Quest Software Inc. is expanding its database management tool for IBMs DB2 Universal Database to mainframe platforms.
Quest Central for DB2 Version 2.0, announced this week at the International DB2 Users Group conference in San Diego, supports IBMs z/0S and OS/390 mainframe operating systems in its suite of management tools. The combination means that customers can manage DB2 performance, database administration, space management and SQL tuning for both mainframe and distributed platforms within the same product, Quest officials said.
Users also will be able to use the same user interface for the mainframe platforms that they use to manage DB2 on Windows, Unix and Linux.
The mainframe support, according to Quest, will help eliminate the need for users to learn different tools for mainframe and distributed environments, something thats increasingly important with the shortage of IT workers skilled in both areas.
Quest, of Irvine, Calif., also has added enhancements to Version 2.0 that extend historical performance and tuning capabilities for DB2 on Windows and Unix. Now database administrators can capture complete database workloads in order to perform SQL analysis on statements, transactions, users and applications. Additional monitoring capabilities allow users to record and play back key performance metrics and SQL statements for a set time period so they can diagnose performance issues.
Pricing for Quest Central for DB2 Version 2.0, which will be available in June, starts at $16,000 per server.