This third edition certification guide is an improvement over the two previous versions, as well as meeting the objective of keeping the reader current.
The book is divided into four roughly equal parts:
Introduction to DB2 UDB
Using SQL
DB2 UDB Administration
Developing Applications
These parts total nearly 1000 pages, so the reader needs to be prepared for a lot of reading and for a comprehensive discussion of a difficult topic. Each section includes exercises, which are critical to understanding. The book also comes with two CDs: one contains the exercises, and the other contains a trial version of DB2 for Windows NT Workgroup. Practical experience is necessary in this area, so readers who do not have access to DB2 elsewhere should install this trial edition and run the exercises. The product overview is an excellent discussion of the important capabilities of DB2. Readers who are familiar with other relational database products can probably skim this, but the authors document important differences between DB2 and these other programs.
The getting started section is complicated because of the need to describe the different installation parameters and the different connectivity capabilities the product provides. I did not actually set up the system and check out the sections on connectivity, but the description looks complete and comprehensive.
The section on using SQL contains much that readers with other relational experience will consider repetitive, but this material is important for the common grounding it supplies. Having provided that grounding, the authors go on to advanced techniques. My only criticism of this section is that the sections on the most recent capabilities are not flagged as potentially different from other DBMS products; in some cases, they appear to be extensions beyond the current SQL standard. The OLAP features, advanced CASE features, and structured types look very useful, but are not portable to most other relational systems, and should be flagged as such.
This well-written book will enable a competent DBA to become certified. Understanding the content will take significant effort but, as mentioned above, the book provides exercises that will assist in converting theoretical knowledge into practical knowledge.
