DB/IQ Package Management
DB/IQ Package Management (PackMan) is an advanced solution designed to optimise and streamline Db2 catalogue management. In DevOps environments where deployment cycles are getting faster and faster, Db2 packages accumulate over the course of versions and tests, cluttering the catalogue and impacting the performance of backups, reorganisations and SQL executions.
PackMan acts as an intelligent manager of the Db2 catalogue, identifying and removing obsolete or redundant packages. It provides proactive maintenance by reorganising metadata, thus guaranteeing faster access to data and optimisation of system resources.
The key features of DB/IQ PackMan:
- Clean up the Db2 catalogue by removing unnecessary packages, an essential step in implementing effective change management in a DevOps environment.
- Facilitate the work of DBAs by providing them with tools to generate tasks quickly and maintain a structured and efficient Db2 catalogue.
- Prevent -805/-818 errors by detecting inconsistencies between DBRMs, corresponding packages and load modules, thus guaranteeing the integrity of SQL executions.
- Secure deployments in production by identifying upstream any anomaly that could compromise the BIND process.
- Optimise EXPLAIN tables by keeping them to the bare minimum necessary for effective performance analysis.
- Reduce BIND times, thus improving the responsiveness of application deployments.
- Restore missing DBRMs by recreating DBRM members or libraries from the catalogue packages.
- Avoid unnecessary BINDs by comparing successive versions of DBRMs and only launching the operation if necessary.
What problem is it solving ?
Each time a program is compiled, the developer generates a Db2 PACKAGE as well as a catalog entry for every SQL statement. Over time, if these packages are not regularly cleaned up, the size of the Db2 catalog grows significantly.
As a result, administrative operations become more expensive and slower. The system takes longer to:
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perform backups,
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run REORG utilities,
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and, more generally, certain maintenance tasks may experience performance degradation.
Failing to clean up packages comes at a cost:
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additional storage consumption,
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increased CPU and disk I/O usage for Db2 catalog maintenance (backup, REORG),
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slower BIND operations.
The Solution: DB/IQ PM – PackMan
PM (PackMan) utilities help you use your resources more efficiently by identifying and safely removing:
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unused PACKAGES,
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obsolete data in EXPLAIN tables.
DB/IQ PM enables efficient and secure cleanup of the Db2 catalog, as well as the removal of unnecessary EXPLAIN data.
Key point: these tasks cannot be performed properly manually, nor with basic tooling. The complexity and interdependencies of packages make reliable cleanup far too risky without a dedicated solution.
