Duo Easing DBAs Load

Two database management software vendors—Embarcadero Technologies Inc. and Quest Software Inc.—are expanding support for additional platforms, thus enabling database administrators to manage multiple database platforms from a single console.

Embarcadero on Tuesday rolled out deeper support for IBM databases in updates of DBArtisan and Rapid SQL, its database administration tool and integrated database development environment, respectively.

New features of DBArtisan 7.1 include support for IBM DB2 UDB (Universal Database) EEE (Enterprise Edition Extended). Users will no longer have to leave the DBArtisan management consoles to administer EEE environments, thus saving time and improving ease of use, according to officials at Embarcadero, in San Francisco.

Also new is application processes support for IBMs OS/390, including support for DBRMs (database request managers); cross-reference associated plans and packages; view and explain package statements; and bind, rebind and free plans and packages.

Like DBArtisan 7.1, Rapid SQL 7.1 is also picking up support for UDB 7.2 EEE. The support means that database developers will be able to create and maintain code on all distributed DB2 servers, Embarcadero officials said.

Rapid SQL 7.1 also now includes support for OS/390. The integrated development environment now supports OS/390 project management, including code generation for statements and procedures; OS/390 favorite-code templates; and Paste SQL and SQL Syntax.

DBArtisan 7.1 is available now, starting at $1,895. Rapid SQL 7.1 is also available now, starting at $695.

Separately, Quest, of Irvine, Calif., on Tuesday announced plans to expand the heterogeneous database management of Quest Central. Quest Central is an integrated tool set that handles daily database management duties including administration, performance diagnostics, SQL tuning and space management.

Quest now markets Quest Central as separate products for Oracle and DB2 databases. At some point in the summer, officials said, Quest will roll out the Oracle console with added plug-ins for Microsoft Corp.s SQL Server database. Then, by years end, Quest will merge DB2, SQL Server and Oracle Corp. database plug-ins into one console.

Officials said that by consolidating support for the three major databases into one console, organizations can overcome the challenges associated with limited DBA (database administrator) resources and multiplatform database environments.

Ray Paquet, an analyst at Gartner Inc., in Lowell, Mass., said that these types of heterogeneous database management offerings will be welcomed by enterprise users. “Wed estimate that at least 90 percent of the Fortune 2000 has at least two RDBMS [relational database management systems],” he said. “What that tells us is they have significant levels of heterogeneity. Thus, they need a solution thats not specific to one RDBMS.”

Much of the reason that enterprises want one RDBMS for the various vendors databases they run is that it eliminates the need for DBAs familiar with each separate platform, Paquet said. “DBAs are amongst, if not the most expensive staff in an operations environment,” he said. “Productivity improvements that deal with people cycles can show pretty significant returns.”

Quest Central for Oracle and DB2 are available now with per-server pricing starting at $2,400. Spotlight on SQL Server, which will be the first component of Quest Central for SQL Server, is also available now, with pricing starting at $1,495 per server.