As one of IBM's business partners, 8layer was once again invited to join one of their technical trainings on DB2 9.7 Bootcamp and Oracle to DB2 9.7 Migration.
The event was originally a 3-day hands on training at IBM Plaza slated for September 21 to 23. However, since the 21st is a special non-working holiday on observance of Eid’l Fitr, it was condensed to a two-day training extending from 8:30AM - 6:00PM of September 22nd and 23rd.
The training was given to IBM ISVs (Independent Software Vendor) in the Philippines and one of IBM's efforts to technically equip them with the benefits of DB2. 8layer's representatives, who both passed the technical exam given after the training (hurrah!) were Alec Joseph Rivera and Rosa Tsang, a feat for both considering that they were not able to do most of the hands-on due to limited terminals and the exam was loading slowly due to internet connectivity problem. (Hear ye, IBM.)
Nonetheless, the two day training is a good refresher for DB2 9.7.
DB2 is a database system with advanced features geared towards easy management, optimization and reliability.
In terms of reliability, DB2 boasts high uptimes and response rate as compared with other database systems. Moreso, DB2 supports a lot of options supporting various situations while giving logs as it is used. DB2 also can tightly integrate with the underlying operating system to increase its speed even further.
Aside from these, DB2 is also self-optimizing. It can eventually "tune" itself to thresh out data in the fastest way it can.
DB2 Express is IBM's community contribution that has most of the features available in its enterprise database release.