Welcome to Issue 8 of Triton News.
We've got a busy few months ahead, take a look at our Upcoming Event listings.
As ever, we love to hear from you so please email us with any comments or suggestions.
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 Did your DBA team get burnt this summer?
As the bbq summer progressed, temperatures rose (well, there was that one week in May) and we all disappeared off on our Staycations, were the frazzled DBA team the only ones who got burnt?
Burnt-out that is. We all know how vital it is that our business critical databases are kept running and we're able to give customers the high levels of support they depend on. However, this can be difficult during times when DBA teams are thin on the ground. Even more so if your DBA team provides cover 24/7.
Knowing that you have a back-up support team can help you to better plan for those times when the team is under extra pressure whether that's due to holidays, sickness or seasonal spikes in business.
With a Consultancy on Demand contract you can purchase a block of hours and allocate them to be used during the year, when you need that little bit of extra support.
If your DB2 databases are used to support mission critical applications you're likely to benefit from our Remote DBA service. Almost like an insurance policy on your database, Remote DBA is there round the clock and can support your in-house team
For more information call 0870 2411 550 |
Data Governance
Data Governance is a hot industry buzzword at the moment. In our upcoming event, Data Governance on System z, we take a look behind the jargon and explore the key areas of governance that are affecting organisations today.
We're proud to bring you a top list of industry expert speakers who will be covering topics including Data Privacy, Data Security and Compliance on System z. We'll round off the day with an open forum where our panel of industry experts will help you build a blueprint for establishing security standards on system z.
The agenda includes:
- Overview of compliance on z
- Getting the best out of system z
- Data growth
- Data privacy
- Best practices for security on system z
- Open forum - building a blueprint for establishing security standards on system z
Download the latest IBM White Paper - Take back control through data governance: Leveraging IBM System z.
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DB2 Gets More Bite With Cobra
IBM has been making huge technical strides with their flagship database, DB2, over the past few years. As expected, the recent launch of DB2 9.7 has not failed to impress, incorporating even more improvements but what are the benefits to the business? Read our latest article to find out."We've had experience of a customer who wanted to convert from Oracle to DB2. It took 3 weeks to do that initially. With the DB2 9.7 beta we got that down to 2 days of a Junior DBAs' time" Says Julian Stuhler, Triton Consulting "The SQL compatibility feature means that there will be many more customers out there who are going to be really interested in using the core strengths of the DB2 database engine."
A recent study by ITG states that " Use of DB2 9.7 provides opportunities not only to lower energy costs, but also to contribute to the realisation of broader environmental objectives such as reducing organisational carbon footprints." In an age where environmental concerns are growing ever more important the "Green IT" benefits of DB2 9.7 cannot be ignored.
Take a look at our DB2 9.7 White Paper for the lowdown on the technical enhancements of the new release. |
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Techie Tip
By Iqbal Goralwalla
Append only DB2 diagnostic log and administration notification log files? No more in DB2 9.7!
How many times have I asked customers for the DB2 diagnostic log file (db2diag.log) only to be told "it's too large to send" or "it's taking too long to open." This is because the DB2 diagnostic files have been append only since time immemorial, their growth only restricted by the maximum space available in the file system they reside in. The only way to curb this growth would be to rename the files which would then force the creation of new ones. Scripts had to be written to automate this process and to delete old files after a certain period.
With the advent of DB2 9.7 all this is now history! The new diagzise database manager parameter allows a DBA to control the maximum sizes of the DB2 diagnostic log and administration notification log files. When this parameter is set to a non-zero value (which is the default pre-DB2 9.7 behaviour) a series 10 rotating diagnostic log files and a series rotating administraion notification log files (only on UNIX and Linux) are used. It is also smart enough to clean up the diagnostic log directory of old log files. When the size of the 10th file is full, the oldest file is deleted and a new file is created. More information is available from IBM - click here to view.
Things to note:
- diagzise is not configurable online. It needs an instance restart after an update for the new value to take effect.
- diagsize is the value (in MB) of the total size of all the DB2 diagnostic log and administration notification log files on UNIX and Linux. 90% of the total size is allocated for the 10 diagnostic log files and 10% of the total size is allocated for the 10 administration notification log files. On Windows, diagzise is the value (in MB) of the total size of all the 10 DB2 diagnostic log files on Windows. The link above gives a good example to clarify this.
For more technical tips keep an eye on our Knowledgebase and Blog. |
Case Study - Greenpeace Nordic
Greenpeace Nordic are part of the worldwide environmental organisation, Greenpeace. With offices in Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway, Greenpeace Nordic have 150,000 supporters across the region.
Keeping the IT infrastructure available and efficient is a tough challenge. Greenpeace Nordic needed to gain some extra support for the management and maintenance of their critical DB2 database.
The Solution
The best solution for Greenpeace Nordic was to take out Triton's Consultancy on Demand package. This allowed them to purchase a bundle of consultancy hours, meaning that whenever they experienced an issue or needed some advice Triton would be on hand to help.
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Mainframe is the new black......
but are we ready for it?
The mainframe has been on a rollercoaster ride over the last 30 years; from hero to zero and now, back to hero again. In the late '90s the mainframe began to lose it's "cool" new technology status to distributed platforms. Now the mainframe is coming back into fashion and rather than moving away from it, organisations are building on its' solid foundations.
According to recent research by CA, mainframes still handle 55% of companies' data; this rises to 59% for companies with more than 3000 staff; and rises again to 64% for organisations where the mainframe is connected with distributed, server-based computing systems. This makes sense given that the mainframe provides widely acknowledged cost and energy efficiencies along with top notch security and reliability features.
As organisations increasingly look towards the mainframe to support ever growing business systems a problem has begun to appear on the horizon - the mainframe skills shortage. Read our latest article. | |
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Upcoming Events
November
To book any of the above or if you have a bespoke training requirement contact us today | |
