Performance is the way a computer system behaves given a particular work load. Performance is measured through one or more of the system's response time, throughput, and availability; and it is affected by:
In general, you should undertake performance tuning when you want to improve the cost-benefit ratio of your system. Specific goals could include:
Translating performance from technical terms to economic terms is difficult. Performance tuning certainly costs money (through people's time and through processor time), so before you undertake a tuning project, weigh its costs against its possible benefits. Some of these benefits are tangible:
Other benefits such as greater user satisfaction because of quicker response time, are intangible. All of these benefits should be considered.
There are SmartGuides integrated with DB2 that will assist you in completing some performance-related administration tasks. These tasks are typically those where you spend a little time and can achieve a significant performance improvement. The SmartGuides take you through each task one step at a time. SmartGuides are available through the Control Center and the Client Configuration Assistant.
The Performance Configuration SmartGuide assist you to tune the performance of a database by updating configuration parameters to match your business requirements. This SmartGuide, and, to a less extent the Create Database SmartGuide, can assist in improving the performance of a database. Other SmartGuides are available to assist in the improvement of performance of individual tables and general data access. The SmartGuides in this area include: Create Table, Index, and Configure Multisite Update SmartGuides. The SmartGuides can be found from the Control Center by clicking with the right mouse button on an object.