3 Game-Changing IBM DB2 pureScale Enhancements

Another set of great INSIGHT announcements that were somewhat drowned out by all the Watson hoopla were all the enhancements that are happening with DB2 pureScale. For those unfamiliar with DB2 pureScale, it is the multi-node cluster configuration providing the industry’s best scalability, performance, and data availability of any DBMS company offering today.
Since DB2 pureScale provides a cluster of DB2 nodes, any software or hardware maintenance can be done while the application is operational on another cluster node, protecting your business from any planned or unplanned outages. This means you can upgrade the operating system, database, or application on one cluster node while the others take care of the business.
DB2 pureScale offers an automated-application, workload-balanced, operating environment for all types of diverse workload requirements. Since it provides a centralized storage, memory, and processing model for all types of workloads, any DB2 pureScale configuration can scale horizontally by adding cluster nodes, providing tremendous performance gains for any type of mobile, OLTP, or social applications or systems.
Within the DB2 “Cancun” release there were some enhancements to DB2 pureScale. The first and most important is that DB2 pureScale can now leverage TCP/IP for its cluster node communication. While DB2 pureScale using TCP/IP is less robust than the previous requirement of using special Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) adapter cards, DB2 pureScale with TCP/IP provides new virtualization opportunities with AIX, VMWare, and others. DB2 pureScale using TCP/IP provides a whole new landscape for applications across a variety of configurations already used by companies with and without virtual environments.
The DB2 pureScale “Cancun” release also offers new HADR monitoring alerts and metrics along with the ability to take GPFS snapshot backups which will further assist every installation with their high availability disaster recovery and failover capabilities. The DB2 pureScale configuration provides unlimited horizontal scalability for adding all types of additional workloads.
Last, but especially not least, IBM also unveiled new pricing programs for the DB2 pureScale environments along with these new technology enhancements. All of these DB2 pureScale enhancements are also now available at the same pricing points as a DB2 License cost for DB2 Advanced Workgroup Server Edition (AWSE) and DB2 Advanced Enterprise Server Edition (AESE). IBM is also offering pricing-on-demand for DB2 pureScale licensing for seasonal and other dynamic workload conditions. Contact your friendly IBM DB2 representative to get all the details.
All of these DB2 pureScale enhancements, especially the ability to leverage TCP/IP along with the new pricing should really provide a great migration option for all those Oracle RAC systems that continue to have availability and performance problems. It should be very interesting to see DB2 pureScale start replacing the competition as Oracle increases their software license price while performance and availability problems continue. With these three enhancement IBM DB2 pureScale changes the game—saving money while improving performance and availability. IBM DB2 pureScale has a great budget story along with a great way to improve your business applications.


Dave Beulke is a system strategist, application architect, and performance expert specializing in Big Data, data warehouses, and high performance internet business solutions. He is an IBM Gold Consultant, Information Champion, and President of DAMA-NCR, former President of International DB2 User Group, and frequent speaker at national and international conferences. His architectures, designs, and performance tuning techniques help organization better leverage their information assets, saving millions in processing costs.

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