Obtaining optimal performance from your DB2 LUW applications requires that you not only ensure your SQL is written efficiently and is properly tuned, but one must be sure that the DB2 instance itself is properly tuned. Too many people make the mistake of focusing all their efforts on tuning SQL and do not take a look at the big picture. Think of your DB2 installation as an ecosystem, where memory, physical design, and SQL transactions all work in conjunction with each other, and all can have a direct impact on performance. No doubt that proper SQL coding is probably the most critical factor when it comes to performance, but it is very important to understand that the best written SQL statement will not perform properly if there are inadequate memory allocations, or a poor physical database design. Monitoring and tuning a DB2 instance requires time and skill. Many LUW installations may not have the expertise to optimally tune their environments. 

 

One of the unique differentiators between DB2 and other relational databases is IBM’s implementation of the concept of autonomic tuning and self tuning memory and automated maintenance. With these features the database is becoming much more hands off making the database much more reliable and freeing up DBAs time for other tasks.

 

This automation is broken up into different categories:

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will be discussing each of these different categories in more depth so stay tuned!