IDUG EMEA 2026

This presentation will provide the ongoing success story Db2 z/OS Version 13 and covers the latest experiences with Db2 13 at Commerzbank AG. It will talk about some key important areas which are essential for the success and how to prevent some known avoidable pitfalls. We share the important latest experiences of the last 12 months, explains the upcoming and validated best practices in several key areas. This session will also dive into Function Level dependencies, maintenance aspects, some tooling dependencies, and some performance aspects as well as base utilities and system functionalities.

Switching on the AI Query Optimiser in Db2 v12 is straightforward, but what do you do after you have switched it on? How do you confirm that it is doing what you want? How do you limit its execution to focus on just the tables you need and want? How do you confirm that it is having a positive effect? How do you manage the resources that it uses?
This presentation recounts some of the tricks, pitfalls and gotchas encountered in actual customer implementations of the AI Query Optimiser.

In this session, I provide an inside look at how Db2 is used, operated, and evolved within SD Worx, a payroll/HR service provider, running running a mixed COBOL and .NET application landscape.
The presentation walks through the Db2 environment at SD Worx and illustrates real-world production workloads (with its struggles). We'll explore trends in Db2 growth, the impact of data integration (including the migration from IDMS), and how replication technologies are used to offload reporting, analytics, and decentral processing without impacting core workloads.
Special attention is given to Db2 Connect and connection management challenges in distributed .NET environments. Including real‑world P1 incidents (don't trust your distributed teams blindly!) and how to avoid them using Db2 Profiles, driver configuration and monitoring.Db2 Profiles are also used to regain control over legacy clients and get rid of the soon to be deprecated (and this time for real!) synonyms, which will be explained

In 2025, NatWest undertook a comprehensive reassessment of its Db2 recovery strategy to align with evolving banking regulations and to take advantage of modern platform capabilities. This review aimed to uncover limitations in existing processes, improve operational performance, and strengthen compliance.
As part of this effort, the bank evaluated Db2 utility features and automation tools that could streamline recovery activities, enforce consistent best‑practice standards, and reduce the need for continual manual tuning of utility options. Future resilience was also a priority, with the strategy designed to support NatWest’s planned adoption of Cyber Vault technology.
This session explores the challenges encountered throughout the transformation, the solutions implemented to overcome them, and the best practices that emerged—highlighting how NatWest is modernising its Db2 recovery landscape while preparing for the future.

With growing data volumes, mixed workloads, and strict SLAs, effective tuning demands a structured, end-to-end approach.
This session focuses on practical, real-world Db2 tuning techniques that deliver measurable performance improvements in production systems. Attendees will learn how to identify high-cost SQL using Db2 accounting and statistics data, analyse access paths with EXPLAIN, and apply targeted tuning at the SQL, object, and subsystem levels.
Topics include SQL and predicate optimization, index design best practices, EDM pool and sort tuning considerations, and understanding performance differences between static and dynamic SQL.
Participants will leave with actionable techniques they can immediately apply to improve response times and control Db2 CPU usage.

Index pages splitting is a normal DB2 process when inserting or updating rows into table. However, this process can consume CPU resources and generate latch contention especially in a Data Sharing environment. Index page splits in also the main cause of index disorganization. In this presentation we will see how to identify costly index page splits and reduce their frequency with the help of RTS history tables.

In modern DB2 for z/OS environments, delivering efficient, resilient, and reliable services depends on the alignment of multiple critical components. With the introduction of DORA regulations, the focus has evolved from simply ensuring service continuity to enhancing it by making recovery processes faster, more robust, and easier to manage.
While many technologies and strategies already support service continuity, real-world scenarios still reveal gaps, particularly when unexpected errors lead to temporary service disruptions impacting customers.
Starting from a legacy disaster recovery framework based on traditional batch jobs, we conducted a thorough assessment to identify limitations in flexibility, performance, and reliability. Building on this foundation, we redesigned and enhanced recovery processes by introducing new strategies, improving automation, and increasing customization to better align with business objectives.
In this presentation, we share our journey: from understand