Architecture of a data analytics service in hybrid cloud environments

Abstract

Abstract DB2 for z/OS is the backbone of many transactional systems in the world. IBM DB2 Analytics Accelerator (IDAA) is IBM's approach to enhance DB2 for z/OS with very fast processing of OLAP and analytical SQL workload. While IDAA was originally designed as an appliance to be connected directly to System z, the trend in the IT industry is towards cloud environments. That offers a broad range of tools for analytical data processing tasks. This article presents the architecture for offering a hybrid IDAA, which continues the seamless integration with DB2 for z/OS and now also runs as a specialty engine in cloud environments. Both approaches have their merit and will remain important for customers in the next years. The specific challenges for accelerating query processing for relational data in the cloud are highlighted. Specialized hardware options are not readily available, and that has a direct impact on the system architecture, the offered functionality and its implementation.