Migration strategies for IBM Power Virtual Servers

Backup Recovery and Media Services (BRMS) and Cloud Storage (ICC)

BRMS is an IBM i product that can be used to automate activities that help define and process your backup, recovery, and media management operations. The ICC product can be integrated with BRMS to move and retrieve objects from remote locations, including COS (Cloud Object Storage).

The following high-level steps detail how to migrate your OS and data from an on-premises system to the Power Virtual Server environment. Keep in mind that most of these steps can be automated by using BRMS and ICC.

1. Create your IBM i VM in the Power Virtual Server.
2. Create a virtual media and IMGCLG on the deployed VM.
3. Create a virtual optical and IMGCLG on the on-premises system and perform an operating system save.
4. FTP the images to the Power Virtual Server.
5. Restore or slip the installation of the OS to get the base OS to the same level as it was on your on-premises system.
6. Migrate your remaining data.

Refer to this documentation on migrating IBM i to the Cloud by using BRMS and Cloud Storage Solutions with FTP.

For more information, see Data backup and recovery by using BRMS and IBM Cloud Storage Solutions for i and BRMS with Cloud Storage Solutions for i considerations and requirements.

For a complete tutorial on migrating your IBM i workloads to Power Virtual Servers, see Migrating IBM i to IBM Power Virtual Servers.

Logical Replication with Geographic Mirroring and PowerHA SystemMirror for i

GeoMirroring enables IBM i disk mirroring technology on multiple system environments and supports host-based and logical replication across geographically distant sites. Geo mirroring supports synchronous and asynchronous modes. You can integrate PowerHA SystemMirror (Enterprise Edition) for network monitoring and automated failover support.

• Geographic mirroring
• IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for i: Using Geographic Mirroring

Migration by using MKSYSB

You can migrate your data by using the mksysb command:

1. Back up the on-premises OS with the alt_disk_mksysb command and transfer it to COS.
2. Create a Power Virtual Server and import the image.
3. Restore the on-premises image.

For more information, see Restoring an AIX mksysb image onto a Power Virtual Server instance.

Logical replication with GLVM and PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Enterprise Edition

GLVM is an OS-based IP replication strategy. It is based on the AIX LVM and enables data and logical volume mirroring across geographically distant locations. GLVM supports both synchronous and asynchronous modes. You can integrate PowerHA SystemMirror (Enterprise Edition) for network monitoring and automated failover support.

• Geographic Logical Volume Manager (GLVM)
• Configuring geographically mirrored volume groups
• Using IBM PowerHA SystemMirror V6.1 for AIX Enterprise Edition
• PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX 7.2
• IBM PowerHA SystemMirror for AIX Cookbook

Alternative AIX migration strategies

Some alternative AIX migration strategies include:

• rsync for nondatabase files
• The savevg and restvg AIX commands
• Log shipping for databases

For a complete tutorial on migrating your AIX workloads to Power Virtual Servers, see Migrating AIX to IBM Power Virtual Servers.

Host and OS-based logical replication

IBM recommends that you use PowerHA SystemMirror (Enterprise Edition) with Geographic Mirroring (Geo mirroring) and Geographic Logical Volume Manager (GLVM). The following host and OS-based logical replication options exist depending on your OS:

• AIX - GLVM
• IBM i - Geo mirroring

Application-specific replication

Applications might have replication mechanisms that can sync multiple environments. These options are commonly used for application-specific replication:

• Db2 HADR
• Oracle Data Guard
• Oracle Goldengate
• iCluster
• MIMIX from Syncsort
• Maxava HA

FalconStor StorSafe VTL

StorSafe VTL is an IBM-certified solution for migration, backup optimization, archive, and data recovery (DR).

StorSafe VTL is software that emulates physical tape drives and libraries to optimize backup and recovery both on-premises and in the cloud, as well as enable simple and easy migration from on-premises to IBM® Power® Virtual Server. StorSafe VTL can backup IBM i or AIX workloads on-premises, replicate to a cloud-resident StorSafe VTL, and then restore to a Power Virtual Server. Similarly, legacy tapes can be handled. Here are some of the features of StorSafe VTL:

• Nondisruptive and secure process that can scale to PB-sized workloads.
• Deduplication and replication improve performance and reduces storage capacity.
• The same tool for on-premises and cloud that enables both workload and tape migrations.
• System and application data are deduplicated and compressed before transmitting over the network, thereby accelerating migration, even on the initial baseline transfer.
• Replicated tapes land in Cloud Object Storage (COS) and can be used by the cloud VTL as a backup baseline without copying the data.
• Migration uses existing backup processes and tools by using existing environment and knowledge.
• Data replication can occur over time as part of the backups with final sync replication completed fast during regular backup windows.
• FalconStor StorSafe VTL for Power Virtual Server can take advantage of IBM low-cost COS storage for its repository.