7/16/2003 -- Last week IBM launched a new Web-based specialization exam for its DB2 certified professionals.

The exam, DB2 Problem Determination Mastery, tests the candidates' skills in following areas:

• Investigating and isolating database issues including the implementation of a workaround or fix.
• Resolving common installation issues such as upgrades, instance creation and license management.
• Identifying the source of communication problems in a client/server environment.
• Using DB2's problem determination tools and interpret the diagnostic information.
• Identifying application development errors and analyze information stored in both database and operating system logs.

The exam is available online at through Prometric here. It costs $40 (US). Free tutorials are available here.

Judith Escott, director of worldwide DB2 skills development and education services for IBM, said that the new online delivery method is ideal for this exam. "We decided to go this route for two reasons," she explained. "First, we're fundamentally committed to making skills assessment as easy and cost effective as possible& [and] an exam that can be taken across the Web is much more accessible for candidates."

"[Second], typically certification is role-based, and this is a separate task within a role," she continued.

According to Escott, aside from the online delivery and length (60 minutes instead of 90), this exam is fundamentally the same as the program's other offerings. "This exam was developed with the same rigor [and] evaluates the skills in the same way."

IBM strongly recommends that candidates for this exam already hold the company's IBM Certified Database Administrator,DB2 certification, although the requirement is not enforced. Those who pass are invited to add the term Problem Determination Mastery to their IBM DBA title.

Escott said that more specialization exams may be on the way: "We see an ongoing need for something like [this]&I anticipate that we will be looking at more of these [as] other skill sets arise." -Becky Nagel