iTERA Availability 6
The Worlds Most Sold HA Solution To SMB
Andy Kowalski
andy.kowalski@visionsolutions.com
June 15th 2011
for Business
Leaders Have Vision™
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iTERATM Availability 6
Ideal for SMB type environments
The industry benchmark for self managing HA
iTERATM
iTERATM
iTERATM
iTERATM
Virtual Role Swap Test (VRST) – While-active role swap tests
Fully Automated Role Swap – one button role swap process
Transport Journal – Fast & robust object replication
Direct Apply – optimized performance for SMB
iTERATM Real-Time Self-Correction – spend less time managing
iTERATM Apply Accelerator – spend less time tuning
iTERATM ZZ Audit – No locking required on backup system
iTERATM Audit Command Console – centralized audit control
iTERATM RSR Monitor – continuously shows you are ready to role swap
iTERATM Cluster Host Monitor – single screen multi-node monitoring
iTERATM Alert – Flexible e-mail alerting system
iTERATM SAT Lite – Fast automated analysis of your environment
iTERATM MQ Support – WebSphere MQ messaging support
iTERATM CRGs – Manage separate application groups on same system
iTERATM Quick Sync – no need to use tape for initial synchronization
Migrate While Active – migrate servers without down-time
Local Languages – English, Italian…
Sold globally - supported locally
Over 2000 licenses sold to over 1000 customers
Leaders Have Vision™
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Concepts & SMB Philosophy
Users work on the
primary system (A)
If the primary system or a business application
experiences down time then the backup system
is available to quickly take over the role of the
primary system. Users continue work on the
backup without data loss
Backup system (B) can be in same
room or in another city without
impacting performance
The backup database
is accessible for
read-only applications
while mirroring
Tape backups
take place
on the backup
system without
causing down time
on the primary
User changes in database files are captured and
replicated in real time to a backup system
either synchronously or asynchronously
Philosophy of iTERA HA
is to auto-correct issues, there
The backup database is continuously checked for
are no reports to study …
role swap readiness (database and application consistency)
…this is ideal for most SMB
and auto-corrected if necessary
environments.
Leaders Have Vision™
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Built-From-The-Start For Remote Journaling
Benefit: Built Around most flexible and robust data transport mechanism
Tech Tip*(1): Hardware mirroring typically does not maintain database or application level consistency while mirroring.
After unplanned downtime this can cause damaged objects, access path rebuilds, referential integrity and other data
consistency issues which may take hours to correct before the applications are available.
Leaders Have Vision™
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Transport Journal
● Data areas
● Data queues
● Integrated File System (IFS)
● MQ / WebSphere
● User profiles
● Database triggers and constraints
● System values
● Spool files & output queues
● Program objects
● Communication objects
● IBM job scheduler entries
Benefits
● Directory entries
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More…
Faster and more reliable object replication
Object changes captured and replicated in real time
Multiple transport journals per system adds flexibility
More efficient than FTP
Tech Tip: The traditional method for transporting object changes uses FTP (file transfer protocol)
however FTP does not have the performance or reliability of remote journaling. A transport journal is a
remote data journal that is used by iTERA Availability 6 to package and send changed parts (bytes)
of objects in FIFO sequence. Each iTERA CRG has it’s own transport journal. It’s a faster and more
reliable method for replicating object changes than FTP.
Leaders Have Vision™
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Direct Apply
Benefits
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Efficient and robust apply architecture
No staging area (log spaces) needed on backup system
Low I/O generated per transaction
Easy to manage & monitor because there are few moving parts
Reliable because there are few moving parts
Tech Tip: In sophisticated multi-journal, multi-processor and multi-application
environments the multi-job dynamic apply architecture in MIMIX & OMS has
apply performance advantages
Leaders Have Vision™
Vision AutoGuardTM
automatic notification
and self-correction
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Real-Time Self-Correction
Benefits
● Spend less time managing HA
● Files don’t go ‘on hold’
● If a transaction fails to update the backup then the record is instantly self-corrected
without interrupting mirroring
● Operators can review the self-correct history at later stage if they wish to
● Helps maintain Role Swap Ready (RSR) status
Tech Tip: Most common reason why files go ‘on-hold’ (not mirrored) with some HA
solutions is a single record failed to update. iTERA Availability 6 retrieves an image of
the record from the primary using RRN and over writes the backup in a parallel stream.
File doesn’t go on hold and we’re in synch.
Leaders Have Vision™
Vision AutoGuardTM
automatic notification
and self-correction
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Apply Accelerator Self-Correction
Benefits
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Spend less time tuning HA
Automatically starts/stops whenever latency detected
User defined latency thresholds
Uses memory on backup system to bulk apply transactions
Can accelerate apply up to 400%
Preserves database consistency
Preserves application consistency
Tech Tip: If apply latency reaches a user determined threshold (minutes or
transactions) then an apply accelerator job automatically starts and caches the apply
essentially doing a bulk read and apply. When latency falls below a threshold the apply
accelerator automatically ends.
Leaders Have Vision™
Vision AutoGuardTM
automatic notification
and self-correction
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ZZ Audit Self-Correction
Self-correcting updates
are placed in the transport &
apply data path and self-correct
the backup
ZZ Audit automatically sends request
to primary for self-correction
Benefits
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User accidentally
updates data
on backup
Local journal on backup identifies
unauthorized database changes
Spend less time repairing HA
Protect backup database from unauthorized updates without locking it
Any unauthorized data updates on backup are immediately self-corrected
No need for iTERA Availability 6 to lock the backup database
Faster mirroring startup and shutdown
Less potential for lock conflicts
Tech Tip: The backup data is journaled by iTERA Availability 6 to a local journal.
Any updates which are not made by the iTERA HA apply job user trigger the ZZ Audit
job to retrieve an image of the record from the primary by RRN and self-correct
(replace) the record on the backup
Leaders Have Vision™
Vision AutoGuardTM
automatic notification
and self-correction
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Audit Command Console Self-Correction
iTERA Availability 6
Audit Command Console Screen
Opt 2=Change the Audit Test
Opt10=Review History of The Audit Test
Opt18=Submit using schedule
Extensive list of automated audit tests
Test interval in Days or Hours
F7=Last start time
F8=List all audit tests
F9=Sort the audit tests
Benefits
● Spend less time scheduling audit tests
● Centralized console for managing all iTERA Availability 6 audit tests
● Pre-configured with best practice audits and run intervals
● iTERA Availability 6 audits don’t produce reports they self-correct
Vision AutoGuardTM
automatic notification and
self-correction
Leaders Have Vision™
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Role Swap Readiness Monitor
iTERA Availability 6
Role Swap Readiness Monitor Screen
List current RSR status
OK, ERR or WRN
Status of each individual audit
Extensive list of audit tests that will
be performed to verify role swap
readiness
F13=Maintain Frequency (of audits)
F18=Submit all Tests (now)
F23=Message Log (of audits)
Benefits
● Spend less time monitoring role swap readiness
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Continuously checks that you are role-swap-ready (RSR)
iTERA Availability 6 Alert e-mails are sent if an issue cannot be self corrected
Summary of all audit tests is easy to navigate
There are no reports to study.. all results on-screen (faster)
Vision SwitchAssistantTM
provides automated push
button failover
Leaders Have Vision™
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Cluster Host Monitor
iTERA Availability 6
Cluster Host Monitor Screen
Each line contains a summary of one
CRG*(1) Primary or backup node
Status of every audit OK, WR or ER
Disk utilization %
Status of iTERA Availability 6
processes jobs
Alert Indicator
Benefits
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F9=Auto Refresh Mode
F13=Maintain Frequency
F14=Sort by Alert
F23=Message Log
Spend less time monitoring multiple systems or LPARs
Monitor all your systems and LPARs from one screen
Instantly see status of replication for all environments
Issues alerts when operator attention required
Sort systems/LPARs by alert
Drill down to System Monitor and RSR monitor
*(1) CRG is an iTERA Availability 6 Cluster Resource Group (Replication Group)
Leaders Have Vision™
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Automated Role Swap With Full Monitoring
iTERA Availability 6
Role Swap Monitor Screen
Summary status of nodes being role
swapped
Current step and how long it will take
Log showing what happened so far
F9=Process Log
F16=Role Maintenance
F20= Role Swap History
Benefits
● Faster, more reliable role swaps
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Role swap process can be customized
*ROLLOVER is a planned role swap (runs audits before role swap)
*FAILOVER is an unplanned role swap (does not run audits before role swap)
*RVYVRTENV is a virtual role swap (allows while active tests)
Vision SwitchAssistantTM
Monitor shows status in real time
provides automated push
Monitor predicts task completion times based on history (mins)
button failover
Leaders Have Vision™
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Virtual Role Swap Test (VRST)
iTERA Availability 6
Role Swap Monitor Screen
Resume means that the backup data
consistency will be resumed after the
virtual test is complete
F20=Role Swap History
F21=Role test log
Benefits
● Less time and cost spent executing role swap tests
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Production system users and jobs not interrupted while role swap test runs
No tape save/restore required
No system exposure or data loss during test
Users can update data on the backup during the test
Vision SwitchAssistantTM
Tip: 90% of iTERA customers execute virtual role swap
tests during the day without introducing down-time!
Leaders Have Vision™
provides automated push
button failover
visionsolutions.com 14
Virtual Role Swap Test (Under The Covers)
During a virtual role swap test
users remain on-line
During a virtual role swap test, apply
processing is suspended which
simulates un-planned down-time
(freezes the backup data)
During a virtual role swap test ZZ Audit automatically
sends request to primary for self-correction. Self
correcting updates are placed in the transport data
path and transferred to the remote journal immediately
Leaders Have Vision™
After a virtual role swap test
apply processing is restarted. This
will self-correct data changes made
during the test and then process the
backlog of transactions in the
remote journal to bring systems back
in synch quickly
During the test users sign-on
to the backup and update data
and run jobs to make sure that
backup applications are
Role Swap Ready
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iTERA Alert
Select notification methods
e-mail, text message or message queue
Configure e-mail gateway SMTP
Identify monitored message queues
Identify monitored messages and
message severities
Identify alert recipients depending on time of
day plus escalation path
Benefits
iTERA Alert will now monitor 24X7
so you don’t have to be stuck
to a screen!
● iTERA Alert finds the right person and notifies them by e-mail
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Monitors message queues
Selects most important messages by user defined severity thresholds
Sends e-mail to user configurable recipients or groups
E-mails are widely supported by mobile devices
Respond to alerts locally or remotely
Leaders Have Vision™
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Flexible Replication Scenarios
3
2
1
Production
(A)
Production
(A)
Backup
(B)
One-to-One Replication
One-to-Many
Replication
Backup
(B)
Production
LPAR
Backup
LPAR
Single-System Replication
Backup
LPAR
Production
LPAR
Two Way Replication
6
Production
LPAR
Backup
LPAR
Backup
LPAR
Replicant
(C)
5
4
Production
LPAR
Backup
System
Backup
System
One-to-Many Replication
Production
System
Production
System
Backup
LPAR
Backup
LPAR
Many-to-One Replication
Flexibility Equals Business Value
Leaders Have Vision™
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Data Migration Projects
1
Live
users
Test
users
2
Before Migration Users are live on the old system
and database on new system is empty
Electronic Synchronization iTERA HA has the
ability to schedule and manage the electronic
synchronization of large libraries overnight. ITERA
HA then keeps the new system synchronized
3
Cut Over Test iTERA HA then allows users to
sign-on to the new system and verify that the
applications are Cut Over Ready. If not then we
synchronize any missing objects or libraries until
users are happy.
4
Cut Over is done and users continue working on
the new system.
Live users
Benefits
● Take the down time and risk out of data migration
● No need to courier tapes
● No need to work weekends
● Cut Over test guarantees success
Leaders Have Vision™
Tip: Over 20% of iTERA
customers also use it for data
migration projects
visionsolutions.com 18
More iTERA Availability 6 Features 1/2
No production downtime during install iTERA is designed so that the
implementation and initial synchronization of the backup system can be done without
introducing any user down time.
Library Analyzer iTERA analyzes all libraries and objects and provides valuable input
to help optimize the mirroring setup (SATLITE Tool)
Auto Library & Object Registration Customer who periodically create rename and
delete libraries and objects and want them automatically mirrored can do so. Libraries &
contents can be defined for mirroring with wild cards. Libraries and contents will be
automatically journaled, synchronized and mirrored.
Library Auto Sync. Helps eliminate the need for operators to be present during the
initial data synchronization. Libraries to be replicated are pre-selected, the journals to
which the libraries will be replicated are assigned, and a syncing priority status is assigned.
Sophisticated targeting functionality allows for a wide range of unattended syncing
possibilities
Leaders Have Vision™
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More iTERA Availability 6 Features 2/2
MQ / WebSphere Support iTERA replicates the associated MQ Library. Creates the
Queue Manger, if needed. Creates the queue. Replicates the current messages and other
IFS objects. Creates the remote journal and receive. Applies the messages to the Backup
node, then deletes messages as needed.
Menu Fastpaths All menus are logically and consistently laid out following i5/OS
naming conventions and standards to make them familiar and easy to use. In addition a
fastpath technique is used to allow operators to navigate faster and communicate easier
to others. To access the system monitor for example type ‘1.1’ on any screen…it takes
you to menu 1 and then option 1 in a single step.
CRC Audit Allows all records in a file to be checked between source and target without
sending the records to the target. A CRC code is generated for each record (or block of
records) on source and target and only the CRC code needs to be compared. This
greatly reduces the time involved.
Auto Installation When iTERA is installed on the source system it sends an copy of
itself to all target nodes and auto installs. Journals are automatically created
Leaders Have Vision™
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More New Features in iTERA Availability 6 1/2
Italian Language Support All screens and messages now available in Italian
(from SP09)
In Italy…
Role Swap Readiness Monitor Enhanced Formerly called E2KG has been
renamed and enhanced. Allows customers to always know that they are role swap
ready
User Profile Replication Enhanced User Profile Replication can now be
performed via the iTERA HA transport journal, which provides a more efficient
replication method. Replication using the original exit point method is still available.
Option & Function Standardization Changes Options that formerly were
alpha characters are now all numeric. Follows CUA/SAA standards.
System Value Replication System Value Replication is an advanced feature and is
accessible via menu option 5.8. However, this menu option is not visible unless *SYSVAL
is enabled in the Replication Components screen (30.23, F20).
Vision Auto Validate New common way to receive license keys
*(1) Contact your local Vision business partner for more details
Leaders Have Vision™
iTERA Availability 6 has been GA since April 2009
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More New Features in iTERA Availability 6 2/2
User Experience Level Allows screens to be restricted or expanded to use
advanced features.
IBM i Support Supports IBM i V5R3 - V6R1+ (v5.0 supports V5R2 – V6R1)
iTERA Alert Enhancement iTERA Alert users now have more control over e-mail
recipients.
New Audits & Enhancements Preferred run time, Object Attribute Audit, Constraint
Audit, Object Existence Audit, Installation Existence Audit, Object Attribute Audit,
System Values Audit
Pre-Applied iTERA HA Patches (formerly called PTFs) A new technique is being
deployed for v6.0 software package distribution. The software product image with the
latest cumulative patches pre-applied will be posted regularly to our FTP site
(whenever a new PTF Service Pack is released, which is generally monthly). This will
benefit business partners by significantly accelerating software installation time.
Object Difference Audits Identifies discrepancies of objects between production
and recovery systems. Provides a facility for customer to correct the discrepancy
Leaders Have Vision™
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iTERA 6.1 New Features
1. Audit & Self Heal
1.1 Heal Boost For Virtual Role Swap Test
1.2 Best Of Breed Attribute Audits (From MIMIX)
1.3 Attribute Audit Report
1.4 Audit Activity Status
1.5 Stored Procedure Audit
1.6 Deleted Record Audit
2. Replication
2.1 Retain Receivers On Sync
2.2 Filter Change Without ENDJRN
2.3 Rename Library Support
2.4 Fast Quick-Sync
2.5 Windows Enrolment Attribute Support,
2.6 STRJRNLIB Support
3. Installation & Packaging
3.1 Parallel Installs Via iWiz,
3.2 MIMIX Style Service Pack Protocol
Five Areas of Focus
Sixteen* New features
4. Help & Documentation
4.1 Online Help Version 6.1
5. Configuration
*There are sixteen new features. Some of these features can
be broken down into more sub features.
Leaders Have Vision™
5.1 Centralized Policy (Parameter) Maintenance
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iTERA Support
24X7 Support – telephone, e-mail, on-line
First level iTERA support from certified local business partners
Second level MIMIX support from support centers in Manchester UK
Third level MIMIX support from development labs in Salt Lake City UT and Rochester MN
On-line knowledge base
On-line incident tracking
Regular Service Packs (approx every 2 months)
On-line software upgrades
On-site assistance (extra cost)
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Over 2000 Licenses Sold to over 1000 Customers
The Worlds Most Sold HA Solution To SMB Environments
Leaders Have Vision™
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Thank-you
Leaders Have Vision™
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