CA, BMC Take DB Tools to the Web

Computer Associates International Inc. and BMC Software Inc. are working to Web-enable their respective database management tools as a way to provide a consolidated view into and mix of databases.

CA plans to release Web-enabled versions of its Unicenter database management tools in mid-2003, said officials at the Islandia, N.Y., company. They will include the next versions of Unicenter DBA, Enterprise DBA and Database Analyzer.

In anticipation of that, CA in the spring will add the ability to manage IBM DB2 running under the z/OS mainframe operating system. This will give database administrators a single tool with a Windows interface to administer DB2, Microsoft Corp. SQL Server and Oracle Corp. databases.

Also in the works is a version of TSreorg, a Unicenter tool that allows for data reorganization, that Expand Beyond Corp. is creating for Palm OS. Pricing and availability will be determined after Chicago-based Expand Beyond achieves CA Smart Certification in a month or two.

Separately, Houston-based BMC this week will announce it is Web-enabling its database backup and recovery tool, SQL-BackTrack for Oracle, by pairing Version 3.4.10 of the application with its SmartDBA Cockpit Web-based console. The SQL-BackTrack versions for SQL Server, DB2 and Sybase Inc. databases already had Cockpits Web user interface.

Michael Culp, manager of database services at Ahold USA Inc. and a BMC user, said the consolidated view of his Oracle, SQL Server and Sybase databases afforded by the Cockpit Console will ease the headache of jumping between platforms.

“Historically, wed been using [SQL-BackTrack] in a nongraphical environment, which has made it difficult to consolidate and harness all our instances on a single platform,” said Culp, in Greenville, S.C. “Having them consolidated on a single screen reduces the time you spend on each machine.”