Yesterday CA Inc. announced a free Unicenter Database Command Center (DCC) tool designed to help database administrators simplify the management of multiple databases running on different platforms.

From a single browser-based user interface, Unicenter DCC enables DBAs to perform a variety of administration tasks across DB2 Universal Database (UDB) for Linux, UNIX, and Windows, DB2 UDB for z/OS, Oracle, and Ingres. By providing a consistent look-and-feel across all platforms, Unicenter DCC helps to optimize DBA productivity and reduce costs.

Unicenter DCC delivers a wide range of high-value administrative capabilities including centralized schema management-which allows DBAs to create, alter, and rename objects specific to each type of database from a common interface. It also delivers unified cross-platform account management for granting and revoking access privileges and assigning user roles. It also provides robust data unload and reorganization functionality for Ingres, enabling DBAs to re-optimize databases that have become fragmented due to inserts, updates, and deletes.

Rich Ptak, an analyst at Ptak, Noel & Associates in Amherst, N.H., said CA is apparently the first of the major management software vendors to release an integrated user interface such as DCC. Such an integrated approach will help database administrators with the proliferation of databases in use, he said. CA's major competitors include IBM's Tivoli Software unit, Hewlett-Packard Co.'s OpenView and BMC Software Inc."It's also a good move for CA because it shows the beginnings of an open-source strategy," Ptak said.

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Prashanth Rai