CA Database Management for DB2 for zOS Reviews

RC/Query is vital. It is my window to the catalog and helps me find what I need quickly and efficiently. I am in that tool all day long. Detector is my go-to product when something goes wrong. Never trust what someone tells you has happened with their query; let Detector show you. Insight and Detector both provide valuable insight (pun intended) into what is really going on in your subsystem, and has been invaluable in both problem solving and performance and tuning tasks.

We use the Display Impact report in RC/Query as part of our database development life cycle process to make sure that we account for all items that might be affected by any particular change. We have used Detector in countless situations to pinpoint performance issues quickly. We have used Insight to identify the users of particular items and to identify hot spots on our systems. We have used Log Analyzer to recover data lost in errant production jobs. We use the DDL function of RC/Query to give us our baseline and backout text for all database changes. Those are just a few of the tasks that we use these tools for.

Sometimes I find that some of the tasks are not intuitive, such as using PF3 to continue with a screen progression rather than using PF3 to back out. I have had more difficulty navigating through CA’s documentation than with other vendors, although there have been improvements lately.

I have used these tools for over 12 years.

These tools have had their share of bugs. We are currently working through some issues right now. I suggest not being an early adopter of new releases.

There have not been scalability issues in my experience.

I don’t deal directly with CA tech support. We have other teams that do that. But from my experience, CA has been responsive on the issues I have seen.

I am not in a decision-making position and have not been involved in any switch other than from IBM’s QMF to CA Report Facility. That particular conversion was driven by the cost of the IBM’s QMF.

I don’t install the products.

I am not involved in pricing or licensing.

If you want your DBA and programming staff to be efficient and effective, I recommend these tools.

• The RC/Migrator: Migrates tables between systems
• The Detector and Subsystem Analyzer: Monitors the system

We have more control over our DB2 systems and can do our everyday DBA work faster and easier.

There are many good features that we don't use. It would be nice to have some video tutorials on YouTube.

Some examples of the features that we don't use are:

• How to use collection profiles in CA Detector, so as to reduce the amount of data in datastore.

• Best practices for using Thread Terminator.

• View and terminate SQL trace application.

• ISQL online SQL execution.

We have been using this solution for eighteen years.

Version 19 is very stable. We don't have any problems in production.

We did not have any issues with scalability.

The technical support is excellent! They answer very fast. The issue is usually solved the same day when it is opened.

The initial setup is complex. There are many parameters that you don't necessarily know what they mean. But once the product is running, you can easily migrate to new versions.

I was not involved in the pricing or licensing.

We evaluated the IBM DB2 Administration Tool and OMEGAMON.

It's a great tool. Take time to learn all the features that you need.

The feature that we find most useful is the consistent ability to create 'strategies’ across the products. These strategies allow consistent foundations for the business processes and provide the ability to repetitively use them by different resources. These 'strategies' allow the establishment of methods that fit directly into our business needs and prepare the DBAs how to best handle the situations.

The best example is the day-to-day performance monitoring with the CA Detector product.

By using CA Detector, we can see what is consuming the IBM DB2 resources. We can then analyze its specifics and address distinct actions, through the integration with the other products.

This has improved our overall business goals, because we were able to address the most impactful business processes, so as to mitigate their impact on the others.

The initial setup parameters are quite exhaustive and some parameters cross with the products.

Hence, getting the parameters set to meet our needs and then sync them across the products took significant time and effort.

We got the twelfth license with Platinum Technology, who originally created this product. We have had it in-house, since the late 1980s and have kept it through the vendor changes and re-evaluations.

We have not had any stability issues. Since we have had this suite for so long, the areas where the instabilities usually crop up have long ago been flagged and prepared for beforehand.

We have not experienced any scalability issues. We have had a stable z/OS Server environment for some time.

The technical support is very good! It does depend on the product, but across the array of products in the suite, the support is consistent and very responsive.

We evaluated several product suites at the beginning, but this was the one that we first purchased and we have stuck with it.

The initial setup here was phased over time, for the whole product suite. The installation itself is fairly complicated because of the array of products, although they have it documented in a straightforward manner.

The complexity comes from the customization that is required for each of the products. This is so it will work as we require it to, across all the facets of the IBM DB2 solution.

Work for an overall solution. Competing product suites seem to serve the same functions. But it is the overall integration of all the products that meets our needs and makes this suite so beneficial to our business.

In the late 1980s, there were only two solutions namely Platinum Technology and BMC, who provided additional functions and front-end support for the IBM DB2 utility work.

We looked at both options and took the Platinum solution, after budget negotiations.

The DBAs measured that both the products were quite comparative and either of them would have met the business needs at the time.

When IBM got into the game, we re-evaluated products across a number of vendors and decided to stay with the CA Suite.

Utilize the CA resources at the conferences! They provide good access to their technical support and many times at their events as well. They even have a very good one-on-one discourse.

The ability to do the CA utilities faster than IBM using less resources. I also like the RC/Migrator product that allows us to make changes quickly and efficiently using either the IBM utilities or the CA utilities.

The benefits is repeatability of use. I can do a change in one environment and use that same change to do it to another environment. It allows reliable changes.

I'd like the product to support the open systems. However, I don't think that's coming.

The products work really well, but there are a couple of minor things that you have to learn to get around.

The product has been fairly stable for the last couple of years. It has a high learning curve for some of the traditional DBAs who don't want to venture from IBM.

The product works for some of the smallest changes or for some of the largest environmental changes.

I have used tech support. I'd give them, most of them, about an eight. I know most of them personally.

We were using BMC utilities, and we ran into some marketing and licensing issues. When we thought of changing vendors, we were interested in reliability and partnership. The vendors were IBM and Computer Associates, and Computer Associates had a more complete solution for what we needed to get done.

I was involved in the setup and it was straightforward.

I would give them some sample jobs to actually to run in scenarios to see how well CA does them compared to some of the other vendors.

The feature we find most useful is the consistent ability to create ‘strategies’ across the products that allow for consistent foundations for the business processes and the ability to repetitively use them by different resources. These strategies allow for the establishment of methods that fit directly into our business needs and preps the DBAs as we need to best handle situations.

The best example is the day to day performance monitoring with the Detector product. Using Detector, we can see what is consuming the DB2 resources and then analyze its specifics through the integration with the other products. This improved our business processing because we were able to address the most impactful ones to mitigate their impact on the others.

The initial set up of parameters is quite exhaustive and some parameters cross products. Getting the parameters set to meet our need and then set in sync across products took significant time and effort.

We were the twelve license with Platinum who created the product so we have had a variation of it in house since the late 1980’s

Since we have had this suite for so long, and the areas where instabilities might crop up have been long flagged and prepared for.

That is not really relevant here because we have had a stable z/Server environment for some time.

It depends on the product, but across the array of products in the Suite, support has been consistently very good.

We evaluated several product suites, but this was the one we first purchased and we have stuck with it.

The install is fairly complicated because of the array of products though they have it documented as being very straightforward. The complexity comes from the customizations required for each of the products to work as we require them to across all facets of DB2,

Work for an overall solution. Competing product suites seem to serve the same functions but it is the overall integration of all the products to meet our needs that allows for this Suite to be so beneficial to our business.

In the late 1980’s, there was only Platinum and BMC that provided additional functions and front end to the DB2 utility work. We looked at both and took the Platinum solution through budget negotiations. The DBAs measured that the products were quite comparative and either would have met the then business needs.

Utilize the CA resources the conferences! They provide good access to their technical support at many events that allow very good one on one discourse.