InfoSphere Data Replication for DB2 for z/OS and WebSphere Message Queue for z/OS: Performance Lessons


Book Description

Understanding the impact of workload and database characteristics on the performance of both DB2®, MQ, and the replication process is useful for achieving optimal performance.Although existing applications cannot generally be modified, this knowledge is essential for properly tuning MQ and Q Replication and for developing best practices for future application development and database design. It also helps with estimating performance objectives that take these considerations into account. Performance metrics, such as rows per second, are useful but imperfect. How large is a row? It is intuitively, and correctly, obvious that replicating small DB2 rows, such as 100 bytes long, takes fewer resources and is more efficient than replicating DB2 rows that are tens of thousand bytes long. Larger rows create more work in each component of the replication process. The more bytes there are to read from the DB2 log, makes more bytes to transmit over the network and to update in DB2 at the target. Now, how complex is the table definition? Does DB2 have to maintain several unique indexes each time a row is changed in that table? The same argument applies to transaction size: committing each row change to DB2 as opposed to committing, say, every 500 rows also means more work in each component along the replication process. This RedpaperTM reports results and lessons learned from performance testing at the IBM® laboratories, and it provides configuration and tuning recommendations for DB2, Q Replication, and MQ. The application workload and database characteristics studied include transaction size, table schema complexity, and DB2 data type.




End-to-End High Availability Solution for System z from a Linux Perspective


Book Description

As Linux on System z becomes more prevalent and mainstream in the industry, the need for it to deliver higher levels of availability is increasing. This IBM Redbooks publication starts with an explanation of high availability (HA) fundamentals such as HA concepts and terminology. It continues with a discussion of why a business needs to consider an HA solution and then explains how to determine your business single points of failure. We outline the components of a high availability solution and describe these components. Then we provide some architectural scenarios and demonstrate how to plan and decide an implementation of an end-to-end HA solution, from Linux on System z database scenarios to z/OS, and include storage, network, z/VM, Linux, and middleware. This implementation includes the IBM Tivoli System Automation for Multiplatforms (TSA MP), which monitors and automates applications distributed across Linux, AIX®, and z/OS® operating systems, as well as a GDPS based solution. It includes the planning for an end-to-end scenario, considering Linux on System z, z/VM, and z/OS operating environments, and the middleware used. The TSA MP implements HA for infrastructure, network, operating systems, and applications across multiple platforms and is compared to a Linux HA implementation based on open source Linux-HA, which is Linux only.




The Value of Active-Active Sites with Q Replication for IBM DB2 for z/OS An Innovative IBM Client's Experience


Book Description

Any business interruption is a potential loss of revenue. Achieving business continuity involves a tradeoff between the cost of an outage or data loss with the investment required for achieving the recovery point objective (RPO) and recovery time objective (RTO). Continuous system availability requires scalability, as well as failover capability for maintenance, outages, and disasters. It also requires a shift from standby to active-active systems. Active-active sites are geographically distant transaction processing centers, each with the infrastructure to run business operations and with data synchronized by using database replication, such as the Q Replication technology that is part of IBM® InfoSphere® Data Replication software. This IBM Redbooks® publication describes preferred practices and introduces an architecture for continuous availability and disaster recovery that is used by a very large business institution that runs its core business on IBM DB2® for z/OS® databases. This paper explains the technologies and procedures that are required for the implementation of an active-active sites architecture. It also explains an innovative procedure for major IT upgrades that uses Q Replication for DB2 on z/OS, Multi-site Workload Lifeline, and Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy/Extended Distance (PPRC-XD). This paper is of value to decision makers, such as executive and IT architects, and to database administrators who are responsible for design and implementation of the solution.




Understanding and Using Q Replication for High Availability Solutions on the IBM z/OS Platform


Book Description

With ever-increasing workloads on production systems from transaction, batch, online query and reporting applications, the challenges of high availability and workload balancing are more important than ever. This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides descriptions and scenarios for high availability solutions using the Q Replication technology of the IBM InfoSphere® Data Replication product on the IBM z/OS® platform. Also included are key considerations for designing, implementing, and managing solutions for the typical business scenarios that rely on Q Replication for their high availability solution. This publication also includes sections on latency analysis, managing Q Replication in the IBM DB2® for z/OS environment, and recovery procedures. These are topics of particular interest to clients who implement the Q Replication solution on the z/OS platform. Q Replication is a high-volume, low-latency replication solution that uses IBM WebSphere® MQ message queues to replicate transactions between source and target databases or subsystems. A major business benefit of the low latency and high throughput solution is timely availability of the data where the data is needed. High availability solutions are implemented to minimize the impact of planned and unplanned disruptions of service to the applications. Disruption of service can be caused by software maintenance and upgrades or by software and hardware outages. As applications' high availability requirements evolve towards continuous availability, that is availability of the data 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so does the Q Replication solution, to meet these challenges. If you are interested in the Q Replication solution and how it can be used to implement some of the high availability requirements of your business scenarios, this book is for you.




WebSphere Replication Server for Z/OS Using Q Replication


Book Description

This IBM Redbooks publication provides detailed instructions and scripts for managing failover and switchback in a WebSphere Replication Server for z/OS bidirectional Q replication environment for the z/OS platform. A typical business scenario is used to showcase the bidirectional failover/switchback implementation. This book also includes a WebSphere MQ shared disk and WebSphere MQ shared queue high availability scenario for the source system in a Q replication environment involving unidirectional replication. Key considerations in designing and implementing such environments are discussed. This book is aimed at an audience of IT architects and database administrators (DBAs) responsible for developing high-availability solutions on the z/OS platform. Please note that the additional material referenced in the text is not available from IBM.




Understanding and Using Q Replication for High Availability Solutions on the IBM Z/OS Platform


Book Description

With ever-increasing workloads on production systems from transaction, batch, online query and reporting applications, the challenges of high availability and workload balancing are more important than ever. This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides descriptions and scenarios for high availability solutions using the Q Replication technology of the IBM InfoSphere® Data Replication product on the IBM z/OS® platform. Also included are key considerations for designing, implementing, and managing solutions for the typical business scenarios that rely on Q Replication for their high availability solution. This publication also includes sections on latency analysis, managing Q Replication in the IBM DB2® for z/OS environment, and recovery procedures. These are topics of particular interest to clients who implement the Q Replication solution on the z/OS platform. Q Replication is a high-volume, low-latency replication solution that uses IBM WebSphere® MQ message queues to replicate transactions between source and target databases or subsystems. A major business benefit of the low latency and high throughput solution is timely availability of the data where the data is needed. High availability solutions are implemented to minimize the impact of planned and unplanned disruptions of service to the applications. Disruption of service can be caused by software maintenance and upgrades or by software and hardware outages. As applications' high availability requirements evolve towards continuous availability, that is availability of the data 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, so does the Q Replication solution, to meet these challenges. If you are interested in the Q Replication solution and how it can be used to implement some of the high availability requirements of your business scenarios, this book is for you.




DB2 for z/OS and WebSphere Integration for Enterprise Java Applications


Book Description

IBM DB2® for z/OS® is a high-performance database management system (DBMS) with a strong reputation in traditional high-volume transaction workloads that are based on relational technology. IBM WebSphere® Application Server is web application server software that runs on most platforms with a web server and is used to deploy, integrate, execute, and manage Java Platform, Enterprise Edition applications. In this IBM® Redbooks® publication, we describe the application architecture evolution focusing on the value of having DB2 for z/OS as the data server and IBM z/OS® as the platform for traditional and for modern applications. This book provides background technical information about DB2 and WebSphere features and demonstrates their applicability presenting a scenario about configuring WebSphere Version 8.5 on z/OS and type 2 and type 4 connectivity (including the XA transaction support) for accessing a DB2 for z/OS database server taking into account high-availability requirements. We also provide considerations about developing applications, monitoring performance, and documenting issues. DB2 database administrators, WebSphere specialists, and Java application developers will appreciate the holistic approach of this document.




IBM Integrated Synchronization: Incremental Updates Unleashed


Book Description

The IBM® Db2® Analytics Accelerator (Accelerator) is a logical extension of Db2 for IBM z/OS® that provides a high-speed query engine that efficiently and cost-effectively runs analytics workloads. The Accelerator is an integrated back-end component of Db2 for z/OS. Together, they provide a hybrid workload-optimized database management system that seamlessly manages queries that are found in transactional workloads to Db2 for z/OS and queries that are found in analytics applications to Accelerator. Each query runs in its optimal environment for maximum speed and cost efficiency. The incremental update function of Db2 Analytics Accelerator for z/OS updates Accelerator-shadow tables continually. Changes to the data in original Db2 for z/OS tables are propagated to the corresponding target tables with a high frequency and a brief delay. Query results from Accelerator are always extracted from recent, close-to-real-time data. An incremental update capability that is called IBM InfoSphere® Change Data Capture (InfoSphere CDC) is provided by IBM InfoSphere Data Replication for z/OS up to Db2 Analytics Accelerator V7.5. Since then, an extra new replication protocol between Db2 for z/OS and Accelerator that is called IBM Integrated Synchronization was introduced. With Db2 Analytics Accelerator V7.5, customers can choose which one to use. IBM Integrated Synchronization is a built-in product feature that you use to set up incremental updates. It does not require InfoSphere CDC, which is bundled with IBM Db2 Analytics Accelerator. In addition, IBM Integrated Synchronization has more advantages: Simplified administration, packaging, upgrades, and support. These items are managed as part of the Db2 for z/OS maintenance stream. Updates are processed quickly. Reduced CPU consumption on the mainframe due to a streamlined, optimized design where most of the processing is done on the Accelerator. This situation provides reduced latency. Uses IBM Z® Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) on Db2 for z/OS, which leads to reduced CPU costs on IBM Z and better overall performance data, such as throughput and synchronized rows per second. On z/OS, the workload to capture the table changes was reduced, and the remainder can be handled by zIIPs. With the introduction of an enterprise-grade Hybrid Transactional Analytics Processing (HTAP) enabler that is also known as the Wait for Data protocol, the integrated low latency protocol is now enabled to support more analytical queries running against the latest committed data. IBM Db2 for z/OS Data Gate simplifies delivering data from IBM Db2 for z/OS to IBM Cloud® Pak® for Data for direct access by new applications. It uses the special-purpose integrated synchronization protocol to maintain data currency with low latency between Db2 for z/OS and dedicated target databases on IBM Cloud Pak for Data.




DB2 12 for z Optimizer


Book Description

There has been a considerable focus on performance improvements as one of the main themes in recent IBM DB2® releases, and DB2 12 for IBM z/OS® is certainly no exception. With the high-value data retained on DB2 for z/OS and the z Systems platform, customers are increasingly attempting to extract value from that data for competitive advantage. Although customers have historically moved data off platform to gain insight, the landscape has changed significantly and allowed z Systems to again converge operational systems with analytics for real-time insight. Business-critical analytics is now requiring the same levels of service as expected for operational systems, and real-time or near real-time currency of data is expected. Hence the resurgence of z Systems. As a precursor to this shift, IDAA brought the data warehouse back to DB2 for z/OS and, with its tight integration with DB2, significantly reduces data latency as compared to the ETL processing that is involved with moving data to a stand-alone data warehouse environment. That change has opened up new opportunities for operational systems to extend the breadth of analytics processing without affecting the mission-critical system and integrating near real-time analytics within that system, all while maintaining the same z Systems qualities of service. Apache Spark on z/OS and Linux for System z also allow analytics in-place, in real-time or near real-time. Enabling Spark natively on z Systems reduces the security risk of multiple copies of the Enterprise data, while providing an application developer-friendly platform for faster insight in a simplified and more secure analytics framework. How is all of this relevant to DB2 for z/OS? Given that z Systems is proving again to be the core Enterprise Hybrid Transactional/Analytical Processing (HTAP) system, it is critical that DB2 for z/OS can handle its traditional transactional applications and address the requirements for analytics processing that might not be candidates for these rapidly evolving targeted analytics systems. And not only are there opportunities for DB2 for z/OS to play an increasing role in analytics, the complexity of the transactional systems is increasing. Analytics is being integrated within the scope of those transactions. DB2 12 for z/OS has targeted performance to increase the success of new application deployments and integration of analytics to ensure that we keep pace with the rapid evolution of IDAA and Spark as equal partners in HTAP systems. This paper describes the enhancements delivered specifically by the query processing engine of DB2. This engine is generally called the optimizer or the Relational Data Services (RDS) components, which encompasses the query transformation, access path selection, run time, and parallelism. DB2 12 for z/OS also delivers improvements targeted at OLTP applications, which are the realm of the Data Manager, Index Manager, and Buffer Manager components (to name a few), and are not identified here. Although the performance measurement focus is based on reducing CPU, improvement in elapsed time is likely to be similarly achieved as CPU is reduced and performance constraints alleviated. However, elapsed time improvements can be achieved with parallelism, and DB2 12 does increase the percentage offload for parallel child tasks, which can further reduce chargeable CPU for analytics workloads.




Smarter Business: Dynamic Information with IBM InfoSphere Data Replication CDC


Book Description

To make better informed business decisions, better serve clients, and increase operational efficiencies, you must be aware of changes to key data as they occur. In addition, you must enable the immediate delivery of this information to the people and processes that need to act upon it. This ability to sense and respond to data changes is fundamental to dynamic warehousing, master data management, and many other key initiatives. A major challenge in providing this type of environment is determining how to tie all the independent systems together and process the immense data flow requirements. IBM® InfoSphere® Change Data Capture (InfoSphere CDC) can respond to that challenge, providing programming-free data integration, and eliminating redundant data transfer, to minimize the impact on production systems. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, we show you examples of how InfoSphere CDC can be used to implement integrated systems, to keep those systems updated immediately as changes occur, and to use your existing infrastructure and scale up as your workload grows. InfoSphere CDC can also enhance your investment in other software, such as IBM DataStage® and IBM QualityStage®, IBM InfoSphere Warehouse, and IBM InfoSphere Master Data Management Server, enabling real-time and event-driven processes. Enable the integration of your critical data and make it immediately available as your business needs it.