(Willie Favero) There just seems to a lot of talk and al to of interest around pureXML right now. It may be one of the big reasons many customers are kicking the tires on DB2 9 for z/OS. After all, pureXML does come with the base DB2 for z/OS product. It’s cool and it’s no-charge. What else could on

(Paolo Bruni, Kevin Harrison, Garth Oldham, Leif Pedersen and Giuseppe Tino) DB2 9 for z/OS is an exciting new version, with many improvements in performance and little regression. DB2 V9 improves availability and security, as well as adds greatly to SQL and XML functions. Optimization improvements

(Paul Tuohy) You are well aware that you may use embedded SQL in RPG programs, but did you know that you can use RPG in SQL? Just as RPG allows you to define your own built-in functions (BIFs) by writing subprocedures, SQL allows you to define your own functions. But even more powerful is the fa

(Willie Favero) For its third year, the “IBM Master the Mainframe Contest” is back. And this time we are including high school students. The timing is perfect for this because it goes along so well with the post I made a few days ago ( 09/12/2007 in a post titled Who’ll carry on when I’m gone?) abo

(Willie Favero) With every release of DB2, additions are made to the list of reserved words in the SQL Reference manual (for DB2 9 it’s SC18-9854 with the latest version as of this writing being placed on the web March 2007). DB2 9 has been out long enough that customers have started planning their

(Thomas M. Stockwell) Several weeks ago, when Domino 8 began to ship, a System i reporter noticed that Domino 8 permits the storage of Notes/Domino data in the format of the DB2 Universal Database (sometimes marketed as DB2 UDB). Evidently, this reporter had expected Lotus to extend this capability

(Denis Vasconcelos) IBM Rational Data Architect delivers unique features not available in many of today’s data modeling tools in the market, including CA ERwin. Migrate existing data models created in CA ERwin Data Modeler to Rational Data Architect, and explore some of Rational Data Architect’s fea

(Willie Favero) IBM is kicking off a Virtual Trade Show focused on Warehousing for System z with a “live ” event on September 18 and continuing “on demand” for another 90 days. This is an unusual approach patterned on Second Life that should provide a very interesting and informative experience for

(Vitor Rodrigues and Matthias Nicola) XMLTABLE is one of the most powerful functions in the SQL/XML standard and is available in IBM DB2 9 for Linux, Unix, and Windows as well as DB2 9 for z/OS. In part 1 of this two-part series on XMLTABLE you learned how to use XMLTABLE to retrieve XML data in rel

(Scott Hayes) It’s difficult to talk about DB2 performance and not have the subject of Bufferpool Hit Ratios come up. It’s as if high bufferpool hit ratios are somehow capable of saving the planet from global warming. Yes, bufferpool performance is relevant, but we need to evaluate these with a dose