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12

Backup and tests, without impact on the production

FLASH for i

Description

The purpose of the Flash for i product is to manage, automate, report, control all the FlashCopy/SnapShot operations on your external Storage reduce the time for backup to a few minutes.

Without disrupting production, Flash for i performs ‘instant copies’ of your IBM i partition to facilitate many operations such as, backup, data extraction, testing environment creation, …

Users and programs can remain active on the production partition while, for instance, a full system backup (SAVE21) is being carried out on the ‘production clone’.

Every Log and Historical data generated on the ‘clone partition’ (DSPLOG, Job log, output files, BRMS history, …) are automatically transferred on the Production partition.

FLASH for i

FLASH for i

Objectives

  • Use the FlashCopy function on IBM Storwize, SVC, FlashSystem, DS8000 to create a ‘clone’ of the production partition. Use the SnapShot function on EMC VMAX. Other models and manufacturers to come.
  • No iASP is needed (but iASP are supported). Full system instant-copy.
  • The clone partition can be used for several types of operation such as :
    – Run a SAVE21 every day, without any impact on the production;  Run usual daily backup, with or without BRMS
    – Create in some minutes new partitions for many activities : Testing, Acceptance, Pre-production, Infocenter, Anonymisation, … and before any kind of upgrade.

FLASH for i

How it works

All operations are managed from the Production partition, using IBM i commands:

  • Operations on HMC, VIOS or External Storage are automated
  • The FLCLONE command realizes the complete chaining
  • Secure connection between the production partition and other elements
  • The history of the operations carried out on the Clone partition is available on the Production

Get automatically a clone of the production partition

Backup an IBM i  partition with no impact on the production

Based on the Flashcopy function of the IBM Storage or on SnapShot of the EMC Storage.

Context

  • You have (or plan to acquire) a Power Server with one or more IBM i partitions, and external disks storage array.
  • The Database and applications must be available 24/7
  • You are having trouble finding enough time for a SAVE21.
  • You lose plenty of hours to create test/acceptance/preprod/query/extraction/anonymisation environements
  • You worry before a system or application upgrade …

Yours needs

  • Reduce the daily backup window to its simplest expression.
  • Have the opportunity to make a SAVE21 of the Production partition regularly, without stopping production during this time.
  • Obtain automatically, several times a week, a copy of the production partition to perform tests with real data.
  • Generate in seconds “recovery “or “rollback” copies of your production partitions.
schema flash for i

The solutions brought by Flash for i

  • Create a “Clone” partition of production using the FlaschCopy feature of the IBM external Storage (or SnapShot of EMC).
  • Allows you to perform any type of operation on the clone partition, with virtually no impact on production.
  • Fully automated process using IBM i commands available on the Production partition.
  • Monitoring of the state of the operations, and history available in real time on the Production partition.
  • Automatically, several times a week, a copy of the production partition to perform tests or pre-production.

Benefits

  • Instantaneous and automatic generation of the Clone partition fully driven from an IBM i command
  • It becomes possible to perform a SAVE21 every day.
  • Possible to generate a pre-production partition frequently and automatically with updated production data, while using only 20% of the original disk space.

Download the brochure

LOGO_Flash-for-i-400px

FLASH for i

Principles

The Flash For i product manages the various hardware and software components involved with the IBM i partition cloning with the aim of making for example backups with a minimal impact on production.

All operations are managed from the Production partition (also called the “source partition”).

The source partition is cloned in 4 steps:

  • Stop the clone partition if necessary (and the previous FlashCopy).
    • The source partition sends the HMC/FSM an instruction to immediately stop the clone partition.
  • Quiesce the source partition.
    • Using the CHGASPACT command, the source partition copy on disks all the data contained in the memory.
  • Start or restart the FlashCopy consistency group.
    • The source partition sends an instruction to the external Storage unit.
    • At that point, the volumes presented to the target partition are an exact copy of the source partition volumes.
    • The source and target volumes now can operate completely independently.
  • Start the clone partition.
    • The source partition sends the HMC/FSM instructions to start the clone partition
    • and ask the clone partition to execute all the type of operation you have previously setup in Flash for i.

FLASH for i

When the clone partition starts after the cloning, several configuration parameters are adjusted:

  • Change of system name
  • Network/IP re-configuration
  • Change Start-up program
  • Hold of all the scheduled jobs (WRKJOBSCDE, JS1)
  • …

flash4iThe clone partition then restarts in order to apply the new settings.

The Flash For i product also maps/unmaps volumes in the VIOS before stopping or after starting FlashCopy in order to avoid numerous error messages in the VIOS(es) (unless NPIV-type configuration has been performed).

IBM i

IBM i

IBM i5-OS | AS/400

IBM i5-OS | AS/400
IBM AS/400

Built On Power

Built On Power

Products / Produits

  • FLASH for i
  • CONTROL for i
  • RECOVER for i
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