February 29, 2008
To celebrate the publication of a number of important new IBM Press books, we are offering:
GO GET THE SPECIAL OFFERS – CLICK HERE
February 27, 2008
As a program manager for IBM Press books, I think all of our books are great tools for our customers. This book review caught my attention. It’s one of the small things that makes my day. The reviewer calls the book practical and for everyday use. I like to imagine all our books being in easy reach of our customers.
http://ibmsystemsmag.blogs.com/db2utor/2008/02/book-review-und.html
I like the flow of the chapters, starting with DB2′s history and its evolving versions. The book then covers:
The amount of information can be overwhelming, but the authors do a good job of explaining things and giving real examples of how it all works. You can see how things are done manually using line commands and then how you can do those same things with the GUI tools.
Here are some things I liked that I’ve not seen in other books:
As I said, this book works not only as an DB2 introduction or certification tool, but also as a reference guide. Each chapter is independent, so if you’re working on a backup and recovery plan, see Chapter 14 (“Developing Database Backup and Recovery Solutions”). If you’re working with development and need to copy data from production to development or create several development instances, read Chapter 13 (“Maintaining Data”). Incidentally, I like the case study for maintaining data. You’re asked to set up a DB2 instance on a Windows machine and get data from an AIX machine. The case study not only highlights the data concerns with setting up a new Windows development environment, it also addresses the performance issues.
If you need to learn XML you’ll love Chapter 10 (“Mastering the DB2 pureXML Support”). When XML Extenders was introduced in 2001, I presented on XML development at IDUG Asia Pacific. DB2 V9.5 is light years ahead of what was available in that first release, and the authors do a great job breaking down and showing very good examples of what and how to use SQL/XML and XQUERY.
This is a practical book for everyday use. If you’ll be working with DB2 for LUW Version 9 or 9.5, you should have a copy on your desk. Next week I’ll review another good book from IBM Press–”DB2 9 for Linux, Unix and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference and Exam Prep.”
February 21, 2008
I am in the middle of moving. I can’t think of anything worse than packing the contents of your house. I think I am horder! What a load of stuff I have collected over the years – tucked in closets and drawers. And does anyone really need 14 white turtlenecks! Anyway – I was taking a break and reading some reviews of our IBM Press Books. Here’s one on Amazon that made me smile. It turned out to be a nice break from the action.
”I have spent the last few days in reading the contents of this book and I must say that this book is of a rare kind and the author has done an excellent and an amazing job in explaining the entire implementation cycle of Rational Unified Process which no other authors have done in the past. In this book Joshua has really applied his experience and skills of several years and has clearly demonstrated typical real life scenarios of an RUP implementation through statistical figures and analysis.
“In my opinion, this book will definitely serve as a good reference guide to organizations who would like to use the Rational Unified Process as an SDLC methodology but are completely oblivious on how to implement it. I would highly recommend this book as an excellent resource to RUP Practitioners, Software Developers, Business Analysts, Project Managers and aspiring RUP mentors.”
So – here’s the details on the book:
This book delivers all the knowledge and insight you need to succeed with the IBM Rational Unified Process and Solutions. Joshua Barnes presents a start-to-finish, best-practice roadmap to the complete implementation cycle of IBM RUP–from projecting ROI and making the business case through piloting, implementation, mentoring, and beyond.
Drawing on his extensive experience leading large-scale IBM RUP implementations and working with some of the industry’s most recognized thought leaders in the Software Engineering Process world, Barnes brings together comprehensive “lessons learned” from both successful and failed projects. You’ll learn from real-world case studies, including actual project artifacts.
Whether you’re an executive, software professional, or consultant, this book will help you continuously improve the maturity of your development processes–and reap the benefits: better quality, faster delivery, and more business value.
After reading this book you will be able to
· Get past the myths of software process improvement to focus on what’s truly practical
· Identify and evaluate your best candidate process solutions
· Objectively project the ROI achievable with IBM R UP and IBM Rational solutions
· Develop funding models, business cases, and executive support
· Recruit, staff, organize, and motivate your implementation team
· Plan for effective integration, process alignment, and change management
· Choose the right pilots, learn the right lessons, and develop effective adoption models
· Move quickly to successful program-level implementation
· Set maturity level goals for process and tool utilization
· Map “End States” for both quantity and quality
· Plan for training and mentoring–and understand the distinct role of each
· Keep the momentum going after your implementation is complete
Link to http://www.upmentors.com, where you can download actual sample implementation documents–not just templates!
February 11, 2008
Some books are continually updated. When you have a book on a software product, it’s important to stay up to date on the new releases. Sometimes the author teams move around and it’s hard to stay on track over time. George Baklarz and Paul C. Zikopolous are like a Timex watch – they keep on ticking and ticking – writing and writing. Here’s their latest DB2 book TOC:
DB2 9 for Linux, UNIX, and Windows: DBA Guide, Reference, and Exam Prep, 6th Edition
February 8, 2008
A few weeks ago I talked about John Rickett’s new book, Reaching The Goal: How Managers Improve a Services Business Using Goldratt’s Theory of Constraints.
John recently a series of podcasts on this topic – so kick back and have a listen.
Managing services is extremely challenging, and traditional “industrial” management techniques are no longer adequate. In “Reaching the Goal,” Dr. John Arthur Ricketts presents a breakthrough management approach that embraces what makes services different: their diversity, complexity, and unique distribution methods.
February 6, 2008
During a recent conference call with a new author team, the topic of “how to write” came up. The folks wanted to know if we had guidelines, do’s and dont’s etc…. Well we do and we don’t. We have them in different forms – like Powerpoint presentations and Word documents – but we don’t have a comprehensive document. My colleague has spent the last couple of days pulling that together. I just remembered that we have an IBM Press book on the subject. While it doesn’t address business books – it’s a great resource for creating technical documents. Sometimes things are right under your nose! Here’s the skinny on the book:
Developing Quality Technical Information
Direct from IBM’s own documentation experts, this is the definitive guide to developing outstanding technical documentation–for the Web and for print. Using extensive before-and-after examples, illustrations, and checklists, the authors show exactly how to create documentation that’s easy to find, understand, and use. This edition includes extensive new coverage of topic-based information, simplifying search and retrievability, internationalization, visual effectiveness, and much more.
Coverage includes:
Whether you’re a writer, editor, designer, or reviewer, if you want to create great documentation, this book shows you how!
February 5, 2008
When IBM Press published its first SOA book in 2005 there were only a few books in the market on this topic. Our SOA Compass book was one of the first books to really explain the SOA infrastructure. Fast forward to 2008 and there are dozens of books on SOA. We have published two more since 2005 – Sandy Carter’s New Language of Business – SOA and Web 2.o and just a few weeks ago we released, WebSphere Business Integration Primer: Process Server, BPEL, SCA, and SOA. We have more SOA books in the pipeline – the space is getting crowded by its such an important IT topic and we want to take a leadership position here. Leaders must lead!
So about our new book – here’s the TOC and a link to purchase:
Chapter 1 Business Integration 1
Business Integration Challenge 1
Service-Oriented Architecture 3
SOA Lifecycle 5
Business Integration Programming Model 7
BPEL (Now Called WS-BPEL) 8
Service Data Objects 8
Closing the Link 9
Links to developerWorks 9
Chapter 2 Business Integration Architecture and Patterns 11
Business Integration Scenarios 12
Business Integration: Roles, Products, and Technical Challenges 12
The Business Object Framework 14
Service Component Architecture 16
Business Integration Patterns 21
Business Processes 23
Qualifiers 23
Closing the Link 24
Links to developerWorks 25
Chapter 3 Business Orchestration 27
Business Processes 27
BPEL 28
BPEL Extensions 35
Short-Running and Long-Running Processes 35
BPEL and SCA 38
Closing the Link 38
Links to developerWorks 39
Chapter 4 WebSphere Integration Developer 41
Installing WID 41
Working with WID 42
Business Integration Solution Building Blocks 43
Creating Projects and Other Artifacts 44
Process Editor 54
Assembly Editor 57
Visual Snippet Editor 61
Exporting Modules 64
Testing Modules and Components 67
Logging and Troubleshooting 71
Eclipse Shell Sharing 72
Closing the Link 72
Links to developerWorks 73
Chapter 5 WebSphere Process Server 75
WebSphere Process Server in a Nutshell 76
Terminology and Topology 82
Installing WPS 85
WPS Clustered Topologies 87
Topology Choices 92
Closing the Link 97
Links to developerWorks 98
Chapter 6 Business Processes 99
Sample Application 99
Working with a Short-Running Business Process 102
Working with a Long-Running Business Process 108
Advanced BPEL Features 113
Closing the Link 122
Links to developerWorks 123
Chapter 7 Business Maps and Business Rules 125
Supporting Services 125
Mapping 126
A Mapping Scenario 129
Implementing Maps 132
Relationships 138
A Relationship Scenario 138
Business Rules 142
A Decision Table Scenario 143
Selectors 152
Mediation 153
Closing the Link 154
Links to developerWorks 154
Chapter 8 Business State Machines, Human Tasks, and Web Services 155
Business State Machines 155
State Transition Diagram of the Order Process 156
Implementing the Order Business State Machine 158
Human Tasks 166
User Interface 168
Web Services 171
Working with Web Services in WID 172
Closing the Link 179
Links to developerWorks 179
Chapter 9 Business Integration Clients 181
Business Process Choreographer (BPC) 181
Business Process Choreographer Explorer 182
Working with the BPC Explorer 183
Observing Versus Monitoring 189
Common Event Infrastructure (CEI) 190
Business Process Choreographer Event Collector 193
Business Process Choreographer Observer (BPCO) 193
Working with the Observer 196
Closing the Link 197
Links to developerWorks 198
Chapter 10 Business Integration Services Management 199
Security 199
Logging and Tracing 210
Message Logger 213
Closing the Link 217
Links to developerWorks 217
Chapter 11 Business Integration Programming 219
SCA Programming Model 219
Event Sequencing in WPS 229
Business Graphs and Programmatic Manipulation of Business Objects 232
APIs or SPIs 237
Visual Programming 242
Closing the Link 249
Links to developerWorks 249
Chapter 12 WebSphere Adapters 251
Adapters 252
Adapter Architecture 254
Working with an Adapter 258
FTP, Flat File, and Email Adapters 266
SAP Adapter 266
Siebel Adapter 267
Custom Adapters 268
Closing the Link 271
Links to developerWorks 271
Chapter 13 Business Modeling 273
Installing WebSphere Business Modeler 274
Business Modeling Terms and Concepts 274
Working with WebSphere Business Modeler 276
Business Process Diagrams 280
Business Measures 281
Working with the Business Model 282
Closing the Link 293
Links to developerWorks 293
Chapter 14 Business Monitoring 295
Business Activity Monitoring 296
Installing WebSphere Business Monitor 298
Installing WebSphere Business Monitor Development Toolkit 298
Working with WebSphere Business Monitor 301
KPIs 302
Dashboards 302
Monitor Models 303
Working with MME 305
Closing the Link 318
Links to developerWorks 319
Chapter 15 Enterprise Service Bus and Service Registry 321
WebSphere Service Registry and Repository (WSRR) 322
Installing WSRR 324
Working with WSRR 326
WSRR and WID 332
Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) 335
WebSphere Enterprise Service Bus 336
WESB Terminology 337
Installing WESB 342
Working with WESB 343
WESB and WID 344
Closing the Link 348
Links to developerWorks 348
Appendix A WebSphere Process Server Installation 349
Installing WebSphere Process Server 349
Creating a Profile 353
Installing WPS Silently 358
Creating Additional Profiles Silently 359
WPS Installation Folder 359
Uninstalling WPS 360
Appendix B WebSphere Integration Developer Installation 361
Installing WebSphere Integration Developer 361
WID Usage 364
Updating WID 366
Appendix C WebSphere Business Modeler Installation 367
Installing WebSphere Business Modeler 367
Appendix D WebSphere Business Monitor Installation 373
Installing WebSphere Business Monitor 373
Installing WebSphere Business Monitor Development Toolkit 380
Appendix E WebSphere Service Registry and Repository Installation 385
Installing WSRR 385
Installing the WSRR Eclipse Plug-in in WID 388
Appendix F WebSphere Adapter Toolkit Installation 393
Installing WebSphere Adapter Toolkit 393
Verifying the WAT Eclipse Plug-in in WID 395
February 1, 2008
I must get 20 newsletters a month via email. None of them are trash – they are ones that I subscribe too. I can’t remember ever reading an entire newsletter – but without exception there is always something that catches my attention and spurs me to action. We started the IBM Press newsletter a few years ago. Thousands of people receive it but not all IBM Press book buyers have signed up. That’s too bad because everymonth there is good stuff packed in there – discount coupons, new book announcments, author podcasts etc…
I think a lot of people don’t know about newsletter. We are not “in your face” about it. I need to change that. So, I thought I would start here. You don’t need to put in any information other than your email. Here’s your link:
