Product Description

Marketshare for DB2 has been growing steadily over the past 5 years and with the announcement of DB2 Universal Database V8 (T-Rex), the product has never had more momentum. DB2 owns about 30 percent of the database market--the same as Oracle. Not only is the product used in many Fortune 500 companies, but it is becoming very popular in small to medium sized businesses as well. This book provides the reader with a comprehensive reference and research tool for DB2 for the mainframe. Official material is awkwardly written, spans over a dozen manuals in PDF format, and lacks real-world guidance. Author, Craig Mullins, consistently hears from readers of past editions that they rely on this book as their primary reference for DB2. Craig Mullins is constantly being asked when it will support a new release. "This is an excellent book . . . It is chock full of DB2 technical information, design and tuning approaches and database administration guidelines . . .Mullins seems to have dumped his entire DB2 life experience into DB2 Developer's Guide."- Jonathon Sayles in Relational Database Journal.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #466153 in Books
• Published on: 2004-05-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 1512 pages

Review
DB2 performance techniques for applications programs! This book explains the development environments of DB2. "Includes many tips and experience-based techniques. Discusses encoding efficient SQL, monitoring, and tuning DB2 performance". Covers Version 2.3. -- Sams Pub.

From the Back Cover
DB2 Developers Guide, Third Edition is a comprehensive guide to DB2 for Developers and Administartors. It serves as the blueprint for implementing optimized DB2 application systems. The book shows readers how to: Build high-performance DB2 application systems, Administer and support large DB2 databases, Create an optimal organization, for supporting and using DB2, Proactively monitor and tune, DB2 subsystems and programs. This edition is completely updated to include the following topics: Latest versions of DB2 on MVS and Versions 4 and 5, Using stored procedures, Outer joins, Data sharing, Sysplex, Check constraints, Enhanced utilities, Temporary tables, Dynamic SQL security enhancements, Accessing DB2 via the World Wide Web, ODBC, CICS, TSO, IMS, and the Call Attach Facility.

About the Author

Craig S. Mullins is Director of DB2 Technology Planning for BMC Software, Inc. He has extensive experience in all facets of database systems development, including systems analysis and design, database and system administration, data analysis, and developing and teaching DB2 and Sybase classes. Craig is a regular lecturer at industry conferences and also frequently writes for computer industry publications.

Customer Reviews

DB2 Developer's Guide - 4th Edition
Being a mainframe DB2 DBA for IBM Global Services, I found this book useful but not the "Bible" that some have branded it. It covers a wide array of topics relating to mainframe DB2. As some have indicated this is not a text for the UNIX or WINDOWS environment. It is exclusively for OS/390. It is a great starting point for someone looking to gain an overall knowledge of how DB2 works in that environment. But, here again, a text short on depth in many areas. But, in defense of any author trying to put together a text on DB2, there are just too many areas of depth that would have to be covered. I would like to see a text that covers typical knowledge areas and scenarios that a DB2 DBA would encounter on a daily basis and give solutions on the problem. A text that could be used as a training manual for people who want to become a certified DB2 DBA. Still, if you are looking for the one book you should have to begin with, this is the best one so far.

Index is Sorely Limited
I am an experienced COBOL and DB2 programmer and purchased this book to use as a reference. It does cover a lot of material and co-workers use it frequently as a source for answers to in depth questions not available in other references. There is a lot of good stuff in this book.

However, I find it extremely difficult to use as a reference because the index seldom contains an entry relevant to my question. There is a LOT of information in this book and the index could stand to be several times larger in order to successfully direct you to that information. Unless you already know what you're looking for, chances are slim that you will find it in the index.

For example, I found a parameter in a SELECT statement "WITH UR" and needed to know what it meant. There was no entry under "WITH" nor "UR". There was nothing about this parm in the index under "SELECT" either. I had to go to the online IBM manuals to find out that "UR" is an isolation level and was then able to go back to the "DB2 Developer's Guide" index to find the information that I needed indexed under "isolation level".

My experience is almost exactly the same every time that I try to use this book. Again - there's a lot of info and I like the book when I do find what I want, but it be warned that you may also have difficulty using the book as a reference.

What a winner!
This is the first time I have used any of Craig S. Mullins's books. I found it to be indispensible for those who wish to have a clear and readable companion to help them with their understanding of DB2 UDB for OS/390. Although IBM's manuals online are essential for the minute details, this book helps simplify matters so that you can apply the required jobs, utilities, names and so on in a coherent and safe way. It probably means thatyou have the equivalent of 2 years or more DBA experience just by keeping it on your desk. As a mainframe programmer, I have found that it has enabled me to support DB2 Databases with an expertise which would have taken me a number of years to acquire without Mr Mullins's help. I must thank him for giving me a big boost to my career.