1:00pm US Central Time August 15th, 2007

iSociety says: Our speaker today will be Doug Mack from IBM.

iSociety says: Our topic today will be Db2 Web Query for the System i.

iSociety says: Welcome to Doug - thanks for being here today..

Drmack says: thanks for joining, let's get started !

iSociety says: Doug, can you give us a quick introduction to DB2 Web Query

Drmack says: DB2 Web query is a new offering from IBM that is a web based query and report writing tool and offered as an upgrade to the popular Query/400 product

Question from Gman: Is it GA yet?

Drmack says: GA is 9/14

Question from Alison: What browsers can be used?

Drmack says: Most browsers - mozilla, IE - Apple's is not supported

Question from Jtaylor: Can DB2 Web Query be used in batch mode?

Drmack says: DB2 Query offers similar batch reporting capabilities to Query/400...you can output the data to a DB2 file or spoolfile with the interactive usage, the output options are much more robust or, with the add-on "Report Caster" feature you can run the queries in batch on a scheduled basis and dump the result into e-mail with all kinds of output options

Question from Jim Franz: Would IBM consider adding a hands on lab to: the IBM Technical Conference this fall and/or Common Focus this fall and/or Common Spring 2008

Drmack says: yes, we've already planned one for COMMON 2008, and are still considering one for the Tech Conf

Question from Alison: What releases will Web Query work with?

Drmack says: V5R4

Question from Alison: how much does it cost?

Drmack says: The price for DB2 Web Query - first off, there is a server component based on processor tier ranging from $1600 to $48,000. With this you get a certain number of users, also dependent on the tier. The good news is that if you are a Query/400 licensee and current on SW maintenance you can upgrade to this at no charge. From there, you and add additional features - more named users, OLAP or active reports option

Question from Alison: If it is an upgrade, how do I get it if i already have the Query/400 product?

Drmack says: You can order QU2 (the new product ID) through normal ordering processes if you have V5R4 or are ordering it with V5R4.

Question from MikeScanlon: What are the desktop requirements to use it?

Drmack says: The product is thin client based - the only desktop component requiring windows is the Developer Workbench

Question from Tlaza: Does web query have a scheduler that allows reports to be run on a recurring schedule and emailed in PDF, Excel, Html, etc?

Drmack says: for scheduling and output into XML, PDF, etc., we would recommend the Report Caster add-on from Information Builders

Question from Lwright: What is the major difference between DB2 Web Query vs Query 400?

Drmack says: major differences...hmm....this is a long topic. First off, it is incredibly more powerful in terms of the kinds of reports you can develop. Parameterized reports can minimize the number of total reports to maintain. There is direct to Excel output. There is dashboarding and slicing and dicing of the data. Over 100 different charts

Please look at our website: www.ibm.com/systems/i/software/db2/webquery

Question from Jeanmikhaleff: Is that possible to integrate legacy 5250 applications with Web Query

Drmack says: the product is more "standalone" in terms of usage, however, we are working with Information Builders to define an option for integrating reports into existing applications through an API or Web Services call

Question from MikeScanlon: Does DB2 Web Query recognize the new field level security options announced in V6R1?

Drmack says: yes, it will adhere to that

Question from Rdandrew: What are the minimum hardware recommendations?

Drmack says: for any query/sql environment we recommend a minimum 8GB of memory per CPU w/ V5R4. We have tested with 600 CPW machines and it runs well there. Typically, 20-25 disk arms keeps your system balanced too.

Question from Tlaza: Is DB2 Web Query only read only?  In other words, are users restricted from submitting data altering, object altering, object creation and deletion queries?

Drmack says: yes, DB2 Web Query is read only

Question from Tami_Deedrick: What's the relationship with IBI?

Drmack says: we have created a product that is a subset of IBI's WebFOCUS technology, but it is an IBM sold and supported product

Question from Jdwill5: Does web query replace the old qury product and will it run the old queries?

Drmack says: The new QU2 product includes the web based capabilities but with that you also get the 5250 Query/400 technology. Nothing is taken away from you ....you can continue to run or build new reports with Query/400 technology

Question from Rob Berendt: The FAQ at http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/i/software/db2/pdf/Web_Query_Product_Preview_FAQ.pdf is very good explaining cost, releases supported, etc.  But it does not tell us how to tell our BPs how to order it.

Drmack says: IBM partners will be able to order it with e-config which should be available any day now

Question from Jeanmikhaleff: do i need WAS with V5R4?

Drmack says: you do not need WAS with DB2 Web Query. The product ships with its own light weight web server.

Question from Rob Berendt: The FAQ says that Query/400 is being upgraded.  How?

Drmack says: if you are on SW maintenance with Query/400, you can upgrade into the new QU2 product.

Question from Alison: Does it build on the power of SQL? So as new enhancements to SQL are added, will we see them in Web Query?

Drmack says: Yes, one of the cool things about DB2 Web Query is its ability to leverage some of the latest DB2 for i5/OS enhancements for query processing including the new optimizer technology, SQE, and things like Materialized Query Tables and Encoded Vector Indexes

Question from Dblyth: can you give an indication of the "report caster" add-on feature pricing?

Question from SRuggiero: There are a predetermined number of add-on products such as report caster...for all other add-ons are we to go directly to IBI for pricing?

Drmack says: we see Report Caster as being a popular add on and today, yes, you'd have to go get pricing and order directly from Information Builders

Question from Alison: Is this a developer's tool or a user's tool?

Drmack says: both really....the product, though, is designed such that you don't need a developer to build reports. it is very easy for the non-technical person

Question from Jtaylor: Can you elaborate on "add additional features", particularly "more named users"?

Drmack says: the features from IBM include 4 things really - additional named users, the OLAP module, the Active Reports option, and the Developer Workbench So for example, if you get the base product on a P05 tier it comes with 2 named users. You may want more users than that so you would order add'l users

Question from Alison: Can I use this tool over files created using DDS and tables created using SQL DDL?

Drmack says: yes, you can query both PFs and SQL Tables (and LFs and Views). There is even an adapter included in the base product for supporting multiple member files

Question from iSociety: Will support come from Information Builders or from IBM?

Drmack says: Support is through IBM

Question from Alison: is there some way to use the Predictive Query Governor with DB2 Web Query?

Drmack says: yes, the predictive query governor can govern queries generated from DB2 Web Query

Question from MikeScanlon: Since it is graphical in nature, are there more tools to enable end user query building, or is an intimate knowledge of the database still required?

Drmack says: There is a meta data layer that can simplify the end users access to the database

Question from Dblyth: will the 515 express models run this effectively? they are limited to 8 disk arms, 4 will be typical and 4GB memory will also be typical.

Drmack says: Yes, we think the 515 is a little powerhouse despite your picking up on the fact that is may be under our guidelines for memory and disk I/O

Question from Iseries42: Are there controls to prevent users from joining multiple large files and creating large poorly performing queries?

Drmack says: Well, the governor is one mechanism in place to avoid resource hogging queries from executing

Drmack says: there are other things like settings for the number of rows to return

Question from Torrys: can I control the environment applications are run from? ie: say I have an existing sales portal, can I add these Queries to it?

Drmack says: the product is more standalone in nature today, but we are working with Info Builders to create the necessary APIs or web services call to better integrate with apps and/or portals

Question from Sarprg2: I currently have DB2 Query with a usage limit of *nomax.  If I get the upgrade, how many named users will I get?

Question from Tlaza: So it we have unlimited users for Query400, does this mean we won't have unlimited users with Web Query?

Drmack says: You will continue to have unlimited user licensing with Query/400 technology after you upgrade, but the new web based technology is necessarily named user only. So you get a certain number of named users that are able to run the web based reports and you may need to purchase more or assess your needs

Question from Elvis: Can a 3rd party vendor save and ship some sort of "report" object on System i, supported by sav/rst process?

Drmack says: Yes, you can save/restore the report definitions and meta data.

Question from Alison: You mentioned a light weight web server.  Can you tell us a little more?  Is it a WAS server? Where does it run?

Drmack says: the light weight web server runs in i5/OS. It was first delivered with iSeries Access for the Web

Question from Jeanmikhaleff: is there a compatibility with Oracle database and others ?

Question from SRuggiero: can I retrieve data from other ERP systems that do not reside on the system i  (say from a n Oracle ERP system on a wintel platform)  and use DB2 webquery as the reporting tool?

Drmack says: yes, this is kinda cool I think - you can use DB2 Web Query to build reports that pull in data from any number or non DB2 for i5/OS sources. What you need is an adapter for that non DB2 data source. So for instance, you would need an Oracle adapter to query a remote oracle database

Question from Elvis: What communication protocol does client use to communicate to the backend server? ODBC,JDBC...?

Drmack says: it actually uses a CLI (Call Level Interface) connection to DB2

Question from Angus: Doug, would you recommend a complete replacement of QUERY/400 with DB2 Web Query - or a mixture of both...?

Drmack says: that is going to depend on your requirements..its very possible you are going to have a dependence on Query/400 reports for some time, but over time I think you'll find that many reports can be significantly enhanced, and the number of reports significantly reduced with the new technology

Question from SRuggiero: Can I bring the data back to the system i and forgo the add-ons?

Drmack says: You could certainly FTP or use some other means to replicate the data from oracle into DB2, and then use DB2 Web Query

Question from Alison: does it interface with other reporting tools like Crystal Reports?

Drmack says: crystal reports would really be something that overlaps in functionality with DB2 Web Query so there is no real integration there. However, DB2 Web Query does integrate very well with other i5/OS based BI tools like SPSS's ESSBASE (cubing) or Clementine (data mining) products

iSociety says: Doug, thanks for being here today - we appreciate your time.

Drmack says: Thanks for joining everyone. We're pretty excited about this offering and for more info be sure to check out the info at www.ibm.com/systems/i/software/db2/webquery