Download IBM Optim Database Relationship Analyzer

Gain a clear understanding of complex
application database relationships
IBM Information Management software
IBM Optim Database Relationship Analyzer
Highlights
 Automatically analyze
How can you ensure data integrity
making it more challenging for DBA’s
to support application development
to navigate and manage database
initiatives?
relationships effectively.
Most of the ERP, CRM and custom
database relationships
applications that drive your business
Relational data, by its very nature
across applications
operations rely on complex relational
is fragmented, making it difficult to
database technology. It is not
recognize related information, let
uncommon for application databases
alone manipulate it. The referential
to contain dozens, hundreds or even
integrity of the data must remain intact,
thousands of database tables and
yet database administrators have no
just as many data relationships.
sure way to account for every possible
Database administrators are often
database relationship. Complete
challenged to navigate through the
intelligence about data relationships
database schema to ensure the
is almost never fully defined in the
referential integrity of the data each
database management system
validate changes and preserve
time a new application enhancement
(DBMS) catalog. Data relationships
data integrity
or upgrade is developed. The
often exist in the “real world” that
complexity of relational databases is
cannot be recorded in the DBMS. To
not limited to large-scale systems.
compensate, these real-world data
Even an application database of less
relationships are defined and enforced
than a dozen tables can support
by the application logic and must be
complex relationships and be
understood and maintained. Adding
accessed from other applications,
to the complexity is the challenge of
 Discover all, or specific
database relationships,
based on your parameters
 Identify hard-to-find
relationships defined and
enforced by the application logic
 Compare database images to
 Promote consistent database
administrative activities
managing data relationships across
changes, enhancing or adding new
on a user-defined set of parameters. For
heterogeneous database management
application functionality, as well as
example, you can specify a starting point
systems, legacy data and differing
database cleanup, migration and testing.
table, boundary objects, tables and
relationships to ignore, and additional
database schemas.
Now you can discover and save the
relationships to find. The discovery
Without access to a generalized
database relationship information
process can be run to analyze the
technology, there is no easy way to
as “groups” and manage these
entire database catalog or discover
determine how an anticipated change
relationship groups across your
the relationships specific to a selected
to the application database schema
enterprise application environment.
starting point table. You can also take
will impact the referential integrity of the
For example, discover relationships
advantage of the group validation
data. Related data must be analyzed
that are hard to find and manage, such
feature to compare one version of a
and understood to make its business
as those associated with monthly or
table/relationship group to another to
use in the enterprise application more
year-end applications and dynamic
determine if any changes have occurred
apparent. Once these challenges are
or transient applications. Identify
in the DBMS environment or in the
addressed, accuracy is improved,
relationship groupings to preserve the
applications that reference the tables in
data is more usable, and it is easier to
referential integrity of the data for other
the groups.
implement enterprise data management
data management activities, such
strategies, such as database archiving,
as archiving, test data management,
For example, you need to add a salary
test data management, data masking
data masking, backup and recovery
table to a payroll application and you
and more. So, what are your alternatives?
and replication with other tools. Group
want to see the impact that change
related tables based on how they are
will have on the other tables. You can
Analyzing data relationships to improve
used in the application environment,
use the group discovery process to
accuracy and data integrity
for example inventory, sales and
obtain a before and after view of the
The IBM® Optim™ Database
payroll, and other uses. To help you
database and then perform a group
Relationship Analyzer provides the
improve database management, the
validation to automatically pinpoint
capabilities to discover, record, refine
Optim Database Relationship Analyzer
the differences. First run the group
and manage groups of database
includes the following components:
discovery process on the original
tables and relationships that support a
Group Discovery, Trace Analyzer and
database to get a baseline. Then add
single business application or an entire
Integration APIs.
the salary table to the database and
enterprise application environment.
run the group discovery process again
Optim provides a complete view of
Discover all data relationships within a
to get a current version and view of
database relationships, essential
single application environment
related groups. Next, select that new
for planning application upgrades,
The Group Discovery process enables
version to compare to the baseline. The
initiating database and data relationship
finding the database relationships based
differences display automatically.
2
Support for integrated application
program interfaces
Integration API contains a set of SQL
views and stored procedures that
are defined on the Optim Database
Relationship Analyzer metadata
database and enable retrieving group
and table relationship information.
You can use these views and stored
procedures to retrieve group information
and table relationship information. In fact,
any DBMS tool or application can use the
views to retrieve information that might be
The Optim Data Relationship Analyzer discovers database relationships based on your search parameters.
helpful in managing your environment.
DBMS applications can call these
stored procedures. Optim provides
sample code statements that you can
Trace data relationships across different
For example, you make changes to the
application environments
data schema and want determine if any
Trace Analyzer complements the Group
external SQL applications, such as the
Discovery process to find database
payroll application, access the tables
relationships that are enforced by the
that you have deleted or renamed, so
application and not defined in the
you can update the source code.
database catalog. This function assesses
First, you would run the SQL trace on
the SQL trace information and parses
your database for a period of time when
the SQL (DDL and DML) statements that
it would be accessed by the external
were issued during a specific application
applications. Next, you would run the
run period. Optim considers tables to be
Trace Analyzer based on the SQL
help you perform impact analysis across
related if they are referenced in the SQL
trace information. Finally, simply run
databases before deleting or modifying
statements that were issued by the same
the Group Discovery process using
database elements, for example,
application. The Trace Analyzer supports
input from the Trace Analyzer to
renaming table columns.
DDL and DML statements, such as
discover the relationships between the
CREATE, ALTER, INSERT, DELETE,
updated payroll tables and the
The group validation feature helps
UPDATE and SELECT.
external applications.
analyze relationship information before
3
use to create a sample program to call
integrated stored procedures.
Obtain a complete view of your
application database environment
The capability to discover and
understand the data relationships within
a single application or across integrated
applications offers several benefits. The
capability to find table relationships can
and after changes are made, such as
application database environments in
deleting or adding a table and validating
less time, migrating referentially intact
runtime table interactions. The SQL trace
and complete sets of related data to
analysis feature helps you find application
reduce risk, and improving database
enforced data relationships that are not
management to lower costs.
defined in the DBMS catalog and makes
it easier to observe the runtime table
About IBM Optim Integrated Data
interactions of external applications that
Management Solutions
access your database. Understanding
IBM Optim Integrated Data Management
the data relationships makes it easier to
Solutions offer proven, integrated
identify and remove duplicate or unused
capabilities to manage enterprise
objects to optimize the database and help
improve performance. A clear picture
of the data relationships can also help
preserve the referential integrity.
Promote database accuracy
and consistency
It is essential to have a clear picture
of all relationship data to ensure data
consistency and keep the data relationally
intact. The relationship data is used to
fast track various data management
practices including archiving, backup
application data from requirements to
retirement. With Optim, teams can share
data artifacts (like models, policies and
metadata) to align data management
with business goals and improve
collaboration. Today, organizations of
all types leverage Optim to improve
performance, streamline database
administration, speed application
development, and enable effective
governance. Optim delivers better
business outcomes, at lower cost, with
and recovery, creating practical testing
less risk, while providing capabilities that
environments and understanding
scale across enterprise applications,
relationships in replication subscriptions.
databases and platforms.
Through integration with the IBM Optim
For more information
Data Growth Solution, IBM Optim Test
To learn more about IBM Optim
Data Management Solution and the IBM
Integrated Data Management Solutions,
Optim Data Privacy Solution, the Optim
contact your IBM sales representative or
Database Relationship Analyzer provides
visit: www.ibm.com/software/data/
the capabilities to analyze interrelated
optim-solutions/.
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Produced in the United States of America
12-08
All Rights Reserved
IBM, the IBM logo and Optim are trademarks or
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References in this publication to IBM products,
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IMS14075-USEN-00