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Veritas Software Corp. and BMC Software Inc. are each rolling out tools for managing DB2 databases on IBMs high-end servers.
Veritas, of Mountain View, Calif., this week will première a version of Veritas Database Edition for DB2, its volume management and file system software, on the IBM AIX platform.
The product has a cached feature called Quick I/O that takes advantage of system memory on the server and selectively buffers information from storage into the database server. Officials said that with this feature, DB2 will perform up to twice as fast as the same database stored on a standard Unix file system. Performance will be comparable to or faster than the performance of a traditional DB2 environment, they said.
Veritas move to embrace AIX was motivated by customers with mixed environments who want to reduce the cost of management by using the companys tools across platforms—especially when theyre facing server and storage consolidations, officials said. Veritas Database Edition for DB2 on the AIX platform is available today, with pricing starting at $3,195.
For its part, BMC, of Houston, is forging ahead with Project Golden Gate, a blueprint for bridging the gap between mainframe and distributed environments that the company announced in October. In support of the projects goals, BMC announced last week its intent to support DB2 8.1 on zSeries servers, IBMs mainframe line.
BMC is participating in IBMs Early Vendor Program through which IBM seeks feedback from beta users regarding what third-party tools must support a given software version for those customers to upgrade.
Customers, such as Tricia Maupin, database manager at Corporate Systems Inc., a service bureau for insurance companies and other enterprises, in Amarillo, Texas, stipulated that when they migrate to DB2 8, they want to take with them BMC tools including Systems Performance for DB2, Application Performance for DB2 and Smart Recover for DB2.
“With DB2 8, [IBM] has made a ton of changes in the DB2 product itself and has added a lot of new features,” Maupin said. “Without BMC supporting those new features right away, if you upgrade your DB2, and BMC doesnt upgrade at the same time, youll lose some functionality, such as automation of maintenance and of changes to the DB2 system. If we upgrade to DB2 8, well need those tools.”
BMC has not yet determined availability or pricing of the products that will support the zSeries.