Oracle and DB2 - An Architectural Comparison

Update—Apr 19, 2011:

Thanks to the guys over at ChannelDB2.com, if you couldn't make it to this webcast teleconference, you can go through the recording at your pace, at your place:

Also available are:

• the slides of the presentation (PDF, 1.8MB) and
• the audio recording (MP3, 17MB, 90min)

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Personal History

Remembering the Advanced Databases classes taken at my alma mater University in Iaşi, I find that prof. Victor Felea's focus on Oracle-only solutions was a rather limiting one. It was thanks to prof. Sabin Buraga's passion for Web Technologies that many of my colleagues and I were exposed to alternatives, all the way to NoSQL.

Contemporary Fact

Still, most of the extensive Database courses revolve around only one specific DBMS. You guessed that right: that ends up being the main skill of the graduate that wants to tackle enterprise level DBs. But when taking on a DB-centered career path, he/she needs a better understanding of the bigger picture; and this is when advices from his/her more experienced peers are most valuable. Asking a senior colleague what is his suggestion for an aspiring professional, he recommended a toolbox of skills that spread well beyond a single DBMS. How is this an obvious advantage, you ask?

• most enterprises use more than one DBMS in-house;
• therefore it may be useful to get skilled in more than one Enterprise class DBMS;
• first obvious advantage: this improves career prospects if jobs for one database are more in demand;
• secondly, you can have a higher salary if you know about more than one DB;
• yes, the head of the database team will most likely earn more than a DBA in the team who is only knowledgeable about a single DBMS!

Oracle and DB2 - An Architectural Comparison

Following the Chat with the Labs series of webinars, I could not help but notice that the previous episodes mostly catered to existing DB2 users. This is why I was surprised when I read about the Oracle and DB2 - An Architectural Comparison:

Many database professionals and DBAs often ask how DB2 and Oracle compare architecturally, that is, how they are different and similar at their core. They also ask what are the equivalent concepts, names, commands etc. in the other database system. This free webinar will answer those questions by covering the following topics in detail:

• Server architecture comparison (e.g. instances and database model, process vs. thread)
• Memory architecture comparison (e.g. Oracle SGA & PGA vs. DB2 instance, database and application memory)
• Parameters, environment variables and registry variables
• Database storage model comparison (e.g. table space types and layouts, compression approaches)
• Basic database administration comparison (e.g. terminology, create database, start/stop, dictionary vs. system catalog, performance)
• Compatibility mode for running Oracle applications with DB2

This webcast, scheduled for Thursday, March 31 2011, at 12:30pm (EST) is intended for the database professional, fresh or experienced, who is:

• familiar with Oracle and looking to learn more about DB2 (for Linux, Unix and Windows);
• familiar with DB2 and looking to learn more about Oracle;
• working in a heterogeneous environment and looking to expand their DBMS knowledge and career prospects.

Edit: Since the (limited) number of places is filling up fast, I recommend that you register now!

Edit Mar 14^th: With almost 2 weeks left till the live event, it is already sold out and no additional registrations are being accepted at this time.