Reviews (5)

It would be a MUCH better book with a different title
While this work may be "The Official Guide" it is a long way from complete or authoratative. It is much more of an overview than a guide. It is an excleent overview or enhancements book for readers with a technical background.
A great TECHNICAL review of DB2 UDB V8
This is a great book for what I do. I needed to keep on top of the new features in DB2 -- though for the wrong reasons (we are an Oracle business partner), I def'ly got to see all the new features with deep technical explanations and even examples; pretty neat stuff from IBM I must say. I looked at the What's New Guide that was referenced in other comments before buying this book, hoping to save a buck. Too bad they don't have a review forum for that book, horrible. All marketing fluff. Don't bother trying to find it -- it will only make you mad. Buy this book.

Already covered in What's New Guide
I was disappointed in the depth of the material. I had already read the What's New manual and found much of that repeated here. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. IBM Database 2    10. Relational Databases    11. Study guides    12. Computers / Database Management / General    13. Databases & data structures    14. dBase   

Reviews (11)

Good Book for Exam 700
I took the exam within one month from the day I bought this book and scored 87%.Read the book twice and took the sample test on IBM site.

Just what you need
Great book. covers everything you need to know for the exam. Completed one chapter each day after reading the tutorials on the IBM site and gave the questions at the back. Wrote the exam on the 8th day and got 92%. Will definitely recommend the book

A very good book for exam 700
This book helped me to prepare for the exam well but I felt this book should have had some more information about UDT /UDF .
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Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. Examinations    10. IBM software    11. Information Storage & Retrieval    12. Relational Databases    13. Study guides    14. Computers / Database Management / General    15. Databases & data structures    16. dBase   

Reviews (9)

Worst Book
When I first started with DB2, this book was recommended to me by someone who read the v7.2 book by the same authors.This was the most confusing techie book I have ever read.Amongst all the typos, my biggest gripe is the index.You may as well rip the index out of the book because it is useless.There hasn't been one time where I wanted to look something up, referring to the index, and found what I was looking for.Its like a 900 page book with a 7 page index... useless.

NOT a good book
So it claims that Chapter 1-8 covers the objectives for Exam 700. It should have said - and MORE, SO MUCH MORE. Which borders on garbage.
Lo que necesitas para certificarte/What you need to get certified
Realmente estoy muy complacido con este libro, el cual me ha servido para prepararme y poder certificarme, lo recomiendo ampliamente.
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Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. IBM Database 2    7. Interactive & Multimedia    8. Relational Databases    9. Computers / Database Management / General    10. Computing and Information Technology    11. Databases & data structures    12. Object-oriented programming (OOP)    13. dBase   

Reviews (16)

Quick,, Handy Reference for a former DB2 for z/OS DBA
If you are coming from mainframe DB2, this is the book for you. Phil Gunning does a great job of explaining the many parameters and settings that make up DB2 UDB. Explanations are clear and straight to the point. It helped me to understand the DB2 UDB architecture and to get up to speed quick.

Good Tips from A DB2 Veteran
This book has helped my get started on monitoring and tuning my databases. Coming from Sybase, I had no idea where to start. I picked up this book and it guided me through all the monitoring setups and provided a monitoring and tuning methodology -- along with recommendations. This stays on my desk and is very handy.

One of a Kind
This book is really well organized. The section on logical and physical design was a good review for me. It reminded me how important a good design is to a successful database implementation. The SQL Tuning, Buffer pool tuning, and DB and DBM CFG tuning chapters have helped me take care of my problem databases and suboptimal SQL. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. IBM Database 2    10. Microcomputer Operating Environments    11. Operating Systems - General    12. Operating Systems - UNIX    13. Operating Systems - Windows    14. Operating systems (Computers)    15. Relational Databases    16. Study guides    17. Computers / Database Management / General    18. Databases & data structures    19. Systems management   

Reviews (13)

Best book available for DBAs working with DPF
I used this book to write Exam 704 (Advance DB2 UDB DBA certification). I cleared the exam with flying colors.
Absolutely the best DB2 book!
I just found this book, and after reading it wish I had found this years ago.This is the most comprehensive book on DB2 that I have ever seen.This book has already saved me a lot of time. The performance chapter is great and helped me improve the performance of my DB2 server by over 30% in less than a week.

Excellent book
This is the book I was waiting for long on DB2UDB. This not only covers topics for certifications but also good (very good) reference material for all UDB DBAs on LUW platform. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Data Base Management    6. Database Management - General    7. Database management    8. Electronic data processing per    9. Electronic data processing personnel    10. Examinations    11. IBM Database 2    12. Relational Databases    13. Study guides    14. Computers / Database Management / General    15. Computing and Information Technology    16. Databases & data structures    17. Systems management    18. dBase   

Reviews (3)

Best book on the subject
Besides getting you ready for the certification examination this book is an excellent reference source and covers some material far better than other similar books on the market. If you only want to buy a few books on this subject, start with this one. You may find you don't need any others.

Excellent
This is an excellent book that gives an overall picture of what to expect for the z/OS 702 Examination. The certification portions have all been covered well. Except for a few typos in a few places, this book is an excellent material and is a handy book for a DBA. I certainly recommend it to anyone wishing to pursue DB2 702 certification.

Excellent Material:
This is an excellent book that gives an overall picture of what to expect for the z/OS 702 Examination. The certification portions have all been covered well.
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Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Data Base Management    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Computers / Database Management / General    7. Computing and Information Technology    8. dBase   

Editorial Review

IBM's competitor in the database server wars is DB2, and an IBM certification that proves your skill with that database is valuable in any IBM shop. Read more

Reviews (12)

Excellent Book but Nearly Obsolete!
This is a title that's desperately needed, but it's November 2005 and DB2 is bordering on version 8.3 or 9.1 already. Where's the update? I know, I know. People say 8.2 isn't THAT different. I disagree, especially if I'm going to shell out $30 shipped.

You cannot afford not to buy this book for your 512
You cannot afford not to buy this book for your 512. A must have. Make sure you read everything, the author has extracted all the goodies from the exam and put it into this brief book. Excellent help for passing DB2 Certifications!
I truly got my money's worth from this book...I passed 2 exams based on this book's study guides and practice tests.Especially wonderful tips are included for areas they like to pose 'trick' questions on to make sure you know the difference between ORDER by and GROUP by, for example.Those tips were right on the money.It made it easy for me to refresh my skills and very confortable with what the tests were like, so that did not add to my nervousness.It is true they don't have the most up-to-date information....they should keep it up and come up with the new version 8 features, and a book for the Advanced tests. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Bks - Certification    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Database Management - General    7. Database management    8. IBM Database 2    9. Relational Databases    10. Computers / Technical Skills    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. dBase   

Reviews (2)

Another Excellent Certification Exam Study Guide
If you studying for the Family Application Development Exam (703) certification exam, you will find the book to be quite helpful. I wish I had this book when I was studying 703 certification exam.
Use for competitive analysis of dB2
This is one of the latest in a series of study guides that Sanders has put together for various dB2 certifications. As with his earlier books, a lot of its value is in the focus on what you need to know to pass an exam, in this case, the 703 exam. You will find an extensive question set at the end of each chapter, with answers later in the book. These question sets are indispensible for testing your knowledge understanding.Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Electronic data processing personnel    8. Examinations    9. Information Storage & Retrieval    10. Relational Databases    11. Study guides    12. Computers / Database Management / General    13. Computing and Information Technology    14. Databases & data structures    15. dBase   

Reviews (1)

Don't make the same mistake - find a different book
I bought this book because it was on a recommended reading list for various DB2 UDB Certifications.I had already had success with two of the other recommendations so I believed this would be helpful as well.I couldn't have been more wrong.Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Books: Database    4. Computer Books: General    5. Computers    6. Computers - Data Base Management    7. Database Management - General    8. Database management    9. Electronic data processing per    10. Electronic data processing personnel    11. Examinations    12. IBM Database 2    13. Relational Databases    14. Study guides    15. Computer Programming    16. Computers / Database Management / General    17. Computing and Information Technology    18. Databases & data structures    19. dBase   

Editorial Review

IBM's DB2 Universal Database has a large following of corporate users--which means information technology professionals eager to sell their services to such companies--who can profit by knowing how to set up and use DB2. The easiest way to pass sniff tests in the search for a DB2 administration job is to have your certification papers in hand. Read more

Reviews (14)

Didn't Hit the High Notes
This book does have a solid base, and easily covers all of the requirements for the DB2 Fundamentals exam.However, it begins to come up short for the DB2 Administrator test.Many areas are not particularly well explained, and the description of the DB2 product family is a complete hash job, and really leaves you none the wiser. Don't rely on this to master the material
I used this book to prepare for the 512 and 513 exam as well as a prerequisite to attending the CF231 DB2 Database Administration Workshop. The book worked well to get a slight head start on the class. However, it does not prepare you to do well for the 512 exam (took and passed yesterday, but am not pleased w/ the score). The sample questions were woefully inadequate. There were a ton of questions that were not addressed at all in the material and you really need a much better understanding of SQL than the book provides. I'm taking the 513 exam next Monday, and am planning to study other material before then.

Surprisingly Poor
Given the authors' qualifications, you would expect a much better book.The organization is frankly dreadful, the exposition confusing, and the samples inconsistent with the software provided.It seems to morph without warning from a manual to a marketing pamphlet:it is exasperating to be looking for a solid technical description and to find instead a vague sales pitch.The information is there, mostly, but it is not easy to dig it out of the swirling chaos of this book. Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books And Software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Certification    5. Database Management - General    6. IBM Database 2    7. Relational Databases    8. Computers / Database Management / General    9. Computing and Information Technology    10. Database software   

Reviews (10)

DB2 Certification Guide
Almost new. Perfect Guide to clear DB2 UDB Fundementals Certification

Not sufficient for Test 513
The book is quite detailed and is best for beginners or for professionals working in some other RDBMS and wanting to swith to DB2. It should also serve as a good reference book.
Good book
Read this about 3 times and realized that some critical information were missing out. I passed my 512 without any sweat and struggling on 513 with the help of this book. Thus, i gave it 4 stars. The information and questions in this book are way too easy for 513, so don't count on those questions. Consider them as warm up and getting your engine to run.Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computers - Certification    3. Database Management - General    4. Information Storage & Retrieval    5. Study Aids    6. Study Guides    7. Databases & data structures    8. Systems management    9. dBase   

Reviews (3)

NOT a good book
I am pretty sure even exam 706 (of which I did not review the objectives) will not ask for ALL the parameters for the dbm? It's unweidy to paste a total of 12 pages on the dbm cfg parameters.
You must do the problems
In the world of large commercial databases, there are really only two choices: IBM's dB2 and Oracle. While MySQL and Postgres are increasingly try to break up this cosy duopoly, they are still small players. So as a professional DBA, or an aspiring one, dB2 is a good choice. Given this, IBM provides several levels of certification. Sanders here supplies the official study guide for the 701 and 706 exams. Excellent Certification Exam Study Guide
If you are serious in moving through the DB2 certifications, you will find the book to be a helpful addition to your library.I certainly wish I had this reference when I was studying for the certification exams.Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Database management    7. Electronic data processing per    8. Electronic data processing personnel    9. Examinations    10. IBM software    11. Relational Databases    12. Study guides    13. Computers / Database Management / General    14. Databases & data structures    15. dBase   

Reviews (7)

Uh...$75 shipped for a book on an obsolete version?
Gotta rate this low, because the book is way out of date. DB2 is currently at 8.2. This talks about 6 and 7.1, for Pete's sake.

Good book, if u can pardon the typos!
Very good book for the certification exams, andcovers just what is required for the exams. But the number of typos needs a very good proof reader and the CD never works.

Too many errors to justify my time
After completing only two chapters I have become so frustrated with typos and scripts from the CD that don't run, I would put this book on the shelf if there was another option or I could live without learning this technology immediately. Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Client/server computing    4. Computer Bks - Certification    5. Computer Books: Database    6. Computers    7. Computers - Certification    8. Database Management - General    9. IBM Database 2    10. Relational Databases    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Database software    13. Databases & data structures   

Reviews (1)

Great structure but many errors in examples
This book is great for DB2 beginners. It has right structure, covers material in sequential order and does not talk much about insignificant matters just to increase the volume, like many other books do. In my view, only one but significant flaw doesn't allow me to call this book exellent - lots of errors and typos in the examples. They are mostly insignificant but very confusing for a novice. I hope the author sorts them out in the second edition which this book definitely deserves. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Certification Guides - General    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computer Operating Systems    5. Computers    6. Computers - Certification    7. Database Management - General    8. Electronic data processing per    9. Electronic data processing personnel    10. Examinations    11. IBM Database 2    12. IBM software    13. Operating Systems - General    14. Relational Databases    15. Study guides    16. Computers / Database Management / General    17. Databases & data structures    18. dBase   

Reviews (5)

Better than Nothing
Unfortunately, this seems to be the only book available to specifically prepare for this exam.While the material is probably covered, the examples and practice test (which is identical to the online practice test at ICE) in this book are so much easier than the actual exam, that I felt I was ready for the real exam when I got scores over 90 on the practice exam, but flunked the real one. Sybex knows how to do certification books right, but they don't have any for DB2.

Certification Guaranteed!
This book made the difference between a PASS/FAIL on the IBM-514 DB2 UDB V7.1 Family Application Development exam. I have extensive experience in developing DB2 applications on the OS/390 platform but none in the Linux/Unix/Windows environments. Having taken the sample certification exam I knew I needed to "bone-up" on the JDBC/SQLJ, CLI/ODBC and dynamic sql topics to guarantee a first-time pass. Personally, I concentrated on the corresponding chapters in this book (3 through 7) and this proved more than sufficient to make the grade. If your goal is to pass the 514 exam and you already feel comfortable with developing DB2 SQL applications then I would strongly suggest limiting your study purchases to this book. Incidentally, good luck in the exam (if applicable)!

A great book for experienced developer
Background info:Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Bks - Certification    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Database Management - General    7. Database management    8. IBM Database 2    9. Relational Databases    10. Computers / Database Management / General    11. Database software   

Reviews (6)

Well organized and well written
I like this book very much. To me, at least from first pages and random pages, it looks well organized/structured and well written in simple but powerful English. It gives me great pleasure when I flip through the pages.

use IBM's online reference
This book is not suitable for people who are completely new to DB2 and have never seen an os/390 before. It doesn't go deep with any of the subjects it discussed. It explains acronyms with more acronyms which confused me. You basically learn a little of everything that leads to nothing practical. I did not enjoy this book consider its price. Not to mention I do have knowledge of RDBMS. It's a waste of money.

Excellent!
This is a very good book that gives an overall picture of what to expect for the UDB 516 Examination. This book should be used as a guide and detailed study should be made from IBM Manuals. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Bks - Certification    3. Computer Books: General    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Database Management - General    7. Operating Systems - General    8. Os/2 (Computer Operating System)    9. Relational Databases    10. Computers / Database Management / General    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Databases & data structures   

Reviews (3)

Good reference material. BUT...
This is a useful reference manual.However, it doesn't appear to be as tailored to the cluster exams as it might claim. It's not all there......
After pouring over the book, and practicing the test questions over and over, I still did not pass the certification. I found that a great number of the questions asked during the certification were NOT covered in the book. The sample questions did not address the many SQL and EXPLAIN questions on the certification exam. It would be nice to not only have the answers to the sample questions, but also the "why is this the correct answer" information as well. Since this book was written with the knowledge of IBM, why didn't the authors provide a representative sample of ALL of the certification test questions, instead of just a few? The certification test is broken into several groups. While the book identifies these sections, it does not organize the questions in the same fashion. A must buy book about DB2 Clusters
There are no other books on the market quite like this one. Althoughgeared towards DB2 Cluster Certification this book also offers the reader alot of readable informatiuon on setting up a clustered DB2 enviroment.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Data Base Management    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Engineering    6. Database Management - General    7. Database management    8. IBM Database 2    9. Professional - General    10. Computing and Information Technology    11. Database software    12. Databases & data structures    13. Internet    14. Study guides, home study & revision notes   

Subjects:  1. COM000000   

Reviews (2)

Why did IBM cancel this certification?
I do not see this certification from IBM. They removed it this month. Any reason?

DB2 Universal DRDA Certification Guide, The
Unlike most books in the 'certification' series, this book does not give you enough information to assure you will pass the exam.The sample questions provided at the end of the book are much easier than the actualexam questions and give a false sense of confidence.Supplement yourreading with other books on connectivity, such as "The UniversalConnectivity Guide to DB2." ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Certification    5. Database Engineering    6. Database Management - General    7. Ibm Pc Programming    8. Computer Programming    9. Computing and Information Technology    10. Databases & data structures