These best practices present advice on the optimal way to use IBM® DB2® for z/OS® to satisfy key business data processing needs. These presentations and articles are authored by leading experts in IBM's development and consulting teams.

Please send any feedback or suggestions for future DB2 for z/OS best practice topics to db2zinfo@us.ibm.com.

• Finding Information Fast and Efficiently (MOV, 10.5MB) (IBM, July 2011)
  by Mary J. Parker Swanson, Lisa Johnson, and David P. Salinero

  This webcast demonstrates tips and techniques for accessing DB2 for z/OS information quickly. It shows the most common and some often overlooked features that will improve your search experience using the online documentation. It will show the best ways to search for DB2 information to get help, including setting your search scope, finding the latest information, and reviewing the best web sites for product help. It also reviews how to print and easily access information offline. This short webcast will give you tips that will save you time.
  Download the transcript (PDF, 17.3KB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
  

• DB2 10 for z/OS: Helping you improve operational efficiencies and gain competitive advantage (IBM, April 2010)
  by Roger Miller and David Beulke (David Beulke & Associates)

  Competitive pressures are common across most enterprise shops. These pressures give rise to challenges such as lowering operating costs through CPU cycle reductions while still building a strong foundation for SOA and XML initiatives, productivity improvements, and better control of data as it grows in scale and complexity. DB2 10 for z/OS has made great strides in answering these challenges and more. This webcast explains how DB2 for z/OS gives you out-of-the-box savings through improved operational efficiencies that deliver something for everyone. See the Dave Beulke blog for further DB2 10 discussions and industry best practices for DB2 for z/OS.

• How DB2 for z/OS application requirements affect database design (MainframeZone, October 2010)
  by Lockwood Lyon

  You can prevent common application problems by addressing recovery, data availability, security, and performance in the database design process. This article provides some best practices for database design when considering application requirements. This article is being used with permission from MainframeZone, Inc., publisher of z/Journal and Mainframe Executive magazines.

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• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS V10 Migration Planning and Very Early Experience, Part 1 (MOV, 50.5MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS V10 Migration Planning and Very Early Experience, Part 2 (MOV, 37.3MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  by John Campbell

  This webcast series is a must view for anyone migrating from DB2 for z/OS version 8 or version 9 to DB2 for z/OS Version 10. John has worked with many customers and consolidates his extensive findings together in the presentation. He shares early experiences from the beta program and explores recommendations specific to having a successful migration. The two parts examine strategies to prevent regressions and to gain the benefits provided by DB2 10. In addition, the webcasts discuss performance, scalability, availability, migration planning, and maintenance.
  Download the Part 1 presentation (PDF, 451KB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
      Read the transcript for Part 1 (PDF, 80KB)
  Download the Part 2 presentation (PDF, 138KB)
      Read the transcript for Part 2 (PDF, 55KB)

• Best practices: DB2 9 for z/OS migration (IDUG, October 2010)
  by Roger Miller

  This article discusses some of the keys to migration success. It also notes current service level recommendations, some of the key changes in access path management, changes for work space, and recent changes in data format. This article also points to the newest function changes and many other helpful resources.

• DB2 9 CM REBIND best practices (Toolbox.com, January 2009)
  by Patrick Bossman

  This blog article explains recommendations regarding REBINDs when customers migrate to DB2 9.

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• Best practices for DB2 software maintenance (MOV, 10.5MB) (IBM, July 2010)
  by John Campbell and Michael Dewert

  This webcast discusses how to mitigate risk and achieve high availability by following recommended proven practices for IBM DB2 for z/OS software maintenance. Staying current on DB2 software maintenance is of paramount importance in trying to establish and maintain DB2 system stability. It also has an impact on the performance and overall system throughput.
  Download the presentation (PDF, 287KB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
      Read the transcript (TXT, 6.8KB)

• System z Parallel Sysplex Best Practices (IBM Redbooks, September 2010)
  by Frank Kyne, Bert de Beer, Luis Martinez, Harriet Morril, Miha Petric, David Viguers, and Suzi Wendler

  This IBM Redbooks publication describes the best way to design, implement, and manage a Parallel Sysplex to deliver the levels of performance and availability required by your organization. Specific tips for DB2 are included.

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• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Utilities, Part 1 (MOV, 23.2MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Utilities, Part 2 (MOV, 37.9MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  by Haakon Roberts

  This webcast reviews recommendations for the use of various DB2 for z/OS utilities. It highlights parameters and maintenance levels you should be aware of when operating your DB2 environment. It will give you practical advice on how to get the best performance, function, and availability from the utilities. Part 1 gives general recommendations, and then dives into COPY and FlashCopy. Part 2 reviews RECOVER, QUIESCE, MODIFY, LOAD, RELOAD, REORG, RUNSTATS, CHECK, and DSN1COPY. These webcasts will give you important considerations and is a time saver for anyone working with DB2 for z/OS utilities.
  Download the Part 1 presentation (PDF, 75KB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
      Read the transcript for Part 1 (PDF, 31KB)
  Download the Part 2 presentation (PDF, 92KB)
      Read the transcript for Part 2 (PDF, 42KB)

• Partitioning DB2 for z/OS tablespaces (developerWorks, August 2010)
  by Jeff Sullivan

  Partitioned table spaces greatly improve the speed and effectiveness of processing large tables within DB2 for z/OS. They also open the door to the optimizer for SQL query parallelism -- a must for today's large table sets. But when should you partition a table, and how do you determine its sizing? The right formula will make this task easier to manage and increase parallelism. This article discusses the best practices for table space partitioning.

• DB2 for z/OS: Backup and recovery I/O related performance considerations (IBM Redbooks, October 2008)
  by Paolo Bruni and Jeff Berger

  Ths IBM Redpaper provides best practices and I/O-related performance considerations for backup and recovery using DB2 9 for z/OS. It describes some guidelines for DB2 for z/OS backup and recovery, then it discusses performance considerations that may be used to predict recovery time, which can be used, in turn, to adjust backup frequencies or methods.

• DB2 for z/OS and data recovery: Best practices for System z (IBM, September 2010)
  by Martin Hubel

  Computer failure doesn't have to spell disaster for your data and applications. There are many ways to support a successful recovery, for example, DB2 for z/OS can help you determine which backups to apply. Start by building a recovery plan that considers the relative value of your data, and you'll be able to make better decisions faster. This article teaches the key areas to consider when developing a data recovery plan.

• Improving your life as a DBA in today's turbulent environment (IBM, April 2010)
  by Jay Bruce and Ron Haupert

  The life of a database administrator (DBA) is not easy these days. Database performance issues, worries about data corruption and loss, expanding business requirements, and rising chargeback costs are just a few of the unnerving trends that are causing DBA personnel to be stretched further and further -- and closer to the breaking point. This webcast discusses the best practices and success stories of companies in a wide variety of industries who have turned their DBA staffing around with the help of IBM DB2 solutions on z/OS.

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• Podcast: Best Practices of pureXML in DB2 9 for z/OS (MP3, 6.1MB) (IBM, 2008)
  by Guogen Zhang

  This short podcast discusses some key points of pureXML for system programmers, system DBAs, and application architects and developers.
  Download transcript (PDF, 13KB)    Get Adobe® Reader®

• Programmers only: Reducing conversations with DB2 for z/OS, Part 1 (IBM Data Management Magazine, October 2009)
  Programmers only: Reducing conversations with DB2 for z/OS, Part 2 (IBM Data Management Magazine, April 2010)
  by Bonnie Baker

  Are you following best practices in your programming methods? These articles offer examples of bad SQL habits that need to be broken to help eliminte or reduce conversations with DB2 for z/OS, including SQL that may be executed too often and some instances that should be replaced with better performing SQL.

• SQL Performance Choices (PDF, 800.4KB) (z/Journal, October 2010)
  by Dan Luksetich
  This article discusses key SQL tuning tips, including:
  • How correlated, non-correlated, and joins differ in table expressions vs. subqueries
  • Using table sizes, result sizes, and indexes to code subqueries for optimal performance
  • When to merge and when to force materialization of table expressions
  
  
• Hints and tips to get the most out of DB2 for z/OS (IBM, January 2009)
  by Namik Hrle

  With IT budgets shrinking, every shop is facing the same challenge of keeping a lid on risk, and yet demonstrating how IT delivers real business value to the enterprise. Because companies rely on data to drive their businesses, databases are at the center of this challenge. DB2 9 for z/OS can play a major role in helping you respond to business challenges, and drive innovation through application development to differentiate and create a sustainable competitive advantage. This webcast explains the wealth of new features in DB2 9 for z/OS.

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• Debugging stored procedures on DB2 for z/OS with Data Studio Developer, Part 1: Debugging DB2 for z/OS stored procedures with IBM Data Studio Developer v1.2 (developerWorks, November 2008)
  by Tom Miller and Emily Zhang

  This article provides important background information on the Unified Debugger and shows you step-by-step how to use Data Studio Developer to create and debug a sample native SQL stored procedure. Typical problems are also addressed. The focus in this article is on DB2 for z/OS stored procedures, but many of the concepts and steps are similar to other DB2 servers.

• Debugging stored procedures on DB2 for z/OS with Data Studio Developer, Part 2: Configure the stored procedure debug session manager on z/OS (developerWorks, March 2009)
  by Tom Miller and Emily Zhang

  Learn step-by-step how to configure the Unified Debugger session manager for use on a z/OS system, and learn how to use routines to manage the session manager. Proper setup of the session manager on z/OS can facilitate using IBM Data Studio Developer to debug stored procedures on DB2 for z/OS servers.

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• DB2 security: Protect your assets (MOV, 28.5MB) (IBM, July 2010)
  by Roger Miller

  Security is in the headlines and growing much more important. This presentation discusses various practices for security and how you can make improvements. The discussion includes various security objectives. Most sites have a range of needs and objectives. For some situations, basic security is adequate. For others, better or standard security techniques are needed. In yet other cases, best security practices are demanded. Our tools range from very tight system security to basic techniques, applicable with public information on the web. Application security techniques are more flexible, but require much more work by more people, so they are generally weaker. Choices and guidelines will be our primary points, discussing how to provide security for your situation. The objective is to help customers understand the range of choices for security, the improvements, and how to make incremental enhancements.
  Download the presentation (PDF, 6.3MB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
      Read the transcript (TXT, 11.7KB)

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• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Inline LOBs (Large Objects) (MOV, 12.5MB) (IBM, January 2012)
  by Jeffrey Berger
  This webcast explores and recommends when to inline LOBs (Large Objects) into your DB2 10 environment. When you move the storage of LOBs from an auxiliary table to the base table, you will need to consider the LOB size and distribution, the page size, compression ratio, and other characteristics of your environment. The speaker presents several "rules of thumb" to simplify the task of analyzing whether to inline LOBs. Also, advantages and disadvantages are discussed.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 86.7KB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
  Read the transcript (PDF, 27.3KB)

• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS DDF Connectivity (MOV, 14MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This webcast gives recommendations for monitoring and tuning distributed access to your DB2 environment. It discusses active and inactive threads, inactive connections, and inactive database access threads (DBATs). It also recommends which monitoring statistics to focus on.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 106KB)     Get Adobe® Reader®
  Read the transcript (PDF, 22KB)

• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Locks and Latches (MOV, 39.4MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This webcast explains the monitoring and tuning of locks and latches in your DB2 environment. The presenter discusses how to avoid locks in both a local and data sharing environment. and explains DB2 latch monitoring. In addition, you'll learn about monitoring statistics and get recommendations on how to tune your environment. Finally, the webcast covers ways to improve concurrency and avoid contention.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 89KB)
  Read the transcript (PDF, 59KB)

• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Local and Group Bufferpools (MOV, 21.2MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This webcast explains DB2 bufferpool monitoring and gives recommendations on how to improve the efficiency of your DB2 environment. It explains which thresholds to monitor and how to tune your bufferpool. It also explains how to monitor and tune group bufferpools in a data sharing environment.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 107KB)
  Read the transcript (PDF, 32KB)

• Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Log Activity and Miscellaneous (MOV, 17.7MB) (IBM, September 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This webcast explains using DB2 statistics to monitor the log activity and how to use these statistics to improve performance. It also explores topics in RID list processing, overhead from tracing, package list search, SPROCs, and binding. Recommendations are given on how to monitor and improve performance of your DB2 environment.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 89KB)
  Read the transcript (PDF, 29KB)

• DB2 Statistics Data Collection, DB2 System Address Space CPU Time and WLM Settings, Data Set Open/Close Activity (MOV, 15.5MB) (IBM, January 2011)
  by Florence Dubois
  There are many choices when collecting statistics about the DB2 system environment. This webcast will give guidelines on which statistics to gather and how to analyze your system's health. The data collected from IFCIDs, CPU time from monitoring tools, WLM metrics, and data set open and close activity will all be explored. The recommendations given will lead to improved DB2 performance.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 442KB)
  Read the transcript (PDF, 110KB)

• Hard Lessons Leaned From Customer Health Check Studies (MOV, 17MB) (IBM, January 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This webcast presents practical advice from DB2 health checks at customer installations. It describes problems encountered when dealing with WLM, disaster recovery, continuous availability, data sharing, DB2 restart, and storage tuning. It discusses the most common issues and proven methods to prevent problems.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 150KB)
  Read the transcript (PDF, 170KB)

• EDM and dynamic statement caching (MOV, 23.8MB) (IBM, October 2010)
  by John Campbell
  This presentation is one in a series of 8 presentations about DB2 systems performance. This particular presentation focuses on EDM pools and dynamic statement caching. It identifies some key performance indicators and gives some recommendations. The other presentations in this series will also be posted to the DB2 for z/OS best practices web site as they are ready.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 442KB)
      Read the transcript (TXT, 12KB)

• Best practices for DB2 for z/OS virtual storage tuning (MOV, 33.6MB) (IBM, July 2010)
  by John Campbell
  Virtual storage tuning has become quite an important subject in recent years as more customers have run into virtual storage constraints inside the DBM1 address space with some dire consequences. Virtual storage is the number one scalability issue in terms of the vertical scalability of an individual DB2 subsystem, but also it is a threat to availability. The objectives of this webcast are to help you understand this virtual storage issue, to explain how to monitor the virtual storage, and to suggest actions to take to remedy the situation.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 926KB)
      Read the transcript (TXT, 21.1KB)

• The Magic of Keeping DB2 in Order (MainframeZone, August 2010)
  by Willie Favero

  You may be tempted to avoid sort for SQL statements, but the truth is, it's a nearly impossible task. While tuning an internal sort in DB2 for z/OS might seem out of vogue, it still offers valuable advantages. Learn how to make sorts perform -- with minimal overhead. This article provides valuable tips for exploiting internal sorts within DB2 for z/OS for maximum efficiency. This article is being used with permission from MainframeZone, Inc. (www.mainframezone.com), publisher of z/Journal & Mainframe Executive magazines.

• Why the DB2 for z/OS optimizer chose that access path (IBM, October 2010)
  by Terry Purcell and Saghi Amirsoleymani

  This webcast outlines a systematic method to identify and resolve query performance issues using the DB2 for z/OS optimizer and the IBM Optim solution portfolio. This session highlights techniques for writing better SQL and how to tune SQL -- even if you code Java -- through a framework. We'll examine a few scenarios to help you understand the optimizer methodology, which uses extensive access path detail already available for a query. We will show you how to determine what the Optimizer "sees" and compare it to the "reality" using appropriate visualizations, access path comparison capabilities, and advisor recommendations.

• Optimizing insert performance, Part 1 (MOV, 12.7MB) (IBM, February 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This webcast presents trade-offs made between optimizing DB2 insert for better throughput versus space reuse. It explores questions regarding inserting rows sequentially or randomly, whether to sort into clustering order and the effects of indexes on insert performance. Learn best practices for the different types of DB2 table spaces and get the details on DB2 parameters and recommended values.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 1.02MB)
  Download the transcript (PDF, 67KB)

• Optimizing insert performance, Part 2 (MOV, 9.9MB) (IBM, March 2011)
  by John Campbell
  This second webcast on optimizing insert performance reviews additional techniques for speeding up the process of inserting rows into DB2. Learn about methods such as using a large index pagesize, random index keys, removing unused indexes, logging, and efficiently creating unique identifiers. The webcast covers enhancements specific to DB2 10 (such as index I/O parallelism, unique index with INCLUDE, and in-line LOBs) that impact insert performance. Finally, the presenter summarizes the best practices from both part 1 and part 2.
  

  Download the presentation (PDF, 882KB)
  Download the transcript (PDF, 49KB)

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