RE: iSeries and Sans

message: 2
date: Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:29:05 -0700
from: "Graap, Kenneth" <keg@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
subject: RE: iSeries and Sans

iSeries backup/recovery provides a great solution for an easy 
recovery of your complete server farm. It can recover all  your 
Windows Network Storage Areas just by restoring the IFS. You 
reattach your replacement IXA/IXS/Blade servers and you are up and 
running. This sure beats having to recreate a Windows image, 
reinstall the applications and then restore the application data. 
This level of recoverability could go a long way toward justifying 
the additional cost of an iSeries based SAN.

Kenneth

   We run a couple 'honking' Intel/AMD boxes (8 way signle core and a 
couple 4 way dual core) that run VMware.  When we do a DR test at IBM, 
we pop the VMWare install on the hosting box while the Windows 'backup 
guy' is restoring the images to a staging area.  The VMware install is 
fairly quick and the images are push to the SAN.  Once one servers 
drive image is restored, boom, VMWare image is booted up while the 
backup guy is already on to restoring the next server.  
   I think this would be faster than restoring the IFS and then 
varying on the servers at the end.  

I think your orignal thought about not having much value being on a 
SAN is valid if you have a large iSeries presence and a small 
OpenSystems foot print.

Here, we have a small mainframe a slightly larger iSeries and about 
125-150 Windows/Netware infrastructure.  We looked at a DS6000 about a 
year and a half ago and the price of those drives (referred to as Tier-
1) still where lower than iSeries internal disk.  We ended up going 
with an EMC Clarion (OpenSystems only) because they essentially threw 
in about 3 or 4 TB of Tier-2 (slower SATA 10K drives) for 'free'.  IBM 
hadn't committed to a timeline on supporting SATA on the DS6000 line.  
Since our imaging system is exploding (Insurance company), the larger 
growth was on OpenSystem.

BTW : the EMC vendor considered everything other than the Mainframe 
as "OpenSystems".  Still feel 'dirty' when I think back to being group 
with 'them'.  Still, it made a differnece as to what line of EMC 
(Clarion vs Symetrix (sp?)) you got though.