Book Review: DB2 11: The Ultimate Database for Cloud, Analytics, and Mobile

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This book covers all the new features and enhancements, discusses migration options, provides customer experience case studies, and much more.

Written by Prasad Mani

DB2 11 is a new version from the IBM DB2 z/OS family that is clearly targeted toward today's business needs, driven by an increasing need to optimize existing systems and processes in addition to an ever-increasing data volume and its utilization in cloud, analytics, and mobile platforms. One of the primary reasons that this book is a must-read for anyone using DB2—from developers to DBAs, application designers, architects, and managers—is its simplicity and the fact that it covers key items we all need to know about DB2 11.

The introduction from Surekha Parekh clearly lays out the top 10 reasons users must upgrade to DB2 11 and justifies the case for DB2 11 by giving us a large collection of feedback from customers who have already upgraded to DB2 11.

The technical overview covers all the new features and performance enhancements offered in DB2 11. The content is structured nicely, starting with a summary and then covering all the performance improvements in detail. Things that I found very interesting and especially useful for the readers are the details about enhancements that are directly tied to operating system z/OS 2.1, a discussion of the workloads off-loadable to zIIP engines, and information about features that we can leverage in zEC12 for significant performance improvements. Also the coverage on DB2 11 integration with the IBM BigInsights platform for big data and mobile features—including JSON support—will be helpful for the readers.

Any discussion about a new version of a database is accompanied by questions and concerns regarding how to execute a successful DB2 11 migration. The DB2 11 migration plan and customer experiences shared in this book offer a detailed explanation on the various migration options available.

If you would like to get an easy-to-understand description of the extended relative byte address (RBA) and log record sequence number (LRSN), this book is a good read. Also IBM has come up with a new capability in DB2 11 called Application Compatibility, which offers options to reduce the application changes that usually accompany a migration project. Lastly, the case studies give insight into customer experiences and explain how those customers were able leverage DB2 11.

John Campbell, Gareth Jones, Chris Cone, and Jay Yothers have done an outstanding job in sharing the DB2 11 migration planning information that serves as a very good starting point for migration projects.

I highly recommend this book to anyone seeking quick and precise information about DB2 11.

Disclaimer: The book review for DB2 11: The Ultimate Database for Cloud, Analytics, and Mobile presented above is solely my opinion and is based on my knowledge and experience from working on various database technologies, including DB2. It does not in any way reflect the opinions or positions of my employer or any of my clients.

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