Unix Systems Services, tools to work with DB2 for z/OS

I work for a middleware software company, which has an Extract tool for DB2 running on OS390. My quick question to you is regarding the Unix Systems Services (USS) side of z/OS and the way DBAs might try to do some tasks from the Unix side to DB2 objects.
  1. First of all, what (if any) percentage of mainframe DB2 DBAs uses USS at all?
  2. What interactive tool on USS can work on DB2 objects? We have an unsupported tool called ODB2, but I've been told that not many users would have this tool installed? Do you agree?

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  1. Well, not many mainframe DB2 DBAs use USS to any degree. Yes, USS is running, and yes, USS may be required for certain things like the DB2 Extenders. But most mainframe DBAs have little experience with USS (and little need to gain such experience). IBM is moving away from USS as its mainframe UNIX equivalent and is putting its muscle behind Linux.
  2. I'm not aware of any tool, and I had never heard of ODB2 until your mention of it here. There are a lot of tools to help you work with DB2 for z/OS but they, for the most part, use ISPF (which is not a favorite of most UNIX folks). You might want to try to use IBM's Control Center (comes for free with DB2) but it requires Windows.
Good luck!

This was first published in September 2002

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