Migration from v 8.0 to v 8.1

kjaouhari · Post by **kjaouhari** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:07 am

Hello folks,

I was wondering if there is any reason for an upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 ?

By the way I don't see any new significant stage compare to the 7.5.2.

Looks like few people are now working on the server version.

thanks.

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:29 pm

There are no new stage types compared to 7.5. Why would there be? There are new versions of some (stage types are versioned independently of the base product). There are some new items of functionality, such as parameter sets.

The main reason to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 is that there are fewer bugs in, and fewer patches required for, the latter. Most of the new functionality is in parallel jobs and tools that work with them, such as dynamic optimization.

JoshGeorge · Post by **JoshGeorge** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:48 pm

Check out the release notes:
New features and changes in Version 8.1 IBM InfoSphere Information Server

Notable one: DataStage logging was changed at release 8.1 to log job run detail records into the operational repository, (xmeta) rather than the local project level log files, (RT_LOGxxx) that we utilized in prior releases for each job. Which ended up giving performance impact and also resulted in missing log entries in some cases. Vendor suggests modification of 2 DSparams to revert to pre 8.1 logging.

vmcburney · Post by **vmcburney** » Tue Feb 17, 2009 6:43 pm

Not to mention that finding and looking at log files through Director is easy but finding and looking at log messages through the Information Server Reporting is a pain. The old logging is better. The main reason for going to 8.1 is all the products other than DataStage and QualityStage are much better. Workbench, Information Analyser, Glossary and FastTrack are more stable, have more functions and are easier to use.

kjaouhari · Post by **kjaouhari** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 3:10 am

Should I guess that there is no reason to upgrade from 8.0 to 8.1 ?

ray.wurlod · Post by **ray.wurlod** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 4:31 am

Fewer bugs would be a good reason TO upgrade, in my opinion.

sjfearnside · Post by **sjfearnside** » Fri Mar 13, 2009 6:21 am

I have been informed by IBM that the DB2 connector stage, which is new the V8.1, allows for remote parallel DB2 connectivity without all the hassle of configuring the ETL and DB2 server to use the DB2 enterprise stage. Has anyone used the DB2 connector for remote parallel connectivity to DB2?

vmcburney · Post by **vmcburney** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:39 pm

I cannot find that stage, I'm on 8.1 and it is not mentioned in the documentation and it is not installed in my Designer. I can see an ODBC Connector and a Teradata Connector but my only DB2 stages are Enterprise, UDB and Z. It's funny that the Teradata Connector is there but not DB2 - no signs of favouratism for IBM databases!

vmcburney · Post by **vmcburney** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 6:40 pm

I cannot find that stage, I'm on 8.1 and it is not mentioned in the documentation and it is not installed in my Designer. I can see an ODBC Connector and a Teradata Connector but my only DB2 stages are Enterprise, UDB and Z. It's funny that the Teradata Connector is there but not DB2 - no signs of favouratism for IBM databases!

sima79 · Post by **sima79** » Sun Mar 15, 2009 8:15 pm

The DB2 connector stage and distributed transaction stage are downloaded as a separate patch. There are 7 patches in total that need to be installed, 4 on the server side and 3 on the client side. You can download the patches from the following link: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.w ... ss=ct14db2

I did see some slide from IOD 2008 about an Oracle connector but looks like it did not make this release.

sima79 · Post by **sima79** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 6:19 am

Just got the DB2 connector installed. Note: This stage is only available in Parallel jobs. After installing I am able able to insert data in parallel. No complicated configuration required. The bulk load did not work out of the box. Looks like there is an issue with the default DB2 client installed with version 8.1 which results in the following error:

"write" mode set to "bulk load" fail with the SQLCODE SQL3009N

There is a patch available: http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.w ... wg21322938

Images of the new connector:

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vmcburney · Post by **vmcburney** » Mon Mar 16, 2009 7:24 am

At some point the connectors will also be available in server jobs. They are supposed to supercede enterprise stages and server database stages. Taking IBM a long time to roll them out.

thurmy34 · Post by **thurmy34** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 2:00 am

Hi all

Notable one: DataStage logging was changed at release 8.1 to log job run detail records into the operational repository, (xmeta) rather than the local project level log files, (RT_LOGxxx) that we utilized in prior releases for each job. Which ended up giving performance impact and also resulted in missing log entries in some cases. Vendor suggests modification of 2 DSparams to revert to pre 8.1 logging.

Can you tell me what the params are and where i can find them

Thanks

sjfearnside · Post by **sjfearnside** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:48 am

I found it in the DSParams file in the project directory. The parms I changed were

RTLogging=1
ORLogging=0

The above setting uses the project level log files, RT_LOGxxx.

chulett · Post by **chulett** » Wed Jul 01, 2009 5:48 am

Yah, nice to mention "2 params" and then not name them. Here's a thread with the details:

viewtopic.php?t=125607