The Informix Zone - certification

A new developerworks blog

Spokey — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 22:29:51 +0200

Kate Dawson has started blogging on developerworks, talking about the IBM Information Management Certification process. Her blog is available here.

IDS V11 Certification

eherber — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 13:30:42 +0100

IDS V11 Certification

Some kind of "house advertising":

There is a new article written by me and published in the DB2 Magazine that talks about IDS V11 Certification:

Becoming a Certified Informix Professional

If you have already mastered the certification exam or you have planned to do so in the near future, I would be happy if you write me your experiences, tips, comments. I will publish this useful information on The Informix Zone. If you are interested, you might also operate your own blog at The Informix Zone.

If you are still uncertain about the value of becoming an Informix Certified Professional , then read the new white paper from IDC analyst Carl W. Olofson. The paper describes why IDS is IBM's database of choice for high end OLTP environments as well as integrated solutions.

IBM's Secret Weapon

Companies bet on Informix because it has approved it's legendary reliability over many many years and companies will bet on you as a certified Informix Professional to implement the optimal solution that meets their challenging demands.

Prepare yourself !

IBM Certified System Administrator - IDS V11

eherber — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 20:55:52 +0100

IBM Certified System Administrator - IDS V11

Yes, I did it !!

To set a good example The Informix Zone took the official IBM Informix Certification Test:

Test 918: System Administration for IBM Informix Dynamic Server V11

This morning I went to Cologne - the city that is well known for it's famous carnival as well as the historic cathedral - and attended the IDS V11 Certification Test at an authorized Prometric test center.

It took me about 1.5 hours and some drops of sweat to pass -:) The test is real challenge because the passing score is 70% compared to 59% (DB2 9 DBA LUW) and 55% (DB2 V9 Upgrade) for comparable DB2 certification tests. It seems to me that Informix DBA's have another claim than DB2 DBA's -:)

In preparation for the test I walked thru the eight new certificaton tutorials:

System Administration Certification exam 918 for IBM IDS 11 prep series

Those tutorials build - beside a solid practical experience - the foundation for passing the test. However I would recommend the following additional resources that helped me too:

Download the free IDS Developer Edition and make yourself familiar with the many new IDS V11 features.

This is a good time for Informix certification. Continuous license growth approves that Informix is alive and well doing. Expect a bunch of new projects and opportunities in 2008 and prepare yourself for those challenges with an official certification that approves your solid Informix experience.

Get certified on IDS V11!!

Get certified on IDS

eherber — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 20:13:19 +0200

IBM Certified System Administrator

IBM Certified System Administrator - IDS V11

Details:

Overview
- Approximate # of questions: 74
- Duration in minutes: 120
- Format: MULTIPLE CHOICE
- Required Passing Score: 70%
Breakdown
1. Installation and Configuration (14%)
2. System Activity Monitoring (no Java) (12%)
3. Troubleshooting (14%)
4. Performance Tuning (18%)
5. Database Server Operations (12%)
6. Backup and Restore (11%)
7. Replication (11%)
8. SQL (8%)
Recommended Materials
Official IBM Website
1. Test 918: System Administration for IBM IDS V11

IBM Certified System Administrator - IDS V10

Details:

Overview
- Approximate # of questions: 73
- Duration in minutes: 120
- Format: MULTIPLE CHOICE
- Required Passing Score: 61%
Breakdown
1. Database Physical System Design (8%)
2. Installation and Configuration (13%)
3. System Activity Monitoring (14%)
4. Troubleshooting (14%)
5. Performance Tuning (22%)
6. Dbspace Configuration (11%)
7. Database Server Operations (8%)
8. Backup and Restore (10%)
Recommended Materials
Official IBM Website
1. Test 917: System Administration for IBM IDS V10

You can take a test exam for a 10$ fee:

Taking a test exam...

The real certification exam is sometimes offered for free at special events like the IBM IOD Conference 2007 for example.

The whole year round you can take the certification test here:

Thomson Prometric Inc.

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial VIII

eherber — Mon, 13 Aug 2007 21:46:38 +0200

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial VIII

The eighth IDS 11.1 certification tutorial called SQL features for administrators has been published.

Excerpt:
This tutorial explains the syntax and usage of SQL features in IBM Informix Dynamic Server 11.10. It covers SQL features that are new in Version 11 as well as the features that an administrator would need.

Objectives:

Understand SQL features in IDS 11.0
Understand the SQL Administration API
Understand how to use enhanced data-type and UDR support in cross-server distributed operations
Understand various new SQL features like basic-text publishing and XML publishing
Understand the usage of optimizer directives and improved statistic maintenance
Understand label-based access control (LBAC) data security

Download Part 8 of the IDS 11.1 Certification Tutorial here...

This was the last part of the series. You can find all of the eight tutorials here:

IDS V11 - Certification Tutorials

After working thru the individual tutorials you should take the IDS V11 certification exam:

Info about IDS V11 Certification Exam

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial VII

eherber — Sat, 04 Aug 2007 10:40:24 +0200

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial VII

The seventh IDS 11.1 certification tutorial called Replication has been published.

Excerpt:
This tutorial explains how to configure and manage High Availability Data
Replication (HDR) systems, Enterprise Replication (ER) systems, Remote
Standalone Secondary (RSS) systems, and Shared Disk Secondary (SDS) systems.

Objectives:

Understand the various replication offerings available with IDS 11
Understand requirements for setting up ER, HDR, RSS, and SDS environments
Become comfortable with replication terminology
Configure and manage replication environments

Download Part 7 of the IDS 11.1 Certification Tutorial here...

IDS 11.1- Certification Tutorial IV

eherber — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:08:24 +0200

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial IV

The fourth IDS 11.1 certification tutorial called Performance Tuning has been published.

Excerpt:
IDS is a complex and tunable product. This tutorial will help you get optimal
performance from your server.

This tutorial is also designed to introduce you to the subsystems within IDS 11 and
to show you how to look at them. In this tutorial, you will learn about:

Checkpoints
Recovery
Physical logging
Logical logging
Asynchronous IO VP
Network parameters
Disk resources
CPU VP resources
PDQ and the Memory Grant Manager
Scan threads
Index creation
Statistics maintenance

This tutorial is the fourth in a series of eight tutorials that can help you prepare for the System Administration for IBM IDS V11 Certification (Exam 918). The material in this tutorial primarily covers the objectives in Section 4 of the test, which is entitled Performance tuning.

Objectives:

Tune your IDS system to improve performance
Understand operating system resource considerations

Download Part 4 of the IDS 11.1 Certification Tutorial here...

IDS 11.1- Certification Tutorial V

eherber — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 21:51:05 +0200

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial V

The fifth IDS 11.1 certification tutorial called Database Server Operations has been published.

Excerpt:
This tutorial describes the operating mode used by IBM Informix Dynamic Server
11.10. Learn how to initialize the database server, understand what each mode
indicates, and learn how to change the mode of operation.

This tutorial is the fifth in a series of eight tutorials that can help you prepare for the System Administration for IBM IDS V11 Certification (Exam 918).

Objectives:

Understand the operating modes of IDS 11
Change the operating mode when necessary

The tutorial provides an excellent introduction into the operating modes of IDS and how to switch between them.

Download Part 5 of the IDS 11.1 Certification Tutorial here...

IDS 11.1- Certification Tutorial III

eherber — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:12:53 +0200

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial III

The third IDS 11.1 certification tutorial called IDS System Activity Monitoring has been published.

Excerpt:
IDS is a large and complicated product. It can sometimes be mystifying wondering about where to start when looking how to diagnose a problem.
This tutorial is designed to introduce you to a variety of monitoring tools that are available with IDS 11 and to show you how each are used. In this tutorial, you will learn about:

The sysmaster database
The sysadmin database
The onstat utility
Use concurrency

This tutorial is the third in a series of eight tutorials that can help you prepare for the System Administration for IBM IDS V11 Certification (Exam 918). The material in this tutorial primarily covers the objectives in Section 3 of the test, which is entitled "Troubleshooting."

Objectives:

Use system-monitoring interface
Know the tables in the sysadmin database
Use onstat to examine shared memory
Know use concurrency with lock level option

The tutorial provides an excellent introduction into the activity monitoring concepts of IDS.

Download Part 3 of the IDS 11.1 Certification Tutorial here...

IDS 11.1- Certification Tutorial VI

eherber — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 09:20:48 +0200

IDS 11.1 - Certification Tutorial VI

The sixth IDS 11.1 certification tutorial called IDS Backup and Restore has been published.

No, you didn't miss part III, IV, V. They have not been published yet, but I'm sure we will see them in the next couple of weeks.

Excerpt:
In this tutorial, you'll learn about backup and restore concepts, and about IDS strategies, utilities, and commands for managing your database backup and restore processes. The material provided here primarily covers the objectives in Section 6 of the exam, entitled "Backup and Restore."

Objectives:

Develop an archiving strategy and schedule for database server backups
Know which type of backup to perform and when
Configure OnBar and ontape to perform backups and restores
How to monitor and verify backups
Understand recovery and restore the database server from an archive backup
Restore the database server from an archive backup

The tutorial provides an excellent introduction into the backup/restore concepts of IDS.

Download Part 6 of the IDS 11.1 Certification Tutorial here...