IDUG NA 2025

Db2 databases support the High Availability needs of many customers today. Db2 v11.5.5.0 saw the general availability of High Availability with Pacemaker on the Linux platform, providing a newer, Cloud–ready alternative to the TSA implementation. Newer releases have added support for AWS, Azure, Google Cloud and IBM Cloud environments, and many other refinements. This workshop will give you hands–on experience for managing a Db2 HADR with Pacemaker Cluster on the AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud or IBM Cloud. The session will cover the Cloud specific Implementation of Fencing and virtual IP Addresses. It will help you understand the information provided by the cluster utilities, across basic operations, diagnostics, and best practices from the IBM Labs This workshop will also demonstrate basic problem scenarios, troubleshooting and collection of essential support data to accelerate problem resolution in emergency cases. 

Db2 professionals spend a significant amount of time preparing for the worst–case scenarios. How many image copies do you take daily? How much space do these image copies occupy?
The primary reason for taking backups is to facilitate recovery. However, there are times when we face recovery situations and find that we cannot perform the recovery as outlined in our training or manuals.
This presentation will explore alternatives to typical Db2 recovery methods, with the top priority being the recovery of broken, invalid, or compromised Db2 objects. We will discuss various redirected recovery techniques and their applications.
Over the years, Db2 releases have enhanced recovery capabilities to address data availability and retention. This presentation will explain how these changes can impact recovery strategies.
Attendees will leave with new insights and methods for accessing and recovering Db2 data.

This presentation examines a complex strategic migration of a mission–critical COBOL banking application from Db2 z/OS hosted on IBM mainframe to Db2 LUW on Power Linux, drawing from a Polish banking institution's transformation initiative serving 12 million customers. We explore our comprehensive approach to database performance monitoring and capacity planning while migrating a 30+ TB database to a distributed architecture. The discussion focuses on practical methodologies for performance testing, benchmarking, and risk mitigation, highlighting key differences between Db2 z/OS and Db2 LUW environments. We will share our experience in addressing platform–specific considerations and architectural adaptations required for successful migration. Through real–world scenarios and lessons learned, attendees will gain actionable insights into our approach for designing monitoring frameworks and implementing effective migration strategies for similar large–scale database modernization projects.

This is my preferred presentation for IDUG–2025.This was presented at IBM TechXChange and IDUG – 2024.This is updated presentation with all enhancement for Cross platform migration for AIX to AWS/RDS/Db2.
Description
DB2 – High Volume Highly Complex cross platform migration to Cloud – Next Step–       Mission Critical database–       Volume more than 125,000 per seconds–       From AIX to AWS/RDS/Db2–       Feathering HADR, Federation, Multi–partition tables, CDC–       Encrypted databases with high volume of transaction logs–       Optimized Power system with compression at every level–       Specially Project help from AWS beta and POC–       AIX to RDS via S3 without Linux/EC2 requirements
 

Db2 offers many rich data monitoring sources to collect, but how do you decide what is important or useful to collect? This session looks at regular db2mon data collection with  a focus on extracting insights from the data, both from a single db2mon report and also from multiple data collections over time.
This session will cover many performance metrics including
– system basics – activity, utilization– bottleneck checks – waiting on disk, network, locks, etc.– bufferpool activity and effectiveness– insights over time – looking at metrics from multiple reports and charting important trends
R provides a rich and repeatable set of data manipulations that provide a flexible and composable set of tools to dig into and chart the db2mon data. This is supplemented by custom Db2–developed tooling that is now open–sourced to convert multiple db2mon reports into data files grouped by report types for deeper insights on database behaviour.

Every enterprise, with Db2 for z/OS as core database, have application modernization modernization plans in the context of Db2 for z/OS. Topics like, hybrid cloud, data fabric, data lakehouse are all bringing architecture and product level topics in front of the Db2 DBA. 
In this presentation following topics will be presented with technical details to prepare a Db2 for z/OS DBA for

Modernizing direct access to Db2 for z/OS data from the cloud via ODBC, JDBC, Rest
Architectural alternatives to provide Db2 z/OS data into the cloud native applications world
Virtualization options to access mainframe data including Db2 for z/OS
How to provision a copy of Db2 for z/OS data in the cloud for high–volume query and/or analytics use cases.
Technical details of Integrated Synchronization which is the core replication protocol from Db2 for z/OS to the cloud in the context of Db2 DBA 

Technical and business use cases will be part of the presentation so that Db2 for z/OS  DBA will be aware and contribute to the decision making process

In today's data–driven world, the integration of robust database management systems with advanced machine learning platforms is crucial for deriving actionable insights and driving innovation. This presentation explores the synergy between IBM DB2 and AWS SageMaker, highlighting how this powerful combination can enhance data analytics and machine learning workflows.
IBM DB2, a highly scalable and reliable relational database management system, offers comprehensive data management capabilities. When integrated with AWS SageMaker, a fully managed service that provides every developer and data scientist with the ability to build, train, and deploy machine learning models quickly, the potential for data–driven decision–making is significantly amplified.
This session will cover:
The architecture and key features of IBM DB2 and AWS SageMaker.
Best practices for integrating DB2 with SageMaker to streamline data preprocessing, model training, and deployment.
Real–world use cases demonstrating the benefits of this integration in various industries.
Attendees will gain a comprehensive understanding of how to leverage the strengths of both DB2 and SageMaker to enhance their data analytics and machine learning capabilities, ultimately driving more informed and strategic business decisions.

IBM provides us number of solution to achieve multisite HA/DR for PureScale clusters. Those include technologies like HADR Replication for PureScale Clusters, Geographically Dispersed PureScale Clusters, GPFS replication for PureScale Clusters, Q Replication for PureScale Clusters.
 In the presentation we will describe alternative approach, where replication across 2 sites is provided by Storage Array Layer, which allows us to achieve additional benefits like consistency groups going beyond single GPFS filesystem used by the PureScale, optimized network utilization where Storage Array replication happens on SAN Fiber, additional HA layer where filesystem can be cross mounted across sites which gives additional redundancy layer for storage availability.
  
 We implement solution by deploying Synchronic Storage Replication across 2 sites, where SAN fabric provides us NSD multi path connections from each side. This way on each side we have collection of NSD disks that are local to given side, and also connection to remote NSD disks from DR side. On both sites we install standalone PureScale clusters, independent from each, therefore failure of any of those clusters does not impact other side counterpart. Having 2 clusters we designate one as primary by creating PureScale managed GPFS on top of Storage Array Layer, and on top of that create Database with its' associated paths. Next we use gpfssync capabilities to export primary GPFS filesystem , and next mount the same on DR site. This allows us to mimic primary cluster on DR site, and next attach those synchronized mount points to TSAMP cluster on secondary site. Later on, we just move application connection to DR site, which can handle further ongoing workloads.
  
 Proposed solution is active–passive deployment, when at any given time only one cluster has connection to synchronized storage array. We achieve this by protections on each layer (NSD disks active on one site only, GPFS mounts online on one site only, database cataloging on one site only). This is crucial to ensure only one side has active writes to the cluster, so that we prevent any corruption of the data. In the presentation we provide procedures to setup such deployment, along with failover procedures where we move storage attachment from primary to secondary, and reverse. We also provide testing results where we verify solution, by forcing failover and more failure scenarios while processing application workload.

In these days of heightened security, it is likely that you will be asked about Db2’s audit facility, db2audit. This tool has the ability to collect a number of types of security information and this presentation will show how to configure and use db2audit. dbaudit can collect massive amounts of data but there are ways to limit the data and those techniques will be shown in the presentation.

Db2 13 introduced the ability to track execution of IBM Db2 utilities allowing users to gain insight into the performance of the utilities. In this session you will hear how it has been implemented, what information is recorded and when, and some ideas of how the feature can be used to improve your utility processing.

Join me on a journey through our first year of deploying SQL Data Insights (SDI) into production. Discover how SDI impacted our business processes, changed stakeholder perceptions of the mainframe, and enhanced our approach to data analysis.
We will start with a review of our first use case and discuss the resources consumed for training and scoring, as well as the impact SDI had on our business processes. 
SDI's most evident benefit is its ability to analyze data where it sits without having to export, transfer and reload it, and with minimal data science dependency. But how does it compare to more traditional approaches? To answer that, we'll compare SDI with other machine learning algorithms by applying them to a frequently used dataset for predicting diamond prices. We'll delve into the accuracy of the algorithms and see how SDI stacks up against data scientists' most loved algorithms.
Following that, we'll explore a brand–new use case that applies the new commonality–function in Db2 FL504. We'll discuss its usefulness, resource requirements, and potential impact on business processes, providing more practical insights into the power of SDI.
And finally, I'll share a use case that demonstrates how to identify outliers using SDI with Db2 monitoring data, ready to be applied in your own shop. 
Don't miss this opportunity to gain practical insights into the power of SDI and how it can transform your data analysis!

When we talk about Mainframe Modernization, we usually discuss DevOps, Zowe, APIs, Java, Python, etc, but how often does anyone talk about how your security posture needs to be modernized?  Many of these systems were built 30–40 years ago when it was just batch, IMS and CICS.  Now we have traffic coming in from everywhere, whether it is via APIs, distributed Db2, or other means, you need to make sure you are prepared to monitor that traffic to prevent DDoS attacks, and make sure nobody is getting at your most sensitive data.  I will discuss some of the core Db2 Security features that companies should consider using along with Data Access Monitors like Guardium.

Are you looking to become a certified Db2 for z/OS Administrator? If you’re preparing for the IBM certification exams C1000–184 (Associate) or C1000–181 (Professional), this presentation is for you. We will provide essential tips and recommendations to help you kickstart your preparation journey toward becoming an IBM Db2 for z/OS Certified Administrator.

Db2 pureScale with Pacemaker on Azure is an exciting new chapter for Db2 pureScale on Cloud platforms! The Microsoft Azure platform has both TCP/IP and RDMA private network capabilities, allowing more scale–out and scale–up opportunities for the most demanding customer workloads.
This session– walks through the deployment of a Db2 pureScale cluster on the Azure platform– examines the performance for scale up and scale out– compares the TCP/IP and RDMA platforms for cost and performance– discusses the current capabilities and some of the next areas under development
This work builds on the existing Db2 pureScale on AWS knowledge and the session will provide comparisons between the two Cloud offerings

This presentation will highlight the contents of the European Union DORA (Digital Operation Resilience Act) which came into force in Janary 2025 and the PCI DSS V4.0.1 which came into force in March 2025.
Both of these are wide reaching and truly global in range! They both contain lists of things that, especially for Financial technical service providers (FINTECH), must be done on a regular basis to show that you, as a firm, are doing "Due Diligence" in the fight against "The Black Hat Brigade" who are alwasy trying to Hack, Steal or Ransom your data!
Further, this presentation will show you how to build a basic system to protect your firm, and yourself, from any Audit requirements that are currently required by both laws and also the Centre for Internet Security (CIS) rules for Db2 13 for z/OS.

Want to allow real–time representations of your Db2 for z/OS, Db2 for LUW or even db2 Warehouse on Cloud data to be leveraged as Data Lake, Event Streaming, Cloud Database, and more destinations?  Want to be free to create tables, alter them, apply data and have these changes seamlessly represented in a multitude of data formats and destinations? 
The IBM Data Replication Cartridge is a brand–new cloud architected solution leveraging cloud native convenience while leveraging more than 20 years’ experience with the definitive data replication product, IBM’s IIDR CDC. 
Learn the convenience, robustness, simplicity, and performance that the new cloud native architecture provides.  
We’ll highlight:
1)        Sate of the art functionality:  Never before seen replication functionalities, such as seamless DDL replication and intuitive intention–based user semantics.
2)        The Key to Performance: Highlights of the product architecture that simultaneously parallelizes workload applies Kafka while adaptively applying OLTP changes to aggregate apply preferring WatsonX Data Lake destinations.
3)        Demonstration of data replication showing ease of use and robustness of a cloud based replication architecture.
4)        Customer use cases highlighting the best patterns for using replication to perform real–time event streaming and contrasting WatsonX Data Lake Analytics scenarios.

A look at the new SQL capabilites added to Db2 v12 as well as a look back at some of the lesser known additions in 11.1 and 11.5 mod packs.  A deep dive into new namespace isolation capabilities provided via the TENANT concept. A peek into the Vector store extensions coming to Db2 and a look at how Db2 can integrate into a lakehouse strategy.

Optimal access plans are critical for query performance, and it is the Db2 optimizer's job to choose the best one. The optimizer is very sophisticated and considers many factors while costing an access plan, but sometimes it makes mistakes, and you need to fix it quickly. This session will show you how to apply access plan tuning techniques based on queries from real Db2 customer systems. This 2025 edition of the session will cover brand new examples compared to the 2024 edition. A variety of query types will be covered, including OLTP and analytics, running on single or multiple data base partitions. You will also learn how to use the explain facility to understand how access plans work. Attend this session to learn some techniques to address a variety of access plan problems and to gain some insight into query optimization.

Learn how to use ansible playbooks to backup, restore Db2 databases locally or cross–node and automate all post–restore checks and validations.

We were in a situation that some parts from a old/huge Partition range table are full and PAGENUM was ABSOLUTE, and we are not able to manage space locally in each part , So was Decided to ADD some parts between existing parts ! In this journey we needed to tackle some issues Like finding partitions range value for brand new parts, learning about concept of physical and Logical parts, and understanding how Db2 manages them. Moreover how utilities like Load and Reorg handle the added Parts! Many details  discussed and shared.

In this session, you will learn how to capture SQL statistics from Db2’s dynamic statement cache and how to combine them with the information from your EXPLAIN tables. The code that we use will be available for download after the session. Discover how to identify the queries that will benefit most from tuning, allowing you to focus your valuable time on those that matter. We start with simple metrics like RID list errors and work our way up to other performance metrics like top consumers, I/O statistics, lock contention, and more. You will learn how to track the performance and resource consumption of a given SQL statement over time, which makes it possible to spot trends. Finally, we will show how to detect access path changes in dynamic SQL workload. This is a common problem in environments with heavy dynamic workload. Something as simple as a single RUNSTATS execution on one of the involved tables can causeunexpected changes to the access path that Db2 chooses. Using historic explain information, these changes become visible, and you can take immediate action.

‘The Art of War’ is an ancient Chinese book on military skills, strategy, and tactics. It has influenced military thinking for centuries and has been applied to many fields outside of the military, such as business tactics, legal strategy, politics, sport, and now for the first time Db2 SQL performance!
In this session, you will learn how the ‘Art of War’, principles such as planning, resources, attack and defense, timing, strength/weaknesses, weapons, and knowledge, translate perfectly into tactics to defend against and defeat bad SQL.
This is a back–to–basics session where you will learn how to use these principles to fight against bad SQL. It provides many practical examples and for additional interest is illustrated using maxims and quotes from the book.

Db2 HADR is a widely deployed Highly–Available configuration, providing excellent reliability and capacity, with Reads–on–Standby and multiple auxillaries. This session takes a look at the performance of HADR solutions, including

how to successfully configure and monitor HADR operation 
best practices and troubleshooting
Configuring and using virtual IP
examining performance data from AWS HADR pairs for different sync modes