DASD MANAGER PLUS for DB2®

DASD MANAGER PLUS for DB2® - Data Sheet

DASD MANAGER PLUS for DB2^®

MAXM^® by BMC Software

Key benefits

Collects a comprehensive set of DB2 statistics, including historical data and correlated column statistics
Saves time and system resources and increases DBA productivity by using triggers to automate maintenance
Provides detailed information with its customizable new reporting capabilities
Improves ability to increase and maintain DB2 DASD efficiency
Assists users of enterprise resource planning (ERP) applications by enabling specification of all objects with the same creator name and running BMCSTATS against them

Business challenge

You have two choices for scheduling maintenance: To do it whether the object needs it or not, or to determine which object needs maintenance.

If CPU cycles abound, the first option has many benefits. But if your batch maintenance windows are shrinking, you have to prioritize maintenance activities carefully.

If you are going to perform maintenance based on determining which objects need maintenance, you have to gather and analyze usage statistics. The more that information is analyzed and available, the more accurate your decisions will be.

While DB2 provides statistics collection mechanisms, it has no capability to report, keep historical values or trend information – all of which are required to make accurate decisions.

The DASD MANAGER PLUS product from BMC Software pinpoints and automates optimal DB2 maintenance. Its powerful new reporting capability guides you to the statistics needed for space utilization management, including data necessary for I/O related performance optimization. And with DASD MANAGER PLUS you can automate the process of utility setup and execution through triggers.

Accurate and complete statistics

Statistics must be gathered quickly and accurately in order to answer the questions what objects need maintenance and which tasks need to be executed. In addition, information related to historical trending is needed to answer questions about capacity planning and space management. DASD MANAGER PLUS collects more statistics than RUNSTATS and STOSPACE combined, gathering and storing statistical information and providing historical trending information. This collection of historical data gives you more insight than the current statistics available in the DB2 catalog.

Triggers to automate maintenance

Changing the space allocation of the TABLESPACES and INDEXSPACES that need maintenance is one of the biggest challenges of working with DB2. Manually building the jobs for every object that needs to be maintained is a very time-consuming and error-prone process, with the result being inefficient utilization of DASD resources and a negative impact on the performance of dependent applications. Included in DASD MANAGER PLUS is a triggering utility, BMCTRIG, to automatically generate the jobstreams that will perform any of the required maintenance activities identified. This can transform a manual, error-prone procedure into an automated, reviewable function, with the chance of errors virtually eliminated. This will enable your productivity to soar.

With DASD MANAGER PLUS, you determine when to perform maintenance. Complete jobstreams can automatically be generated, and thresholds can be established, for performing maintenance activities when they really need to be performed, rather than doing these tasks at scheduled time intervals – whether they need it or not. This can save significant CPU resources and, since maintenance windows continue to shrink, you will still be able to perform the necessary maintenance in the available time frames.

Using DASD MANAGER PLUS, you can also create and maintain utility jobstreams to dynamically and automatically generate the complete jobstreams that will perform all the required maintenance, thereby eliminating unnecessary maintenance activity. DASD MANAGER PLUS can build and rebuild the utility jobs as the DB2 objects requiring maintenance change or as maintenance functions change. This automates the process for handling new objects, so no manual notification is necessary. This can be especially helpful in ERP environments and when the DB2 utilities are upgraded. DASD MANAGER PLUS enables the availability of DB2 objects by automatically detecting new objects or problems, and correcting them.

Detailed information

Without a mechanism for helping you determine which maintenance actions to take, you must write your own SQL against available catalog statistics. DASD MANAGER PLUS provides you with comprehensive reports you can use as a quick and accurate guide to detailed information. That way, regardless of how you approach your maintenance tasks, it will help you solve administration of those tasks. DASD MANAGER PLUS provides reports that assist you in performing DB2 functions such as resizing space allocations, generating and executing utilities, and maintaining object definitions to ensure peak performance.

BMC Software's Database Administrative Solutions

BMC software's database administrative solutions for DB2 for S/390 deliver effective and timely management of the increasingly complex DB2 environment. Products address every aspect of database administration providing components to help manage, control, monitor, optimize, and predict.

CATALOG MANAGER is an ISPF menu-based navigation tool for the DB2 catalog that facilitates the day-to-day tasks of the DB2 DBA. These tasks include catalog reporting, utility generation, SQL execution, editing data in tables, DB2 command execution, and audit logging.

CHANGE MANAGER for DB2 is a database administration tool that increases your data's availability and integrity. CHANGE MANAGER provides an effective and safe change management solution for your DB2 objects across multiple DB2 subsystems.

BMC Software is committed to providing intelligent database administration solutions that make it easier for customers to optimize and manage a DB2 environment running on S/390.