Backup and Recovery Solutions for iSeries

Article ID: 19362

The necessity of performing regular backups of iSeries systems continues to increase in importance even as the time window available for such maintenance chores continues to shrink. Operations that run 24/7 are becoming the norm rather than the exception at companies of all sizes, and this activity generates frequent data changes. In such environments, this constant data churning means enterprise databases are moving targets for which any backup is essentially out of date even before IT personnel can file the media in the library.

IT departments in such enterprises are meeting the challenge of these two time-related dilemmas with increasing use of disk-to-disk backup regimes. In these scenarios, rapidly changing iSeries objects, such as database records, are written to another partition or disk on the same server, or a different one across a room — or a continent. This practice, called journaling, is at the heart of many high-availability (HA) solutions, and its growing place in backup and recovery operations signals a coming convergence of the previously separate realms of backup and recovery software and HA solutions.

However, the two product areas aren't identical yet. There are still many archiving products that write to portable media and support backup operations in the classical sense. Here, we update the list of players for backup and recovery solutions and specialized spool-file archiving utilities previously compiled in November 2001. iSeries NEWS recently profiled most of the leading iSeries HA products (September 2004), but for the sake of completeness, we list HA products again here.

If you're thinking of upgrading your backup and recovery capabilities, the following list of solutions can help you decide which products to check out first.

John Ghrist is senior products editor for iSeries NEWS.

Backup and Recovery Tools

General Backup and Recovery Tools

AOS Tape Manager
Syan, Ltd.
Provides full media library facilities and automated management of all backup and restore functions for single and multiple networked iSeries.
syan.co.uk

ArchiveManager400
Healy Software International, Ltd.
Automates save and restore operations, provides library/vault/ tape-management tools, gives users the ability to run queries and reports on save histories, and lets them define save and restore cycles and other parameters.
indigo.ie/~healysof

AS/400 System Backup
Ctech Network Services, Ltd.
Utility that helps administrators automate weekly and monthly full-system saves.
ctechweb.co.uk

Asigra Televaulting for Enterprises
Asigra, Inc.
A backup platform targeted for enterprises that use multiple computing platforms, including the iSeries. The solution provides a centralized management point that includes utilities for online and offline storage and bill-back reporting based on data transmitted from remote sites.
asigra.com

CD-ROM Builder
BugBusters Software Engineering, Inc.
Lets users create a complete CD-ROM image of iSeries objects in a single step for packaging backup media or software products, and install the contents on a remote iSeries using the OS/400 LODRUN *OPT command.
bugbusters.net

CD/IT
Bavarian Consulting, Inc.
Lets users back up iSeries, LAN, and desktop files to CD-ROM for archiving or distribution.
bavarian-cons.com

Crash Aid
PAE, Inc.
A disk-backup, restoration, and disaster recovery utility that includes a simulation mode for personnel training.
paeinc.com

DataMirror Transformation Server
DataMirror Corporation
Provides realtime replication and transformation of iSeries, Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, and other database objects between iSeries, Windows, and other servers.
datamirror.com

DSK Manager
Kisco Information Systems
Delivers tools for tape and tape-library management and master and incremental backups that automate restore procedures and let administrators save data while users are still online.
kisco.com

EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF)
EMC Corporation
Duplicates production data on one or more physically separate target servers that use EMC's Symmetrix data storage systems.
emc.com

EVault iSeries
EVault, Inc.
Backup service to offsite location via the Internet. Can run multiple backup tasks concurrently and can restore to any server using same OS/400 release as the source machine.
evault.com

Guardian Save
iTera, Inc.
Enhances iSeries journaling features to enable saves of any number of objects while keeping those objects available to end users.
itera.com

The Guillotine
PAE, Inc.
A utility that reduces the time needed to execute a SAVLIB command by load-balancing concurrent library save operations to one or more tape drives.
paeinc.com

IBM Backup and Recovery Media Services for the iSeries (BRMS)
IBM Rochester iSeries Solution Center
Tool set for managing backup, archive, and recovery operations for single or multiple iSeries systems at a site or across a network.
www-1.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iseries

IBM Tivoli Storage Manager
IBM Rochester iSeries Solution Center
Automated data asset backup and recovery management tool suite for eServer hosts, including iSeries.
www-306.ibm.com/software/Tivoli

iSeries Backup Open Client API
LXI Corporation
This API helps administrators control all backups in iSeries environments, regardless of platform, and backs up data from user libraries, IFS, and document library objects.
lxicorp.com

Librarian/438
PAE, Inc.
Offers management tools for disk backup and restoration, tape media, spool file control, and other functions. Includes iTape Management, which lets users define, implement, and maintain iSeries media-management and save/restore strategies.
paeinc.com

LXI Media Management System (MMS)
LXI Corporation
Offers tape management and vaulting, backup and recovery, and archiving functions as a combined suite or standalone modules. Optional LXI Universal Client Backup product works with MMS to control, manage, and perform backups for networked clients as well.
lxicorp.com

OptStor-Optical Backup to Tape (OBT)
Midrange Performance Group
Backs up data on optical storage devices to any iSeries tape drive.
mpginc.com

PM-CDR
PM-System
Lets users save iSeries objects and PC files on a CD-ROM and restore them directly to any iSeries or PC.
pmsoft.net

Purge & Archive
iTera, Inc.
A tool set that lets users select data to be purged from a production environment and archived to offline disk, tape, or a combination.
iterainc.com

Robot/SAVE
Help/Systems, Inc.
Automates disk-drive backup, system-restoration, and media-management functions for iSeries systems. Includes Robot/CORRAL, an object-selection manager that lets users build customized object backup lists. Works with Robot/CLIENT to back up network-attached iSeries PC clients.
helpsystems.com

RTAPE/400 Smart Backup & Restore (SBR)
Ricomm Systems, Inc.
Automates the ability to back up, track, restore, and archive data assets. Includes disaster recovery capabilities that can automatically restore an iSeries to its last saved image.
ricommsystems.com

RTAPE/400 Tape Manager
Ricomm Systems, Inc.
An integrated family of software products that automate system operations and the tracking and protection of data contained on tape volumes.
ricommsystems.com

SAV/400
KDP Software
Lets users run and schedule commands, programs, and unattended full-system save backup operations.
kdpsoftware.co.uk

Total Recovery and Control for the AS/400 (TRAC/400)
Pinnacle Business Systems, Inc.
Features user-defined backups, media management, centralized backups for multiple iSeries, automatic configuration, and a step-by-step guide to disaster recovery.
trac400.com

UTL/400
Shield Advanced Solutions, Ltd.
Suite of iSeries management tools, which includes a utility that lets users write iSeries objects to CD-ROM for software distribution or later restoration to the originating system.
shield.on.ca

Virtual Storage Engine (VSE2)
Neartek, Inc.
Lets iSeries backup and recovery utilities that write to and read from a native tape drive send and receive data from an emulated and possibly nonnative logical tape drive attached to another server or platform.
neartek.com

VirtualTape Library
FalconStor
Consolidates management of enterprise backup resources across multiple platforms, including iSeries. Backs up hosts and clients to storage-area networks and network-attached storage.
falconstor.com

High-Availability Solutions

Echo2 High Availability
iTera, Inc.
Mirrors file changes with remote journaling, adapts to all replication environments, and automatically detects and resynchronizes out-of-synch conditions without interrupting the replication process.
iterainc.com

Halcyon High Availability Suite
Halcyon Software
In addition to HA features, the product helps administrators automate routine backups, monitors system messages, and watches performance thresholds for backup and replication activities and hardware devices in use for those operations.
halcyonsoftware.com

High Availability Suite
DataMirror Corporation
Provides disaster avoidance and recovery, maintains 24/7 availability of iSeries databases, and captures iSeries objects and database transactions from primary systems and mirrors them to secondary systems in realtime.
datamirror.com

MIMIX
MIMIX ha 1 for OS/400
MIMIN ha Lite for OS/400
Lakeview Technology, Inc.
The MIMIX product family provides realtime replication of information systems and optimizes disaster recovery with multiple tiers of product features.
mimix.com

*noMAX
Maximum Availability
*noMAX offers journaling-type replication to secondary servers. It provides a more limited feature set with a shorter implementation time at a more modest price than most competing HA systems.
maxava.com

ORION
Vision Solutions, Inc.
Designed for multiplatform environments that include iSeries and based on a Java/XML component architecture. It manages disaster recovery, high and continuous availability requirements, and data integration from a single interface.
visionsolutions.com

Quick EDD
Trader's S.A.
Provides data backup, bidirectional data distribution, and database synchronization between iSeries and other platform operating systems and with DB2, SQL Server, and Oracle databases.
quick-software-line.com

Report and Spooled-File Archiving Utilities

CDSpool/400 System
SystemObjects Corporation
Lets users save, compress, and restore iSeries spooled files to CD-ROM or a PC archive.
systemobjects.com

Domino Report Server/400
RJS Software Systems, Inc.
A solution for archiving iSeries reports to Lotus Notes/Domino databases.
rjssoft.com

Electrofiche+
Intech, Ltd.
Host-based microfiche replacement utility for iSeries and Unix servers that lets users divert printed output and archive it to PCs.
intech.co.uk

Queue/400
Healy Software International, Ltd.
Lets users save spooled files to and from tape or hard disk in save/restore, PC, or HTML format and restore them selectively using spooled file archive histories.
indigo.ie/~healysof

Quick-Archiv
Trader's S.A.
Converts, compresses, archives, and restores spooled files to and from any storage media.
quick-archiv.com

Report Archive Facility
Professional Software Solutions, Ltd.
Automatically archives iSeries reports and compresses them by up to 90 percent.
pssl.co.uk

SPLSAV/400
BWU Unternehmensberatung
Lets users save spooled files as they would any other iSeries object and supports IPDS and SCS printing.
bwu.net

Spool Plus
Ricomm Systems, Inc.
Lets users save, archive, track, and restore critical spooled files. Included with Ricomm's SBR product.
ricommsystems.com

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