Just a short note to promote my upcoming webinar, this Friday, May 30, 2008 at 10:30 AM CST. The webinar is titled Database Archiving Trends and Best Practices and it will cover a variety of trends and issues that are contributing to the growing requirement within enterprises to archive database data for long-term retention and preservation.
I'll touch on trends such as regulatory compliance issues, e-discovery, operational performance improvement, and retiring legacy applications. After examining the forces driving the need to archive database data, we'll look at the requirements for implementing database archiving appropriately, and walk thru an example using TITAN Archive.
If your databases are bursting at the seams, your organization is experiencing compliance-related troubles and/or lawsuits, or you need to figure out how to sunset an old database application or two, this presentation will provide guidance, advice, and a workable template for you to follow.
I hope you can find the time to attend!
News, views, and items of interest on IBM's Db2 database management system and mainframes.
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Monday, May 26, 2008
New IBM RedBook on Dimensional Modeling
Just a quick post today (Memorial Day in the USA) to inform you about a new IBM RedBook on dimensional modeling. If you are working with data warehousing applications, writing analytical queries, or in any way dealing with databases and dimensional models, this free RedBook is well worth downloading and reading.
It is titled Dimensional Modeling: In a Business Intelligence Environment. The book is not intended to be an academic treatise, but a practical guide for implementing dimensional models oriented specifically to business intelligence systems.
Particularly interesting are the case studies in Chapters 7 and 8 that walk you through BI implementations.
Download it today... and enjoy it at your leisure.
It is titled Dimensional Modeling: In a Business Intelligence Environment. The book is not intended to be an academic treatise, but a practical guide for implementing dimensional models oriented specifically to business intelligence systems.
Particularly interesting are the case studies in Chapters 7 and 8 that walk you through BI implementations.
Download it today... and enjoy it at your leisure.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Another IDUG in the Books
Well, here it is late in the day on May 22, 2008 and the IDUG North American conference is officially over. And, of course, it was another successful conference!
From the start of the festivities on Monday with the welcome address and keynote session (which can be downloaded here) to the traditional IBM panel and closing session today, IDUG offered consistently high quality education and unparalleled networking opportunities for DB2 professionals.
Usually I blog about the sessions I attend but this year I used Twitter instead to micro-blog the highlights of the sessions I attended right from the sessions using my Treo. I hope you followed my Twitter posts (Tweets, they're called). But even if you didn't it is not too late to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/craigmullins.
One thing I would like to mention, though, is that it looks like the Special Interest Groups are finally being taken seriously. Used to be that the SIGs were put on the schedule late in the day and almost nobody showed up. This year, there were more SIGs and they were scheduled at better times throughout the day - and people showed up for them... and participated. I very much enjoyed participating as a subject matter expert in the Changing Role of the DBA SIG, and I attended a couple other SIGs that were very worthwhile, too!
If you didn't get to the conference this year (or even if you did and missed a few sessions) IDUG will be making audio recordings from this year’s technical sessions available on the IDUG Online Learning Center in July 2008. Full-conference attendees get twelve complimentary downloads with their registration. If you did not attend, individual sessions can be downloaded for a nominal fee. You can check out the IDUG Online Learning Center here (again, that is where the session downloads will be).
And if you just want to voyeuristically take a look at what you missed, you can check out photos from this year's conference online at http://idug2008northamerica.site.shutterfly.com/.
Thanks for another great event, IDUG... and hopefully we'll see you next year in Denver, CO (May 11-15, 2009).
From the start of the festivities on Monday with the welcome address and keynote session (which can be downloaded here) to the traditional IBM panel and closing session today, IDUG offered consistently high quality education and unparalleled networking opportunities for DB2 professionals.
Usually I blog about the sessions I attend but this year I used Twitter instead to micro-blog the highlights of the sessions I attended right from the sessions using my Treo. I hope you followed my Twitter posts (Tweets, they're called). But even if you didn't it is not too late to follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/craigmullins.
One thing I would like to mention, though, is that it looks like the Special Interest Groups are finally being taken seriously. Used to be that the SIGs were put on the schedule late in the day and almost nobody showed up. This year, there were more SIGs and they were scheduled at better times throughout the day - and people showed up for them... and participated. I very much enjoyed participating as a subject matter expert in the Changing Role of the DBA SIG, and I attended a couple other SIGs that were very worthwhile, too!
If you didn't get to the conference this year (or even if you did and missed a few sessions) IDUG will be making audio recordings from this year’s technical sessions available on the IDUG Online Learning Center in July 2008. Full-conference attendees get twelve complimentary downloads with their registration. If you did not attend, individual sessions can be downloaded for a nominal fee. You can check out the IDUG Online Learning Center here (again, that is where the session downloads will be).
And if you just want to voyeuristically take a look at what you missed, you can check out photos from this year's conference online at http://idug2008northamerica.site.shutterfly.com/.
Thanks for another great event, IDUG... and hopefully we'll see you next year in Denver, CO (May 11-15, 2009).
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
After listening to John Dvorak (on Cranky Geeks) talk about Twitter I decided to try it out this week. And I quickly found some other DB2 folks out there twittering (Willie, Troy).
I put up Twitter feeds on my home page and here on my blog, too (it is over there on the right). I'm not sure if I'll stick with Twittering long-term, but I probably will - it is a bit addictive. If you want to try it out yourself, click on the follow me on Twitter link over on the right hand side of this page - or click here if you don't want to be bothered tracking it down over there!
I noticed, too, that Willie Favero will be twittering during the upcoming IDUG conference next week and since I can recognize a good idea when I hear/read/see one (good idea, Willie), I think I'll try it, too. So sign up on Twitter before next week if you want to virtually attend IDUG by following our twittering.
I put up Twitter feeds on my home page and here on my blog, too (it is over there on the right). I'm not sure if I'll stick with Twittering long-term, but I probably will - it is a bit addictive. If you want to try it out yourself, click on the follow me on Twitter link over on the right hand side of this page - or click here if you don't want to be bothered tracking it down over there!
I noticed, too, that Willie Favero will be twittering during the upcoming IDUG conference next week and since I can recognize a good idea when I hear/read/see one (good idea, Willie), I think I'll try it, too. So sign up on Twitter before next week if you want to virtually attend IDUG by following our twittering.
Monday, May 12, 2008
Database Archiving Trends and Best Practices Webinar
Just a quick blog entry today to promote my upcoming webinar on May 30, 2008 titled Database Archiving Trends and Best Practices.
A variety of trends and issues are contributing to the growing requirement within enterprises to archive database data for long-term retention and preservation. This webinar will review the trends driving database archiving, including regulatory compliance issues, e-discovery, operational performance improvement, and retiring legacy applications. After examining the driving forces for database archiving, we will walk through the basic steps required to implement best practices based database archiving practice.
If your databases are bursting at the seams, your organization is experiencing compliance-related troubles and/or lawsuits, or you need to figure out how to sunset an old database application or two, this presentation will provide guidance, advice, and a workable template for you to follow.
A variety of trends and issues are contributing to the growing requirement within enterprises to archive database data for long-term retention and preservation. This webinar will review the trends driving database archiving, including regulatory compliance issues, e-discovery, operational performance improvement, and retiring legacy applications. After examining the driving forces for database archiving, we will walk through the basic steps required to implement best practices based database archiving practice.
If your databases are bursting at the seams, your organization is experiencing compliance-related troubles and/or lawsuits, or you need to figure out how to sunset an old database application or two, this presentation will provide guidance, advice, and a workable template for you to follow.