BMC Software Inc. has announced upgrades to five of its SmartDBA management tools for Version 7 of IBM Corp.’s DB2 mainframe database, along with two upgrades for the distributed, UDB (Universal Database) edition of DB2.
The products are a further step in BMC’s Golden Gate Project, which aims to provide database administrators (DBAs) with an integrated set of tools for managing both mainframe and distributed database environments from multiple vendors through a single, Web-based console, the Houston-based company said.
The Web-based console for DB2 UDB is available already. The console for IBM’s DB2 mainframe database is scheduled for release in the first half of 2003, and the mainframe tools released Monday lay the groundwork for that delivery, said Karl Chen, vice president of marketing at BMC.
BMC’s tools compete with products from tools vendors such as Quest Software Inc., as well as offerings from IBM, Oracle Corp. and other database vendors.
On the mainframe side, BMC will release version 2.0 of System Performance for DB2, which adds navigation components intended to provide a more “task-oriented” approach to managing system performance, Chen said. The new reporting capabilities allow a DBA to check on system health, accounting and audit data without having to use DB2’s SMF (system management facility).
It has also released Database Performance for DB2 Version 1.1, which adds a tool that allows DBAs to reorganize a database without having to take it offline. A similar “online reorg” capability was added to BMC’s SmartDBA tools for Oracle’s database earlier in the year.
The other upgraded mainframe tools are Application Performance for DB2 Version 2.0, Database Administration for DB2 Version 1.2, and Recovery Management for DB2 Version 1.1.
On the distributed database side, BMC will announce SQL-BackTrack for DB2 UDB Version 2.0, which adds new backup and recovery capabilities, and SQL-Explorer for DB2 UDB Version 6.0.02. This has been integrated with another tool, DBXray, in such a way that an administrator can now track down poorly performing SQL code from within DBXRay, which is a diagnostic tool, Chen said.
The mainframe tools are priced from US$21,800 for the Application Performance product to US$86,300 for the Database Administration tool, BMC said. The DB2 UDB tools are scheduled for release by the end of the month, priced at US$5,610 for up to 25GB of storage for the SQL-BackTrack product, and US$3,140 per NT workgroup server for SQL Explorer.
