Overview

In the data warehousing in Db2®, Intelligent Miner® constitutes a software development kit (SDK). This SDK consists of Db2 extensions that include an SQL application program interface (API). You can embed the SQL API in business applications to exploit the mining functions from this business application.

The SQL API consists of the following layers that provide different granularity and a different degree of abstraction:
  • The API of the Easy Mining procedures is task oriented. You can use it to perform common mining tasks.

    For more information, see data warehousing in Db2: Data Mining with Easy Mining procedures.

  • The SQL/MM API conforms to the standard. It provides an API that enables you to compose mining tasks that are hand-tailored for your individual requirements. You can use it in SQL scripts or from any JDBC, CLI, ODBC, or SQLJ application.

In Db2, professionals can interactively issue SQL statements from the command center or from the command line processor. They can also start mining functions from one of these interfaces.

To assist application developers, the data warehousing in Db2 Design Studio provides data mining plug-ins. These plug-ins contain graphical wizards and editors that are integrated in the Eclipse environment. With these plug-ins, you can graphically model mining tasks and generate the SQL to embed Intelligent Miner SQL functionality into your business applications.

To assist database administrators, Intelligent Miner provides administrative functions in the data warehousing in Db2 Administration Console Web interface. You can enable a database for mining, administer data mining models, or manage the Intelligent Miner model cache.

Developing mining solutions

Depending on the experience, the personal preferences, the mining skills, and the complexity of the problem to solve, you can choose between the following approaches to develop a mining solution:

  • Use the samples and tutorials to get started and adapt them to your own business problem.
  • Use the graphical interface that is provided by the data warehousing in Db2 Design Studio to define the mining process. Generate the code and integrate it into your own business application. Deploy mining steps as part of an automated data transformation step.
  • Use the Easy Mining procedures for common mining tasks to perform typical mining tasks.
  • Use the command line script generator idmmkSQL as a starting point to compose Scoring statements.
  • Use the powerful lower-level SQL/MM API in SQL scripts or from any JDBC, CLI, ODBC, or SQLJ application.
Figure 1. Using the Intelligent Miner features in your business environment
The figure above shows a typical scenario of how you can use the Intelligent Miner features in your business environment:
  • An application developer of a business application integrates the Intelligent Miner SQL functionality into the application by using the developer tooling.
  • A professional uses this mining functionality from the business application.
To get familiar with the Intelligent Miner features in data warehousing in Db2, see the following sources:
  • The data warehousing in Db2 tutorial that is included in the product package
  • The data mining tutorials that are included in the online-help of the data warehousing in Db2 Design Studio