DB2 image copies are required to allow recovering data to any point in time. The easiest way to  ensure recoverability is to run daily full backups for all objects, but this way you may be taking unnecessary backups. Real Time Statistics can be used to identify the rate of changes since the last backup and then take full or incremental backups accordingly. TUC automates the process, identifies automatically objects for full or incremental COPY, generates and executes the backup jobs.

Triggering Execution
DB2 collects Real Time Statistics that can be used to identify the rate of changes since the last COPY. TUC allows you  to define rules to examine Real Time Statistics and catalog  statistics and qualify objects for full or incremental COPY.  TUC can also identify automatically if changes made after  the last copy are no longer recorded in the active logs.  It triggers a backup to speed up recovery time and meet  required service level agreements. Utility jobs can be automatically triggered and handed over to a scheduler to process only the selected objects.

Managing Incremental Copies
Incremental image copies can help in cutting  the cost of backups because these backups run faster and require less space. Tablespaces have space map pages that map all the pages in the tablespace and include an indication for each page that has been changed since the last copy. This way the incremental copy reads only the pages that need backup instead of scanning the entire  tablespace. If you do take incremental copies,  you still need to take a full backup from time to time to  make sure that a full backup is always available. Also, a full  backup with longer retention might be required periodically, for example, monthly or yearly backups. TUC allows you to force full backups periodically using a calendar.

Ensuring recoverability
The QUIESCE utility is often used to set a point of consistency for recovery. However, QUIESCE does not ensure recoverability because you cannot recover if the last full image copy is lost, logs are lost or a non recoverable event occurred since the last backup. TUC ensures that points of consistency are recoverable by checking non recoverable events and the availability of image copies and logs. A new backup is taken automatically if an event such as LOAD REPLACE took place after the last backup.

Naming Syncpoints
Syncpoints are recorded with a meaningful name, assigned  by your application, to allow you to easily identify the log point you wish to recover to. For example, you can name a syncpoint with a meaningful name such as »BEFORE-DAILY-BATCH « and then if something goes wrong with your daily batch and you wish to recover to the point in time before the daily batch started, TUC  can easily generate RECOVER statements using the log point associated  with this syncpoint name. It also allows  you to schedule recovery jobs automatically without knowing ahead of time the desired log point.

Easy generation of recovery jobs
Lack of availability may affect your operations, income  and reputation. It is difficult to be prepared for every  possible recovery scenario. There are too many. The DBA must have good skills and tools to easily and quickly help generating recovery jobs for each specific scenario. TUC allows generating recovery jobs using a friendly online  dialog, to recover an entire disk, an entire database, recovery to last backup or to a point in time. In addition TUC allows generating recovery jobs for expected scenarios and executes these recovery jobs by priority, for example,  as part of a disaster recovery scenario. Using priorities allow the recovery of your most critical tables first. TUC recovers indexes instead of rebuilding indexes whenever possible. Auxiliary, dependent or related objects can be included automatically. TUC speeds up the recovery  process using parallelism, which allows scanning the log once for a list of objects.

Automating DSN1COPY
DSN1COPY allows you to recover data using image copies  that are no longer recorded in the DB2 catalog or copy  data from tables that have a matching structure. TUC  allows you to easily generate DSN1COPY jobs by specifying the source dataset pattern and  the target object names. TUC automatically relates datasets to objects  using templates*, verifies the compatibility of target and source objects,  generates the internal ids translation  tables**, defines missing linear VSAM  files and generates the required JCL  for execution. Indexes are rebuilt only  if the indexspace was not included  in the source datasets. Identity columns restart values are  adjusted automatically. TUC can invoke DSN1COPY in a single step for a large number of datasets and can process DSN1COPY using multiple jobs running in parallel to speed up the copy process.

*) TUC relates datasets to objects if these objects are  not recorded in SYSCOPY using template definitions. TUC simply uses the same template statements used to allocate image copy and resolves the values of the template symbols to relate the  dataset to an object. In addition, TUC continues to record all existing image copies even after these image copies have been removed from SYSCOPY by the MODIFY RECOVERY utility.

**) Internal ids translation and compatibility check is possible because TUC collects OBIDS with every backup and can identify the table structure related to each image copy. This information can be shared by multiple subsystems to allow you to copy data from subsystem to subsystem.

Processing Requests
TUC has a unique mechanism that allows users to trigger  backup jobs and QUIESCE jobs at meaningful points in time that fits into the application’s jobs flow. Jobs can be handed over to the scheduler as needed. This approach  differs from common solutions because it takes into considerations the business requirements. TUC allows full integration with application jobs and avoids collision between utility jobs and application processing.

Why TUC?
TUC automates the generation and execution of DB2  utilities and allows you to handle your DB2 maintenance efficiently. TUC automation helps saving resources and cutting down expensive maintenance tasks while ensuring full recoverability and availability. TUC allows you to cut  the cost of backups, REORG and statistics collection by using Real Time Statistics. TUC improves the DBA productivity and allows easy automation of repeatable tasks. You can minimize the damage of availability loss by ensuring fast recovery. Efficient database maintenance also improves the overall system performance by increasing capacity. TUC is the ultimate product to automate the DB2 maintenance procedures by providing dynamic services  to match your needs and demands. [/slider]