Migrating from VSAM to DB2 isn't easy, but as SearchDataManagement.com experts and readers point out, it can help ease data access to diverse data sources. However, organizations must be careful when they approach the project, warns Craig Mullins, site expert on SearchDataManagement.com.
"VSAM files quite often are not normalized and do not lend themselves to a 'quick and dirty' conversion to DB2 (or any other "relational" DBMS). If you simply convert a VSAM file (records) to a DB2 table (rows), performance will surely suffer because DB2 is not meant to be used the same way as VSAM," Mullins writes.
Check out this compilation of expert advice and enter the VSAM to DB2 conversions tip contest.
Expert inspiration: Why do a VSAM to DB2 conversion?
"A major reason to do such a conversion is the diversity of sources from which data is accessed. With proliferation of Web based apps, it is necessary to keep the data available for easy access from different areas. With VSAM it is difficult to accomplish this: in the absence of an SQL-like language you cannot access VSAM from Java or .NET in a straightforward fashion."
-- Submitted by reader Sumithar
"The predominant reason that people convert to DB2 is to ease data access. It is much easier to write ad hoc SQL against DB2 tables than it is to code programs that access VSAM files. The time saved by not having to code the VSAM programs can cost justify a conversion of the data to DB2 if your reporting or manipulation needs are varied and frequent."
-- Craig Mullins
Expert advice: Responses to common VSAM to DB2 conversion questions
Be the expert: VSAM to DB2 conversion tip contest
Email us your best VSAM to DB2 conversion tip -- and you could win. If you've ever grappled with a VSAM to DB2 conversion issue, chances are someone else has, too. So, please email us your best tip or comment! We'll highlight reader comments in the next newsletter -- and one lucky reader will win a copy of the recently released book, Physical Database Design: The database professional's guide to exploiting indexes, views, storage, and more, by Sam S. Lightstone, et al. Tips must be submitted by Friday, May 25.
Some questions to get you thinking about your best VSAM to DB2 conversion tip:
- What was your biggest challenge during the conversion and how did you overcome it?
- How has your organization benefited from a VSAM to DB2 conversion?
- What advice would you give others considering a VSAM to DB2 conversion?
Pose your own VSAM to DB2 conversion questions
Use the SearchDataManagement.com Ask the Expert feature to pose VSAM to DB2 conversion questions to our database management systems expert, Craig Mullins. Send Craig a question and it will be posted, along with his response, on SearchDataManagement.com -- for you and other readers who struggle with similiar database issues.
