DataGeek.blog

February 28, 2023 Ember Crooks

Choosing the BEST RDBMS

When I started working as a DBA in 2001, the relational database management system choices were more limited and the choice itself was often left up to a system architect. Rarely did developers have a say, and even DBAs only had a say in whether they could support it or would have to hire people to support it.… Read the rest
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January 31, 2023 Ember Crooks

MySQL’s “partial” Group By

This is one area that was not a surprise to me coming from Db2 to MySQL, as I’ve had to deal with people confused in the other direction for years. Essentially, MySQL allows a syntax for GROUP BY that Db2 and most RDBMSes do not allow.… Read the rest
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January 26, 2023 Ember Crooks

Using ChatGPT to Write SQL

Working in technology, I’ve heard a number of things about ChatGPT from various news sources.

I was particularly interested hearing some teachers saying it was the end of being able to properly detect students cheating when writing papers. Then I heard a teacher talking about how this was the new ‘calculator’ that teachers need to learn how to leverage in their curriculums.… Read the rest
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November 8, 2022 Ember Crooks

Comparing Db2 and MySQL: Explain

The goal of this article is to to take one query and use the explain facilities of Db2 to walk through it, and then do the same with MySQL, and then show some of the optimizations I might make for the query and why.… Read the rest
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October 13, 2022 Ember Crooks

The Most Shocking Differences I’ve Seen Between Db2 and MySQL (so far)

As I’ve been learning the details of MySQL, there have been a lot of similarities with Db2, and a number of differences. Some of those differences have been things I was expecting, while others have been a bit more shocking. If others are making the transition from Db2 to MySQL (using InnoDB) or vice versa, or are supporting both, maybe something here will help.… Read the rest
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August 30, 2022 Ember Crooks

DBA Perspective: Open Source vs. Proprietary RDBMS

Moving from being a DBA on a proprietary RDBMS for 20 years to working on an open source RDBMS is teaching me a lot of lessons. Many of them are lessons I expected – remembering how and when to ask for help, getting used to not being expected to be the expert on everything, and technical details around how MySQL does things differently.… Read the rest
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June 20, 2019 Ember Crooks

The DBA is Dead? No, the DBA as Gatekeeper is Dead!

I still remember this meeting when I had been a DBA for less than a year at IBM. It was IBM, so I was the lone primary DBA for this internal client. With 3 whole months of experience and a shiny college degree.… Read the rest
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March 22, 2018 Ember Crooks

Index of Introductory Db2 Topics

This blog entry is designed to serve as a roadmap for current blog entries directed at those newer to Db2. In my mind, this likely includes anyone who has been working with Db2 for less than 2 years. However, often there are areas we spend more time in than others, so I think of these topics also as "spackle" - to fill in gaps for the self-taught. Note that some of the topics below are not links. This is because they're areas I plan to blog about in the future. Continue reading »

June 7, 2010 Uncategorized

Registry Variables and DB2_WORKLOAD=WC

I was happy to see the new workload registry variable in Commerce 7/DB2 9. Mostly out of laziness – it requires fewer variables to be set manually, but it also ensures that nothing major is missed (I imagine they may come up with more that won’t be added to the workload registry variable in real time).… Read the rest

June 4, 2010 Uncategorized

I’m just this guy, you know?

I'm just this guy, you know? Ok, so I'm female, but I don't work for IBM and I'm not trying to sell you anything. Continue reading »

June 4, 2010 Uncategorized

Sticky, gluey, GUIs

DB2 GUIs Suck for a variety of reasons - use the command line. Continue reading »

June 3, 2010 Uncategorized

Fun with IN-lists and GENROW

IN-lists are poor performers. Here's what they look like in explain plans and why they perform poorly. Continue reading »

June 3, 2010 Uncategorized

5 things that made me a better DBA

Several times I've figured things out in my career and thought "how did I ever call myself a DBA without knowing that?" Continue reading »

June 2, 2010 Uncategorized

Hello world!

I am at this point an expert on DB2, and on the aspects of DB2 that interact with Commerce, and frequently train clients and new DBAs on how to do what I do, so it's time to share. Continue reading »

June 2, 2010 Uncategorized

Instance Creation in WebSphere Commerce 7 (DB2 9.5)

SQL30082N Security processing failed with reason "42" ("ROOT CAPABILITY REQUIRED"). SQLSTATE=08001 Continue reading »