FREE DB2 Express-C book updated to 9.5

The book "Getting Started with DB2 Express-C" has been updated to cover DB2 Express-C 9.5. You can get this new version here.

The book is also being translated by the community to several languages!. By mid-May, we should have translations ready for these languages:

- Portuguese (Brazil)
- Vietnamese
- German
- Simplified Chinese

Translation to other languages such as Spanish, Italian, and Bulgarian are on the works. If you would like to participate, please reply to this blog. We'll try to do our best to recognize your efforts!

The contents of the book match closely to the video presentations in http://www.channelDB2.com/oncampus. The lab exercises are also the same.

Cheers, Raul.

DB2 Express-C and Canonical team up for a new offering!

I don't know how this slipped through the blog cracks, but this announcement should definitely have popped up here:

We're proud to bring you some exciting news about something new from DB2 Express-C, Ubuntu & Canonical.

We've teamed up to bring you a solution that provides:

* a very simple way for Ubuntu users to install & setup DB2 Express-C from the Ubuntu repositories for free
* a great deal on support & additional features for DB2 Express-C
* an easy-to-embed database ideal for redistribution, partners, etc

The press is already talking about it: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2008/02/prweb712964.htm

Ubuntu 7.10 users can try it out today, and everyone can read more about it at http://www.ubuntu.com/ibm/db2

And you can get the great deal on support + more features at the Canonical web store:

One of our valued community members has already posted some how-to information here.

And one of the many blog posts about this offering can be found here (feel free to post others that you find).

Thanks to all the people that teamed up to make this happen.

Solaris 10 beta released!

This month's release of the DB2 Express-C 9.5 beta for 64-bit Solaris 10 ('x64') is another milestone accomplishment in the lifecycle of DB2 Express-C.

For the first time, we have ported Express-C to a platform outside of the Windows/Linux arena. The goal of this beta port is to widen the scope of Express-C and provide a means for industry customers with Sun installations to evaluate and develop on DB2 for free.

Check it out here: DB2 Express-C for Solaris 10 (beta)

As always, sound off on the DB2 Express-C forum about your experiences, problems, or feedback.

DB2 on Campus Lectures and speeches on VIDEO!

The DB2 on Campus lectures and speeches are now on video!. The presentations used in the videos are closely linked to the contents of the FREE online book "Getting Started with DB2 Express-C"

Here is the link to the videos:
www.channelDB2.com/oncampus

And here is the list of videos:

* 1. Speech 1: Overview of DB2 on Campus program
* 2. Speech 2: Part 1 - The role of DB2 in Web 2.0 and IOD world
* 3. Speech 2: Part 2 - The role of DB2 in Web 2.0 and IOD world
* 4. Speech 3: Your Opportunity: Ten steps to career success
* 5. Lesson 0: Getting Started with the DB2 on Campus Lecture Series
* 6. Lesson 1: Installation and DB2 editions
* 7. Lesson 2: Part 1 - The DB2 Environment
* 8. Lesson 2: Part 2 - The DB2 Environment
* 9. Lesson 3: Part 1 - Tools & scripting
* 10. Lesson 3: Part 2 - Tools & scripting
* 11. Lesson 4: The DB2 architecture
* 12. Lesson 5: Client connectivity
* 13. Lesson 6: Working with data objects
* 14. Lesson 7: Data movement
* 15. Lesson 8: Security
* 16. Lesson 9: Backup & recovery
* 17. Lesson 10: Maintenance
* 18. Lesson 11: Concurrency & locking
* 19. Lesson 12: SQL PL stored procedures
* 20. Lesson 13: User-defined functions
* 21. Lesson 14: Triggers
* 22. Lesson 15: PureXML: SQL/XML & XQuery
* 23. Lesson 16: Java, Ruby on Rails, PHP
* 24. Lesson 17: Troubleshooting

Cheers!

Raul.

2007 DB2 on Campus tour results

In 2007, the DB2 on Campus Program reached more than 10,000 students and teachers during approximately 100 university visits worldwide. It is one of the most important campus activities in the recent two years in China, and grew considerably in the south of Brazil, where two courses have been created, one at the post-graduate level and one as an extension course. In Malaysia and Vietnam, the local IBM teams replicated the program, reaching more than 1,900 students.In Singapore, a DB2 Certification program has started at Nanyang Polytechnic. Fifty students recently wrote DB2 Certification Exam 730, and the program plans to increase this number yearly. In Korea, many students have been trained on DB2 since April of 2007, thanks to this initiative. In Italy, two universities switched to DB2 from another vendor for their courses. There are plans to offer DB2 certification to all Italian universities. In Mexico, the DB2 user groups created in 2006 are now training students from other universities who will be forming their own DB2 user groups. In Portugal, DB2 on Campus Program speeches were successfully replicated, and a very active DB2 user group, which is now reaching other universities to promote the program, was created. In Belgium, the local team is organizing a local DB2 on Campus Program for 2008. In Russia, the local team used the DB2 on Campus materials in several universities to promote DB2 and pureXML.

We look forward to a successful DB2 on Campus Program in 2008!

Raul.

Lunch with DB2 launched

I am both happy and proud to announce that our latest DB2 education effort -- "Lunch with DB2" -- has been launched today.

The "Lunch with DB2" series is an ongoing series of recorded screencasts that walk you through some of the fundamental aspects of DB2 setup, administration, maintenance, and application development. The series title "Lunch with DB2" springs from our idea that you can watch the screencast and replicate the lesson over a single lunch break.

The first episode is available (all episodes will be free of charge, of course!) from http://www.channeldb2.com. They are best watched using the "full screen" option, so that you get the entire 1024x768 resolution.

This first episode walks you a typical local installation of DB2 Express-C 9.5, explaining each of the panels as you go through the setup process.

In the coming weeks, we'll cover topics like:

• Getting to know the Control Center
• Exploring the Health Monitor
• Learning the DB2 command line processor
• Importing and exporting data
• Running a backup and restore operation
• Learn about DB2 pureXML

Our goal is to deliver at one episode per week, and feedback is always welcome! Send your comments to db2x@ca.ibm.com, or post them on the DB2 Express-C forum.

New DB2 Express-C 9.5 downloads are now available!

DB2 Express-C 9.5 (formerly known as Viper2) is now available!

This is the next major release of DB2 and delivers new functionality as well as significant improvements from DB2 9.1.

You can download the new DB2 Express-C 9.5 images for free from the following links:

DB2 Express-C data server for Linux

DB2 Express-C data server for Windows

IBM Data Studio (new development and administration tooling for DB2 9.5)

DB2 9.5 Information Center online

DB2 9.5 Information Center local install image

DB2 9.5 Net Search Extender

DB2 9.5 National Language Package

DB2 9.5 Spatial Extender

If you are looking for more information to help you get started with DB2 9.5, here are some links to get you started:

Home page for DB2 9.5 Information Center

Get started doc in DB2 9.5 Information Center

And of course, we invite you to download DB2 Express-C 9.5 for free, try it out, and post your questions, comments, feedback, usage experience, etc. in the DB2 Express-C forum.

The DB2 Express-C download page will be updated in the next 2 days as we replace the DB2 9.1 downloads with the DB2 9.5 downloads, but you can access all the links in this post now to get the latest and greatest DB2 downloads.

Coming soon!: The DB2 on Campus Exam

For many students, it is important to receive a certificate after attending a course, speech or event. With this in mind,we are working on a DB2 on Campus exam, where students can obtain a DB2 on Campus certificate after passing the exam. To prepare for the exam, students can attend one of the workshops offered as part of the DB2 on Campus program; they can also read a free online DB2 Express-C book (coming soon!). With this completion certificate, students will feel more confident to add "DB2" in their resumes.

In addition, a system is being developed to deliver this exam. The project name is OSOTS (Open Source Online Testing System), and has been approved as an open source project in Soureforge.net. Members of the DB2 community (from Argentina and Brazil) are working on the analysis and design phase, and we expect their design to be completed by October. The design will then be made available to anyone interested in developing the system. Some will develop it on PHP, others in Java, others in .NET, and so on. Once the system is developed it would be used as well to showcase a DB2 application!. In addition, the students and teachers participating in this project will be invited to write articles about the system and the different implementations. To participate in this (an other) projects, sign up to facebook.com, and take a look at this entry:

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=3000790461&topic=2753

The DB2 Express-C team will be feeding the system with questions, but in the future, this project may be extended so the system generates the questions by itself... but let's do this one step at a time!

Cheers! Raul.

DB2 on Campus update: Facebook.com & Latin american tour

After a few weeks of vacation, I'm back with an update aboutDB2 Express-C and the DB2 on Campus program. First of all, if you have not seen it, check out how DB2 Express-C saves the world!:

http://www.devx.com/ibm/Article/34860
http://www.devx.com/ibm/Door/6836

We have also started a few months ago an online community for the DB2 on Campus program using facebook.com. Facebook.com is a social network popular amongst many universities worldwide. If you would like to join, follow these instructions:

http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/forums/dw_thread.jsp?forum=805&thread=165580&cat=19&message=13960847&treeDisplayType=threadModel#13960847

Through facebook.com I'm keeping the DB2 on Campus community informed about news and events. Students and teachers from each of the universities visited are invited to join. As of today there are 165 members who have signed up. Through facebook.com, I've posted a few projects where members can contribute on a voluntary basis. The most important one of these projects is the Online Exam System. I will post more information about it on a separate blog.

I also started in July a Latin American university tour reaching approximately 1200 students in 5 countries: Mexico, Peru,Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia.

In Mexico, I'm glad to report a good number of the students who are members of the DB2 user groups at UNITEC and UNAM passed their DB2 Certification Exam 730!. More information can be found here:
http://www-306.ibm.com/software/data/db2/express/students_news.html#8

In Peru I delivered a speech about DB2 at the IEEE Intercon 2007 conference in the city of Piura and provided a DB2 workshop. I also served as judge for one of their project competitions. In Lima I visited the University of Lima where students from several universities in Peru gathered to know more about DB2. I was pleased to hear after the speech and courses, that many students were motivated about trying out the product, and it is likely I will return for a course and other speeches early in December. The day of my speech at the Universityof Lima, a 7.9 earthquake hit several cities in Peru, and lasted more than 2 minutes. This was a very frightening experience, especially because it lasted for a very long time. I was told there were actually two or three big earthquakes one after the other, and that is why it looked like a never ending earthquake. Fortunately, the speech was over by the time the earthquake happened. The following days, there were many aftershocks of smaller magnitude. Two days after the earthquake, I travelled to several cities/universities in Brazil: Curitiba, Sao Carlos, Rio Claro, Campinas. It was a hectic tour with several speeches/courses per day and travel by car to the different cities. Overall it was a good Latin American tour, and I hope it repeats in the future.

Cheers, Raul.

P.S: I will be posting most of the university tour pictures in facebook.com