Lockwood Lyon

IT professionals are problem-solvers. In the course of the workday: Programmers encounter problems throughout the application development lifecycle —  from application design, coding and testing through implementation and software upgrades; Quality assurance analysts must address a variety of issues during various conformance processes, such as naming conventions and programming standards, in addition to creating valid […]

Since relieving I/O constraints usually translates into faster execution times, it can become one of the major goals of an IT support group. Many applications have Service Level Agreements (SLRs) that promise quick turnaround or acceptable on-line response time. For an application suite such as a data warehouse that depends upon a regular nightly batch […]

Is It Just Big Data? Current use of the term big data is a result of the confluence of several industry trends over the last decade. These trends include accumulation of large amounts of data in databases, the advent of the data warehouse, multiple means of high-speed data transfer, and an explosion in the design […]

Information technology must build, support, and tune databases that support business applications such as order entry, accounting, inventory or payroll. For these applications, typical database designs are derived from business rules and application requirements and are modified by enterprise data modeling standards such as normalization and referential integrity enforcement. Data warehouses are different. They are […]

Thinking about upgrading to a new version of DB2 for z/OS? Of course you are! Many DB2 shops using DB2 z/OS version 8 or version 9 are considering migrating to a later DB2 version in 2012. DB2 z/OS Version 8 will be out-of-service on April 30, 2012, which is driving some of these upgrades. What […]

In the z/OS environment, tuning a DB2 subsystem may require the DBA and systems programmers to wear multiple hats and approach overall performance tuning from several different angles. What approaches are best in what situations? Strategy Determines Tactics The strategy you choose for general DB2 systems performance tuning will usually determine the tactics that work […]

Database administrators (DBAs) need to move away from reactive, repetitive tasks. Use the ideas presented here to become more productive. Problem Resolution DBAs should standardize problem resolution methods and the process of root cause analysis. Most large IT organizations have multiple teams with which DBAs must collaborate. So, we need to consider how the extended […]

Best practices for transactional systems aren’t always relevant in an enterprise data warehouse. Priorities are different, environment ditto, people’s knowledge and expertise double ditto. What are the biggest differences?  What are the biggest challenges for staff, DBAs, and managers? Environmental Differences The enterprise data warehouse (EDW) is typically a very large collection of historical transaction […]

Here are the “best of the best” strategies that define a successful and competent database administrator (DBA). While I present these in the context of DB2 on z/OS, I strongly believe that they are applicable across all hardware platforms and database management systems. Standardize Database Recovery Processes Ensure data recoverability. If there’s one thing to […]

Most ERP package vendors provide product tuning recommendations, usually in the form of white papers or documentation downloadable from their website. In addition, there are many user groups and conferences (like the International DB2 Users Group) where presentations on tuning are given. I will not cover all of these issues in this article — you […]

Monitoring an ERP application suite involves using several basic measurement techniques. Since it probably co-exists with other applications within a DB2 subsystem or data sharing group, a means must be found to separate ERP package performance measures from those of other applications. Additionally, when measuring subsystem performance you must isolate the effects of the package […]

Database backup copies may not be enough to ensure data recoverability. The DBA must "bake" recoverability into the database design process; additionally, for current systems, the DBA needs to know whether current backup processes support recovery procedures that will meet application recovery objectives. The Laws of Database Administration In order of their importance, the laws […]