For a porting effort to be successful, it is imperative that members of the porting team have a good understanding of DB2 concepts, such as transaction management, locking, authorities, memory management, and so on. Although most database vendors implement similar sets of features, there are often non-trivial differences in how they behave. These differences will often go unnoticed until after the application has been ported, resulting in a noticeable change in application behavior. To minimize the effect of these differences, we highly recommend that one or more members of the porting team participate in DB2 training and obtain DB2 certifications.
Another source of education is the Software Migration Project Office (SMPO). Here you will find a team of experts that can help with your port (and help your team become familiar with DB2 along the way). You can contact the SMPO using the link above, or by e-mail (db2mig@us.ibm.com).
Education materials
There are several recommended sources of DB2 education materials, including books, tutorials, and training courses. These will help your migration team learn about the fundamental capabilities and administration functionalities available in DB2 and also get prepared for the DB2 certification exams. While some of the available course are outlined below, visit the IBM Information Management Training site to gain a full understanding of the DB2 education that is available. In particular, check out the various technical documentation that will be useful to your porting team as they learn about DB2.
Certification Books
Baklarz, G., Zikopoulos, P. (2007). DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep, 6th Edition.
Sanders, R. (2007). DB2 9 Fundamentals Certification Study Guide
Sanders, R. (2007). DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Database Administration: Certification Study Guide
Sanders, R. (2007). DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows Database Administration Upgrade: Certification Study Guide
Janmohamed, Z., Liu, C., Bradstock, D., Chong, R.F., Gao, M., McArthur, F., Yip, P. (2004). DB2 SQL PL - Essential Guide for DB2 on Linux, UNIX, and Windows, iSeries, and z/OS (Second Edition).
Snow, D. and Phan, T. (2003). Advanced DBA Certification Guide and Reference for DB2 V8 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows (1st ed.)
Tutorials
Whether you are working toward a certification, or just learning about DB2, the following free tutorials offer a good place to start:
We recommend enrolling in one or more DB2 courses offered by IBM Learning Services to build your porting team's skills before porting your application to DB2. Visit the IBM Learning Services Web site to review all of the courses available to your team. Many of these courses are also offered as online courses, saving the participants travel costs.
For Business Partners, the worldwide IBM Innovation Centers for Business Partners offer complimentary workshops and technical seminars for developers.
Conferences
The IBM Information On Demand (IOD) conference offers the breadth and depth of technical sessions to help you build skills across a wide array of IBM technologies. Learn about all of IBM's new software products and releases, and get behind-the-scenes views of how others are solving their toughest information management challenges with IBM technology.
