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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Systems/Enterprise:
IBM CREATES BUZZ WITH 'STINGER'
IBM announced new software designed to help customers simplify and automate
many of the tasks associated with maintaining database management systems. As
a result, organizations can slash development time when building
next-generation applications, increase efficiencies and focus more on aligning
their technology to support strategic business initiatives.
With the announcement, IBM is delivering the open beta of the next version of
its DB2 Universal Database, code-named "Stinger." The new software delivers
200 new features that ease database administration, broaden support for
popular application development environments and boost system performance.
Highlights of the news include the following features:
Breakthrough autonomic computing features for automatically deploying,
configuring, maintaining and optimizing DB2 on the fly. This will make it
possible for database administrators (DBAs) to complete complex jobs 6.5 times
faster than if done manually. Support for three-dimensional geospatial data that is "location" and
"time-and-space" aware that enables customers in industries such as
government, defense and transportation to build next-generation spatial
applications. Restaurant chains or retailers, which sometimes use spatial data
to identify new business opportunities, can also benefit from the new
technology. Extension of IBM's Linux clustering leadership with new features that
automatically partition and optimize large databases on many servers in just a
few minutes instead of hours.
Ease Of Use
Building on IBM's momentum and experience in helping customers reduce the
complexity of maintaining database systems, IBM is delivering breakthrough
autonomic computing features designed to simplify, automate or even eliminate
many tasks traditionally associated with maintaining enterprise-class database
systems.
Benefits of the autonomic features in Stinger animate a trend identified by
META Group in two recent reports, which state that autonomic databases can
reduce the labor-intensive, mundane tasks traditionally performed by DBAs,
such as problem solving, monitoring and tuning, by 80 percent. Therefore,
self-managing databases can and should enable DBAs to focus on more strategic
activities, such as data analysis, Web Services, integration, information
lifecycle management and aligning technology to support business goals.
Autonomic computing is just of many technologies that fall under the umbrella
of Grid computing. Gt'04 -- a premiere enterprise Grid computing conference
targeting industrial and commercial users -- will gather experts, and outline
strategies and road maps for Grid deployment. The event will take place May
24-26 in Philadelphia. For more information, visit www.gt04.com.
With today's announcement, involvement by a database administrator is no
longer required to periodically refresh DB2's understanding of the data it is
managing. DB2 now learns about changes in the data organization and adjusts
its optimization strategies accordingly. Competing databases do not offer this
level of sophistication and automation; they force DBAs to constantly tell the
database how to optimize queries.
To that end, IBM is introducing DB2 Design Advisor that automatically
maintains, configures, deploys and optimizes the database -- making it
possible to complete jobs 6.5 times faster than if done manually. Design
Advisor also tunes the database on demand as the workload fluctuates,
automating any changes to the database structure, as well as backups and
restores. The DB2 Design Advisor also suggests to DBAs how complex queries can
be accelerated, providing the shortest path to the requested information. It
does this by learning from the performance of previous information searches,
and by collecting, pre-computing and keeping commonly used information at the
ready.
Stinger is also the first deployment of new query optimization technology from
IBM's LEO (learning optimizer) research and development project. LEO is the
next generation of IBM's query optimizer technology, in which the database
automates, simplifies and accelerates queries without human intervention. With
LEO, DB2 will now automatically and continually update query statistics about
how the database is being used, where it keeps information and how it is
performing. As a result, DB2 now automatically creates and executes better
plans for accessing data without prompting the DBA to take action.
Additionally, IBM is introducing Autonomic Object Maintenance. This new
feature automatically performs administration and maintenance functions, such
as table adjustments or data back-ups. For example, a DBA specifies what time
the database should do its maintenance, the database then considers its
workload with the DBA's time suggestion, and automatically performs its
maintenance tasks.
These autonomic features are unique to DB2, and are also offered in the
Express edition of Stinger, which IBM is also introducing for the midmarket.
These features are ideal for businesses of all sizes, but particularly for
small and medium-sized businesses. These companies often have small IT staffs
and limited technical understanding, and normally spend 65 percent of their
time just administering and maintaining the database, according to IBM
estimates.
Accelerating Application Development
In support of creating next-generation geospatial applications, Stinger
customers will have access to the new DB2 Geodetic Extender. It treats the
Earth like a globe, not a flat map, and understands the International Date
Line and global time zones. As a result, companies can more easily build
powerful and accurate geospatial applications for land management, asset
management or business development applications that rely on geographical,
physical and time-based data requirements.
DB2 provides the broadest platform support in the industry. By tapping
existing in-house skills, developers can lower costs and bring DB2-based
solutions to market faster. Stinger will continue that support by delivering
new tools that take advantage of the latest application development features
of Java / Eclipse and Microsoft .NET (available to DB2 users even before
Microsoft SQL Server customers). For example, Stinger includes SQL
enhancements such as the ability to write stored procedures using .NET
languages such as Visual Basic .NET and C#. This capability enables developers
to write their applications in the same programming language from start to
finish.
Also of interest to developers is support by Stinger for larger SQL statement
sizes, up from 64KB to 2MB, commonly demanded by third-party applications
today. This will make it faster and easier for Partners' complex applications
to pose queries to the database.
Finally, Stinger will provide enhanced support for Services Oriented
Architecture (SOA), where Web Services will be even more secure, flexible and
integrated into the database.
Increased Productivity
In an on-demand business environment, access to information at all times, from
anywhere, is crucial. The flow of information needs to be automatic and
reliable.
To that end, Stinger is delivering DB2 Client Reroute, a mechanism for keeping
users up and running if there is scheduled maintenance performed on the
database, or if a database server physically fails. Client Reroute invisibly
switches users over to a mirrored database without any disruption. DB2 will
also take advantage of IBM Tivoli Intelligent ThinkDynamic Orchestrator, which
can automatically allocate more processor space and power on demand, based on
spikes in database usage.
Particularly of benefit to mobile employees, Stinger will include DB2
Everyplace, which extends access to enterprise data to
"occasionally-connected" users on mobile, wireless and handheld devices. This
provides the ability for customers to conduct real business transactions
anytime and anywhere in the world. DB2 Everyplace gives mobile workers the
ability to query, retrieve and modify information from DB2 and databases from
Oracle and Microsoft. Everyplace includes autonomic features such as
optimization of unused database space, guaranteed data delivery and an
automatic-resume feature if disconnected from a network.
Low-Cost, High-Scaling Linux Clusters
IBM is extending its Linux leadership by supporting the new Version 2.6 of the
Linux kernel, which will help IBM's database clusters scale higher and perform
faster than before. Support for the new kernel better exploits the speed of
64-bit-ready databases, such as DB2, and enables Linux databases to take
better advantage of servers that use multiple processors.
These multiprocessor servers can be clustered with one another to create
powerful Linux clusters, as with DB2 ICE. DB2 is the most scalable database on
Linux today, offering clusters ranging from two to 1,000 servers and which can
be deployed at a rate of four nodes per hour (clusters from other database
vendors are highly proprietary, and can only scale out to between eight and 16
nodes). Assisting with this rapid deployment is the new DB2 Design Advisor,
which automatically partitions and optimizes large databases on many servers
in just a few minutes. No other vendor has this capability built into the
database. Previously, administrators might choose to spend hours fine-tuning
the performance.
Stinger will also support the 64-bit performance of IBM's POWER processors,
which lie at the heart of eServer BladeCenter and eServer pSeries and iSeries.
DB2 has long supported blade servers -- rack-mounted servers expressly
designed for clustering. DB2 now supports all four of IBM's server platforms
running Linux, as well as other servers built on Intel and AMD 64-bit
processors.
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