[WG: Sakai QA] Supported Databases?

[Anthony Whyte]

Looking at previous Jira issues involving Db2, John Bush is a frequent assignee.  I'd start with him.  Also, Howard Baker of IBM has assured me that IBM is continuing support for DB2/WAS for 2.7.  

I continue to have concerns regarding the Db2 conversion scripts.  The scripts are incomplete when compared against the current mysql and oracle 2.7 conversion scripts.

I sense that developers who provide conversion scripts are 1) unfamiliar with DB2 and hesitant to update its scripts; and 2) are working under the assumption that IBM and rSmart are responsible for ensuring that the scripts are up-to-date and well-maintained.

Cheers,

Anth

Begin forwarded message:

> From: Howard Baker <hcbaker at us.ibm.com>
> Date: March 25, 2010 5:20:39 PM EDT
> To: Anthony Whyte <arwhyte at umich.edu>
> Cc: "Berg A. M." <A.M.Berg at uva.nl>, Coppola Chris <chris.coppola at rsmart.com>, "Adam Hocek" <Adam.Hocek at marist.edu>, Michael C Lavacca <mclavacc at us.ibm.com>, "John Bush" <john.bush at rsmart.com>
> Subject: Re: 2.7: DB2/Websphere support / MS SQL server conversion scripts
> 
> Anthony, it is true that we don't have the conversion scripts working for
> DB2 yet. We are working with the  IBM DB2 development to assist us with
> making the necessary changes.  It is not true that we haven't been
> actively working to make sure 2.7 is supported on WAS/DB2.
> 
> Our DB2/WAS support will continue for 2.7. We have been doing testing on
> 2.7 for several months now and fixed several issues related to running 2.7
> on WAS and DB2. We will begin testing of beta06 next week. We a have fully
> automated suite of testcases that we run on a regular basis against 2.6.x
> and 2.7.x on WAS/DB2 - and we have worked closely with the rSmart team to
> make sure our test suite is in synch with theirs.  I will provide you with
> a more detailed description of our testing in a separate note. We will also
> begin testing the rSmart 2.7 CLE on WAS/DB2 in earnest in a couple of
> weeks.
> 
> Although Marist still  runs their full production system on tomcat and
> mySQL, we are also running an  rSmart 2.6.3 CLE on WAS/DB2/system z  in a
> pilot production mode supporting a few school districts in the area. We did
> migrate this from rSmart 2.6.2 to 2.6.3 by setting auto.ddl=true. We have
> discussed the need to update the conversion scripts for DB2 but always had
> higher priority items to work on and a limited development team - so the
> conversion scripts always moved down the stack in terms of priorities. We
> have a little more breathing room now and that is why we are able to
> finally look into updating them for DB2.
> 
> Howard Baker, PMP®
> IBM Certified Executive Project Manager
> Marist College Joint Studies
> Marist Office:845-575-3101
> hcbaker at us.ibm.com
> 
>  From:       Anthony Whyte <arwhyte at umich.edu>                                                                       
> 
>  To:         Coppola Chris <chris.coppola at rsmart.com>, Howard Baker/Poughkeepsie/IBM at IBMUS                           
> 
>  Cc:         "Berg A. M." <A.M.Berg at uva.nl>                                                                          
> 
>  Date:       03/25/2010 12:42 PM                                                                                     
> 
>  Subject:    2.7: DB2/Websphere support / MS SQL server conversion scripts                                           
> 
> Gents--At today's release management meeting, I raised the issue of
> Websphere/Db2 support for Sakai 2.7, noting the anemic condition of the 2.7
> Db2 conversion script as compared to the MySQL and Oracle scripts.
> 
> MySQL:
> https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/reference/trunk/docs/conversion/sakai_2_7_0_mysql_conversion.sql
> 
> vs
> Db2:
> https://source.sakaiproject.org/svn/reference/trunk/docs/conversion/sakai_2_7_0_db2_conversion.sql
> 
> 
> Yesterday, I released sakai-2.7.0-b06 and as we look towards our first
> 2.7.0 release candidate both Alan and I are concerned that the apparent
> lack of active Websphere/Db2 support now represents something of a blocker.
> 
> My understanding (and correct me if I am wrong) is that rSmart and IBM were
> committed to providing support for the WAS project and for the Db2
> conversion script.  I myself have updated the WAS poms in an attempt to
> keep them in line with the latest versions of projects such as Samigo and I
> don't mind doing that so long as I know that there is a team available to
> provide overall support for Websphere/Db2.
> 
> If the support strategy has changed I think we should reconsider our claim
> that the Sakai Community provides active support for Websphere/Db2
> installations.   If active support cannot be guaranteed I suggest that we
> remove the WAS project and the Db2 conversion script from the 2.7.0 core
> distribution and relocate it to contrib.
> 
> Your view?
> 
> Cheers,
> 
> Anthony


On Apr 13, 2010, at 9:02 AM, Beth Kirschner wrote:

> Hi all,
> 
>   OSP has a reported problem (http://jira.sakaiproject.org/browse/SAK-18181) that only occurs with a DB2 database backend (QA7). Any suggestions on how to handle this? Since we don't list DB2 as a supported database, should we close it as "won't fix", or leave it open knowing that it likely wouldn't get fixed since we don't have a DB2 database to test with? Thoughts?
> 
> Thanks,
> - Beth
> 
> 
> 

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