A key consideration for running mission-critical workloads in the cloud is your high availability/disaster recovery solution. The good news is that most software-based solutions that are used for on-premises deployments can also be used in Skytap. At Skytap Academy Live, VP of Performance and Solutions Engineering Mike Neil discussed some of these HA/DR options for IBM Power workloads running in Skytap on Azure including PowerHA for AIX, Geographic Logical Volume Manager (GLVM) for AIX, and multiple IBM i journal replication options (Precisely MIMIX, Fortra RobotHA, Maxava and Rocket Software iCluster).
Watch the 20-minute session video below or keep reading for a recap.
PowerHA for AIX
- PowerHA System Mirror, formerly called High Availability Cluster Multiprocessing (HACMP)
- Protects applications for Power Compute,, networking, and application failures, but it does not protect against storage failure
- The PowerHA architecture in Skytap is the classic AIX architecture but its capability can be extended with the added value of Skytap templates
- There is no need for expanded clusters, as additional cluster nodes can be added in from templates, or the failed LPAR simply restarted and automatically deployed on another Power Compute Node
Geographic Logical Volume Manager (GLVM) for AIX
- GLVM provides a software-based mirroring for PowerHA® SystemMirror® Enterprise Edition that is used for mirroring your data in real time over unlimited geographic distance
- Mirrors any data over standard LAN or WAN networks
- It is done at the OS level, not at the hardware level, which means it can be used in both heterogenous and homogenous Skytap DR deployments
- GLVM protects against Power hosting node, storage, network, and site failure
IBM i Journal Replication
- Protects applications for Power hosting node and application failures
- Normally used between customer data center and Skytap or between two different Skytap regions
- Included within the IBM i Operating System, but there are several licensed products that sit on top providing a full automation and management layer
- IBM i journal replication solutions in-use include: Precisely MIMIX, Fortra RobotHA, Maxava, and Rocket Software iCluster
- Coming soon: Precisely MIMIX for Skytap on Azure that will provide both existing MIMIX customers and Skytap on Azure customers with a HA/DR IBM i solution that is cloud-ready
Learn more about Skytap for Production workloads here. Learn more about Skytap for Disaster Recovery here.
Click here to watch more content from Skytap Academy Live and stay tuned for our next live event.
