Chapter 27: Further Reading — Performance Diagnosis Methodology

IBM Official Documentation

DB2 for z/OS Performance Monitoring and Tuning Guide. The definitive reference for z/OS performance diagnosis. Covers accounting trace interpretation, IFCID reference, buffer pool tuning, lock analysis, and SQL performance. Essential reading for any z/OS DBA.
DB2 for z/OS Managing Performance. Complements the tuning guide with focus on capacity planning, workload management, and ongoing performance management practices.
DB2 for z/OS Diagnosis Guide and Reference. Technical reference for trace output formats, IFCID definitions, and diagnostic procedures. The IFCID appendix is invaluable for setting up targeted traces.

DB2 LUW Knowledge Center — Monitoring and Performance. Complete reference for all MON_GET table functions, including parameter descriptions, output column definitions, and usage examples. URL: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/db2/
DB2 LUW Troubleshooting and Tuning Database Performance. Practical guide organized by problem type (query, locking, memory, I/O) with step-by-step diagnostic procedures.
IBM Data Server Manager — Performance Management. Documentation for IBM's graphical performance management tool, which provides dashboards, alert configurations, and historical trend analysis.

Mullins, Craig S. "DB2 Developer's Guide." 6th Edition. Part V on performance covers SQL tuning, access path optimization, and buffer pool configuration. The chapter on reading accounting traces is one of the clearest explanations available.
Lawson, Susan. "DB2 for z/OS and OS/390 Version 7: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask." Despite the older version, the performance diagnosis methodology chapters remain highly relevant. The accounting trace interpretation sections are exceptionally detailed.
Zikopoulos, Paul et al. "DB2 pureScale: Risk Free Agile Scaling." Relevant for LUW pureScale environments, covering performance considerations specific to clustered configurations including global lock management.
Gunning, Peter and Enzo Cialini. "DB2 SQL Tuning Tips for z/OS Developers." Focused specifically on SQL statement optimization with before/after examples. Covers Stage 1 vs. Stage 2 predicates, join optimization, and subquery transformations.
Jepsen, Thomas. "Performance Optimization and Tuning Techniques for IBM Processors." While not DB2-specific, this book covers the hardware performance factors (CPU cache, memory hierarchy, I/O subsystems) that affect database performance. Understanding the hardware layer helps explain why certain DB2 operations are expensive.

SG24-6511: "DB2 UDB for z/OS Version 8 Performance Topics." Comprehensive performance guide with real-world case studies. The methodology sections apply to all DB2 versions.
SG24-8222: "DB2 11 for z/OS Performance Topics." Updated for DB2 11, covering new performance features and diagnosis techniques. Includes detailed accounting trace analysis examples.
SG24-8093: "DB2 10 for LUW: Performance Topics for Application Developers and DBAs." LUW-focused performance guide with coverage of MON_GET functions, workload management, and query optimization.
SG24-7942: "DB2 Workload Manager for Linux, UNIX, and Windows." Covers workload management features that help classify and prioritize work, essential for managing the batch-OLTP coexistence described in this chapter.
REDP-4480: "Best Practices for DB2 for z/OS Performance." Concise best practices document covering the most impactful performance tuning actions. Good as a quick-reference checklist.

IDUG Annual Conference — Performance Track. IDUG's performance track consistently features sessions from IBM lab experts and experienced DBAs sharing real-world diagnosis stories. The case study format provides practical techniques that complement the methodology in this chapter.
SHARE Conference — DB2 Performance Sessions. SHARE (the z/OS and Linux user group) features deep technical sessions on z/OS performance, including accounting trace analysis workshops and OMEGAMON best practices.
IBM Think Conference — Data Platform Track. IBM's annual conference includes sessions on DB2 performance innovations, new monitoring capabilities, and optimization techniques.

IBM OMEGAMON for DB2 on z/OS. Real-time and historical performance monitoring. Provides dashboards for accounting data, lock analysis, buffer pool metrics, and SQL statement performance. The "exception analysis" feature automatically identifies performance anomalies.
BMC MainView for DB2. Third-party monitoring tool with comprehensive performance dashboards, automated alerting, and trend analysis. Known for intuitive navigation of accounting data.
IBM Data Studio. Cross-platform tool that includes EXPLAIN visualization, access path comparison, and query tuning advisor capabilities.

db2top. Interactive command-line tool for real-time monitoring. Sections include database overview, table metrics, buffer pool stats, lock analysis, and dynamic SQL. Launch with db2top -d <dbname>.
IBM Data Server Manager. Web-based monitoring and administration tool that replaces the older Control Center. Provides performance dashboards, alert configuration, and historical data retention.
db2pd. Command-line diagnostic tool that reads DB2 memory directly (no SQL interface required). Useful for diagnosing problems when SQL connections are unavailable. Key flags: -locks, -bufferpool, -applications, -dynamic.
db2exfmt. Formats EXPLAIN output into a readable access path diagram. Use after populating the EXPLAIN tables with EXPLAIN PLAN FOR <sql>.

IBM Community — DB2 Forum. Active community forum where DBAs share performance problems and solutions. Searching for specific symptoms or error codes often yields practical guidance.
DB2 Performance Journal (historical). While no longer published, archived issues contain detailed articles on performance diagnosis techniques that remain relevant.
Planet DB2 (planetdb2.com). Aggregator of DB2 blog posts from IBM experts and community members. Performance-related posts provide real-world case studies and techniques.

Shasha, Dennis and Philippe Bonnet. "Database Tuning: Principles, Experiments, and Troubleshooting Techniques." Morgan Kaufmann, 2002. Academic treatment of database performance tuning with a focus on experimental methodology. The chapter on "The Art of Troubleshooting" aligns with the systematic diagnosis approach in this chapter.
Lightstone, Sam, Toby Teorey, and Tom Nadeau. "Physical Database Design: The Database Professional's Guide." Morgan Kaufmann, 2007. Covers the physical design decisions (indexes, partitioning, clustering) that prevent performance problems. Understanding these decisions helps diagnose problems when they occur.

Chapter 15: Buffer Pool Tuning — Detailed guidance on sizing and configuring buffer pools, directly applicable to I/O-bound diagnosis.
Chapter 17: Indexing Strategies — Index design techniques that address CPU-bound problems caused by table scans and inefficient access paths.
Chapter 22: EXPLAIN and Access Paths — How to read and interpret EXPLAIN output, the primary tool for root cause analysis of CPU-bound problems.
Chapter 23: RUNSTATS, REORG, and Maintenance — Maintenance operations that prevent gradual degradation and access path regression.
Chapter 26: Locking, Concurrency, and Isolation Levels — Detailed locking concepts that inform the diagnosis of lock-bound problems.