Author: Ember Crooks

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Lead Database Administrator
Ember Crooks
https://datageek.blog/
Ember is always curious and thrives on change. Working in IT provides a lot of that change, but after 18 years developing a top-level expertise on Db2 for mid-range servers and more than 7 years blogging about it, Ember is hungry for new challenges and looks to expand her skill set to the Data Engineering role for Data Science. With in-depth SQL and RDBMS knowledge, Ember shares both posts about her core skill set and her journey into Data Science. Ember lives in Denver and work from home

Posts:

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Connecting to an Informix Database from Jupyter Notebook

There is almost nothing in this blog post about Db2. This is unusual for me. But I had a bear of a time figuring this out, so I need to share. I have a lot of Db2 performance data that is stored in an Informix databse. This means that if I want to apply things I'm learning with Jupyter Notebook and data science to this data, I had to learn the basics of how to connect to an Informix database. Continue reading »
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Update on Ember’s Data Science Journey – February 18, 2019

I’ve been moving along well this year on my data science journey. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying an edX class: Python for Data Science from UC San Diego. I started using Jupyter Notebooks (Python Kernel) over a year and a half ago, so I am enjoying the course on three levels:

  1. It seems easy because I have a background in Python, basic programming, and Linux systems
  2. I’m learning more about the Python libraries I use for Db2 health checks, and more about DataFrames that builds on my self-taught knowledge.
… Read the rest Continue reading »
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IBM Moves RFE Process to Aha Platform

I’ve long been both a proponent and a critic of IBM’s RFE(Request For Enhancement) program. For a several years, it was clear that RFEs just went into a black hole. Then, several years ago, IBM started actually paying attention and implementing them. There have been a number of them implemented to date – a couple that come to mind are the un-deprecation of db2_install and the creation of PDF manuals. Continue reading »
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What you Need to Do to Support a Db2 Environment

Many of the posts I write focus on either how to do or approach something or a story about something I did. Instead of the How, this post focuses on the What. If you’re new to Db2, you may not even be aware of what you should do to support a Db2 environment in a proactive manner. And by “New to Db2”, I also include those with up to three years of Db2-only experience who are self-taught. Continue reading »
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Db2’s Alternate Page Cleaning

The first professional technical presentation I ever gave was on March 31, 2003. I had been a DBA for just less than 2 years. It was at an event called “SDC West Geek Fest”. It was an internal IBM event within Global Services where the technical folks delivering services got together to share technical expertise. The title was something along the lines of “10 ways to improve physical performance in Db2”. This was just after version 8.1 was released. The top three on my 10-item list were Continue reading »
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The Autumn That Nearly Drowned Me

For more than 5 years I’ve managed to average at least one blog entry a week through fluctuating workloads and even through changing employers. And then came this autumn. The combination of a couple of large clients and going into holiday peak period for a couple of retail clients, collided with the IDUG EMEA conference where I was presenting two new sessions nearly combined to do me in.… Read the rest

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