Extracting From DB2

[agdata]

Currently, most of our operational systems are os390 vsam. Our data extract strategy is based around an end-of-day process which includes a nightly tape backup of operational files. The data warehouse sources are those point-in-time snapshots of operational data on tapes. EOD reporting also uses this point-in-time reporting stategy.

My question: We are migrating to DB2. My understanding is that the database backups are some proprietary flat file format used in a DB2 restore function and are not useable as an extract source. Is it common in a database operational environment to take "reporting" snapshots? If so, are they a set of replicated tables? If not, how do you deal with the issues of out-of-sync data sources because there is no common extact time?

 

[RogerCruse]

I suggest you ignore the backups and simply extract the tables you want - this is what we did.

Yes, it is common to take snapshots - this reduces the impact of producing reports directly from your operational data and gives you a consistent repeatable point of reference.

The out-of-sync problem will have to be resolved by taking copies at the same time