RE: EMC DASD vs. IBM DASD and MIMIX for 24/7 operation

EMC DASD bad experience -- back plain went down, took out 6 drives,
killed any RAID protection, 3 days down, waiting for parts...  You get
what you pay for.  :-(

MIMX good experience -- two iSeries, eliminated being down for backups.
+++ :-)

Regards, 
 
Guy 

On 12/9/05, Dave Odom <Dave.Odom@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Gang,
>
> First, have any of you hooked up EMC DASD to an iSeries?   If so, good
> news/bad news?
> Second, how do you like it vs IBM's DASD?
> Third, supposedly EMC has a way to "split" or "mirror" or some such
> their DASD to allow a site to have a similar function like what MIMIX
> and MIMIX Lite can perform?   Yes/No?
> Any MIMIX users out there that have used it between iSeries LPARs?
> Good News/Bad News?
>
> Problem statement:  I'm looking for a way to reduce or eliminate my
> current 5-6 hour backup and 5-6 hour reorg windows so I don't impact
my
> e-commerce and other applications as much or at all.
>
> Alternatives considering:
>
> - Faster tape drive, like an IBM 3581 - Might reduce my current window
> for backups in half; does nothing for reorg window
> - Add fourth LPAR with MIMIX between it and our Production LPAR and
> backup and reorg jobs that make the environments for applications
> essentially 24/7 operation, i.e. backup from 4th LPAR which is the
MIMIX
> "mirrored" LPAR from Production.   Since I also have "blade servers"
> under the LPARs, I probably would need to use the MIXIX for Windoz
> solution as well to keep the 5 blades in each LPAR synced.  For
reorgs,
> switch back and forth between LPARs and reorg the one that is not
> "online" at the time.   Resync LPARs after backups and reorgs.
> - Use EMC DASD if it has a good or better solution than adding another
> LPAR and MIMIX
> - Don't install 4th LPAR but instead use our 2nd LPAR used for testing
> of new releases of application software and for our ODS/DW
(Operational
> Data Store/Data Warehouse) Project. Install MIMIX between it and the
> Production (1st) LPAR, add more DASD and perhaps turn on 4th Processor
> if necessary.  I understand this would work even though application
> levels might be different as MIMIX doesn't care about application
> levels, only data changes and the application's file structure RARELY
> changes.
> - Just use SAVE WHILE IN USE function of V5R2 or V5R3
> - Turn on 4th Processor if necessary for reorgs or whatever needs more
> power
> - Is there a better mousetrap with V5R4 due out soon?
>
> Thanks in advance,
>
> Dave Odom
> Arizona
> --