Alternatives to Oracle Apex

Oracle Application Express (Apex) is a great tool for DBAs to quicky bang up a web application based around an Oracle database and using PL/SQL. One of the limitations in a multi-vendor database environment is it doesn't play well with other databases. There are workarounds - such as taking feeds or exporting feeds , and then using Apex to report. I've been looking at a few alternatives to Oracle Apex. I know that some people will come back with Ruby on Rails - but thinking other options. A few I've looked at recently. If you have been working with alternatives... Read more →

Notes on DB2 LUW archive log and BACKUP command

Question: During a very high workload period on a DB2 LUW we are experiencing slower than expected archival logging . The archival logging method utilises a VENDOR library – which utilises deduplication. We are actively working with the vendor , but I’d like to explore the DB2 LUW configurations and maximise the resources on the host. Could you supply some notes and approaches to develop a plan? We’ve used different approaches to try and measure the throughput of copying the file from the active log path to the archival log path. One of those has been to use the archive... Read more →

How to redirect zip to another folder

Question: When attempting to use gzip on Linux and zip the file - I tried by going to another folder and completing the gzip command as normal. As an example: Move to another folder , the intended target for the zipped file Execute code as similar gzip /myfolder/file.txt I discovered it was gzip in the same folder as the source folder. Not zipping the file in the target folder. Is it possible to gzip and redirect to another folder? Answer: You need to use the -c switch So if you need to redirect the zip file to the intended target... Read more →

How to find the DB2 installation path using db2ls

Question: Is there a DB2 utility to find the DB2 installation path? The utility should also return installation date and other useful information. I need this utility to run on Linux. Answer: From DB2 9.5 , the db2ls command is available. On a typical installation of a DB2 server, a symbolic link is added to the /usr/local/bin path. A different resultset returns, depending on the installation. If you execute db2ls as root, only root installations are returned. If you execute as a non-root , the recordset includes DB2 installations by root and the DB2 installations completed by the id. The... Read more →

How to get the DB2 database connection count

How do I get DB2 connection count ?I need this information to supply a application restart workflow. Rather than just issuing a db2stop force, I want to send a response to the workflow program , which issues the message to the Operator. The Operator can decide on the a course of action. For example, there may be a backup in progress or an application may not have been shut down successfully. Answer: There are a number of methods provided by DB2 to supply the connection details. The decision on approach depends on specific requirements and tolerance for precision. In your... Read more →