IBM will ship next week the first major upgrade to its
DB2 Universal Database data management platform in nearly two
years, focusing on functional automation, advanced clustering, and
web services deployment.
Version 8.2 of the database, code-named Stinger, features
autonomic capabilities for self-managing and tuning, reducing the
time required for administration by as much as 65%, according to
the company.
IBM Learning Optimiser, which allows the database to learn from
past experiences and accelerates searches by uncovering the fastest
route to information, is featured as part of IBM's autonomic
efforts.
Another tool in the database, DB2 Design Advisor, automatically
designs and optimises databases. With the tool, query jobs in
Version 8.2 can be completed nearly seven times faster than if done
manually, the supplier said.
"It's a major release focusing on automation and cost savings,"
said Jeff Jones, IBM director of strategy for DB2 information
management software.
IBM's last release of DB2 Universal Database, Version 8.1,
shipped in November 2002.
The autonomic features will enable faster retrieval and
management of information such as customer history, product
pricing, and product availability. Additionally, automated
maintenance within the database performs administration and
maintenance such as table maintenance or data backups.
With Stinger, IBM is continuing its feature war with Oracle,
said analyst Donald Feinberg, vice-president at analyst firm
Gartner. "I think IBM with Stinger is making a great stride forward
with reducing the amount of database administration time."
For clustered environments, the new release offers Automatic
High-Availability Disaster Recovery, with automatic client reroute.
"It provides automatic failover and rerouting of applications to a
backup DB2 [database] in the event of a problem with the primary,
so this is an automated way to keep systems up and running," Jones
said.
When used with the Tivoli system automation platform and Linux
OS, DB2 will transfer information to a backup server within 20
seconds of the initial system shutting down. The database also
supports clustering on 1,000 nodes.
Web services functionality enabling the database to act as a web
services consumer and provider is incorporated into the database,
although it must be supplemented with IBM's WebSphere application
server.
Users can, for example, utilise the web services capabilities
for applications such as comparative shopping. Scaling and
performance improvements in Version 8.2, meanwhile, make it easier
to build data grids, Jones said.
A new DB2 Geodetic Extender allows for easier building of
spatially enabled applications for land management, asset
management, or businesses processes that have geographical data
requirements.
IBM with Version 8.2 is maintaining the same prices as the prior
release, Jones said. The DB2 Express product, for small workgroups
or small- to medium-sized businesses, starts at $500 (£280) while
the DB2 Enterprise edition, for thousands of users, costs $25,000
(£14,000) per processor.
The database runs on Windows, Unix and Linux operating
systems.
Paul Krill writes for Infoworld