There's some more information on IBM DB2 Sort for z/OS here: http://www.ibm.com/software/data/db2imstools/db2tools/db2-sort/
This product is optional. There's a discussion of DB2 Sort here which can start to help you decide whether it's a good fit: http://db2beyondtheengine.blogspot.com/2012/03/faster-more-efficient-more-resilient.html Note that it is not necessary to license z/OS DFSORT separately if your usage of DFSORT is limited to DB2's use of the SORT and MERGE functions. That is, DB2 for z/OS (starting with Version 8) includes a limited use DFSORT license exclusively for DB2's use and exclusively for those functions. For example, the limited license does not permit you to write a DB2 stored procedure that uses DFSORT functions. You would have to license z/OS DFSORT in that case. I should also make a couple comments about zIIP usage. Often zIIP exploitation is terrific, and I'm a big fan. However, there are some exceptions or at least caveats. One exception is when there's overhead in dispatching specifically to a zIIP engine that exceeds the benefit. I think IBM has avoided that, but it's technically possible. Another exception is when you're dealing with sub-peak utilization which (to a first order approximation at least) isn't particularly important. A third exception is when the amount of zIIP exploitation is small relative to the incremental utilization on general purpose processors. Nothing in computing is free, including zIIPs, and marginal increments are not at all the same as averages. The word I use here is "nontrivial," as in the amount of peak workload eligible to be dispatched to a zIIP should be nontrivial in order for a zIIP (or another zIIP) to make sense. Said another way, "zIIP = good" is neither a cost nor capacity planning principle that makes sense any more than "little server = cheap." (And no, not really.) "zIIP exploitation could well be good, but let's check a couple things" is more like it. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Timothy Sipples GMU VCT Architect Executive (Based in Singapore) E-Mail: [email protected] ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
