DB2 Native Stored Procedures and Performance Tips
By Tom Nonmacher
Welcome to SQLSupport.org and today we will be discussing DB2 Native Stored Procedures and some performance tips to keep your operations running smoothly. Since their introduction, stored procedures have become an integral part of database management systems, providing an efficient way to encapsulate and manage SQL code. In DB2, native stored procedures have brought a host of benefits, such as improved performance and better integration with other IBM tools and technologies.
DB2 native stored procedures are written in SQL PL (SQL Procedural Language) and compiled into machine code, which is why they exhibit superior performance in comparison to External Stored Procedures written in other languages such as C or Java. Furthermore, the compilation of native stored procedures happens only once, and the generated machine code is stored in the catalog for future use. This eliminates the overhead of recompilation, further enhancing performance.
-- Example of a simple DB2 native stored procedure
CREATE PROCEDURE GET_EMPLOYEE_SALARY(IN EMP_ID INT)
LANGUAGE SQL
BEGIN
DECLARE SALARY DECIMAL(10,2);
SELECT EMP_SALARY INTO SALARY FROM EMPLOYEES WHERE EMP_ID = EMP_ID;
RETURN SALARY;
END
With the advent of SQL Server 2022 and Azure SQL, we now have the ability to integrate these platforms seamlessly with DB2. SQL Server 2022's PolyBase feature allows you to write T-SQL queries that can fetch data from DB2 databases, and Azure SQL Managed Instance provides a fully managed DB2 instance in the cloud. This means you can leverage the power of DB2 native stored procedures in conjunction with these modern platforms.
Furthermore, the Microsoft Fabric platform, a distributed systems platform that provides a range of services and capabilities for developing scalable and reliable applications, can be utilized to manage and orchestrate your DB2 instances, stored procedures, and other resources. This opens up a world of possibilities for building and managing complex, high-performing applications.
Delta Lake, an open-source storage layer that brings ACID transactions to Apache Spark and big data workloads, can be combined with DB2 to manage and process large volumes of data. You can use DB2 native stored procedures to interact with your Delta Lake, providing a robust, reliable, and efficient mechanism for data processing.
-- DB2 native stored procedure interacting with Delta Lake
CREATE PROCEDURE PROCESS_DELTA_LAKE_DATA()
LANGUAGE SQL
BEGIN
-- Process data in Delta Lake
CALL DELTA_LAKE_PROC();
END
Finally, the combination of OpenAI and SQL opens up exciting possibilities for DB2. With OpenAI's machine learning models, you can create intelligent applications that can generate SQL queries or even write stored procedures automatically. Databricks, an end-to-end data platform, can also be integrated with DB2, allowing you to run large-scale data processing jobs and machine learning workloads on your DB2 data.
In conclusion, DB2's native stored procedures offer a significant performance advantage due to their pre-compilation into machine code. By integrating DB2 with modern platforms like SQL Server 2022, Azure SQL, Microsoft Fabric, Delta Lake, OpenAI, and Databricks, we can build robust, scalable, and intelligent applications that leverage the full power of DB2 and these cutting-edge technologies.