the German umlaut (i.e. ä ö ü) – the 256 byte universe of EBCDIC wasn’t nearly enough.  The Unicode solution is to use more than 1 byte to represent some characters.  For example: the “¢” cent sign takes one byte to represent in EBCDIC, but 2 bytes in Unicode.

select length(ebcdic_str('¢')) as EBCDIC, length(unicode_str('¢')) as Unicode from sysibm.sysdummy1;

EBCDIC    UNICODE

     1          2

This problem has manifested itself as an error when moving a CHAR(5) column of data from Db2 for z/OS to Db2 for LUW.  If, say, the pesky “¢” is present in the string and all 5 characters are significant (i.e. no trailing blanks), the string won’t fit in the same column width on the target platform.  Most customers find this out the hard way when the Db2 for LUW LOAD command or IMPORT utility posts errors.  There are two possible solutions:

• data cleanup (Do we really need the pesky ‘¢’ in a Comments column?)
• lengthen the target columns to accommodate Unicode expansion

Both can be time-consuming and expensive and will depend on a variety of factors beyond the scope of this blog post.  The purpose here today is to identify the extent of the problem before you actually try to port the data.  I’ve constructed this SQL statement to do just that. Read More…

The Call for Speakers for the 2019 IDUG North America Conference, scheduled for Charlotte, NC, from June 2 – 6, 2019, is open.  For Db2 users this is an excellent opportunity to share your experience with your peers.  IDUG has a well documented presentation submission format and process, detailed on the IDUG North America webpage.

You may submit an unlimited number of abstracts.  However, it is important that you provide all of the information requested when submitting your presentation(s) for review. Failure to provide all requested information may impact whether or not the abstract is accepted.

One last note:  given the timing, don’t forget to reach out to your local Db2 RUG and offer to deliver your presentation at one of their meetings prior to the conference.  It’s a great opportunity to do a practice run, and also allow your local peers – some of whom may not be attending the conference – to appreciate your work.

From the IDUG webpage:

“IDUG is soliciting presentation abstracts that explore into details of implementation, migrating to a new release, or maximizing performance from any member of the DB2 product family. In recognition of the complex requirements of today’s database implementations, presentation abstracts relating to migration from Oracle to DB2, upgrading within versions of DB2, and new hardware implementations are also being requested. Presentations may cover details of DB2 tools, Big Data and other ancillary DB2 products.

All presentations must be strongly technical in nature, cannot contain marketing themes, and must support and strengthen the information services community by providing the highest quality education and services designed to promote the effective utilization of the DB2 and its family of products.”

Beginning this month The Fillmore Group will be offering fixed price private IBM Information Management training classes to customers located in the US and Canada, making it easier for customers to budget for critical IM education.  Our team recognizes the value of technical training – and we understand the challenges IBM Information Management customers are facing with the array of offerings generated by the Global Skills Initiative.  I am hoping that by offering fixed priced IM education and simplifying the pricing aspect of training procurement, customers will be encouraged to pursue training to support new and existing IM solution implementations.

The fixed prices below include IBM authorized curriculum, IBM remote eLab access, travel and lodging for the instructor, and course delivery by one of our experienced instructors.  Do I need to add pizza to get you to bite??

There IS of course some “fine print”:  1) the prices below are for IBM Information Management courses only (320 current courses are available; you can sort through them at http://tinyurl.com/IM2015courses or contact me for assistance identifying the appropriate course based on your needs), 2) courses must be delivered in the US or Canada, in English, within one mutually agreed upon, contiguous calendar week.  3) The purchasing customer must provide a training facility equipped with one computer for each student, and high-speed Internet access.

The fixed prices are:

Course Length                 1-3 Students                    4-6 Students

3 days                                  $9,900                             $11,900

4 days                                 $13,900                            $15,900

Please let me know (email me at kim.may@thefillmoregroup.com) if I can help you with any questions or private class coordination.  Thanks!

I was on a call this morning with an IBM technical team to discuss our progress filling the seats in one of our upcoming free IDAA classes.  Not surprising, given the number of people on the call (and who they were!) we went a bit off topic and ended up chatting about services and what appears to be – to IBM customers and sellers at least – a shortage of skilled consultants available to help with the “tions” – replication, implementations, migrations and federation.

The Fillmore Group has skilled consultants available to support these efforts, at rates that are typically about half of those being charged by “the competition”.

If your team has a project pending, or one in process, where a skilled consultant, at a reasonable hourly rate, can get things back on track, please contact me.  We are ready to work!  A list of our IBM Information Management capabilities is attached here.

IBM has bundled its replication technology into a single package: IBM InfoSphere Data Replication (IIDR).  IIDR combines three components:

• SQL Replication (heritage DataPropagator- Relational)
• Easy to set up
• Staging tables
• InfoSphere Replication Server (IRS – heritage Q Replication)
• High volume, low latency
• Native Oracle and DB2 sources and targets
• WebSphere MQ transport layer
• InfoSphere Change Data Capture (ICDC – heritage DataMirror)
• Broadest set of heterogeneous sources and targets
• TCP/IP transport layer

There are a few of important take-aways.

1. IBM substituted an implementation decision for a buying decision.  For quite a while SQL Replication was bundled free with DB2 for LUW.  ICDC and IRS were separately purchasable technologies with a lot of functional overlap.  In 2010 my colleague, Kim May, delivered an IBM Information on Demand (IOD) presentation distinguishing between the three.  Now you purchase the IIDR bundle and determine which technology is best suited for a particular use case.  As with most IBM software on distributed platforms, the cost is based on Processor Value Units (PVUs).
2. New feature/functionality will be built into IIDR rather than the former heritage ICDC and IRS packaging.
3. There will be a convergence of the technologies over time.  Many of the prospective changes are still IBM Confidential, but IBM is looking to consolidate components where it makes sense to do so.  There is a long-term roadmap that I hope IBM be sharing shortly.
4. Upgrading and migration paths are a work-in-progress.  If you currently own ICDC or IRS and want to move up to IIDR, contact The Fillmore Group for pricing and implementation assistance.

As volumes of data explode and organizations look for unique ways to leverage the quantities of data – often in real-time – it’s easy to become confused.  We can help – join us for lunch at Cinghiale for an overview of the data management products in the IBM portfolio and gain an understanding of today’s top solutions.

Frank Fillmore will deliver an overview of hot topics in IBM data management:  Big Data, Information Governance, and appliances, and explain how new solutions are changing database and warehousing technologies.  Gain an understanding of how IBM’s acquisitions and integrated solutions have them positioned as today’s thought leader in data management.

DB2101 at Cinghiale (the “Boar”), 822 Lancaster Street, Baltimore, MD, 21202
April 11, 2013, 11am – 1pm

To register, click here.  

Satisfy your appetite and your curiosity with a tasty Italian lunch at local favorites Tony Foreman and Cindy Wolf’s Cinghiale. Whether you already use IBM data products or are interested in learning what IBM has to offer, the presentation will provide a dose of nutritious food for thought.

I will send you a confirmation with directions to the award winning Cinghiale.  Valet parking will be provided.