This guide to iSeries disaster recovery covers some different aspects of iSeries DR. These include disaster recovery planning, tape recovery, backup and encryption, as well technical advice for implementing strategies, such as disaster recovery automation.

 

iSeries disaster recovery scenarios:

Real life experiences: Lessons learned in disaster recovery planning
Debbie Schwartz shares the lessons she has learned in keeping disaster recovery implementations up-to-date with new and changing business needs.

So we lost six months worth of work, big deal!
In this blog post, an iSeries user shares his data loss experience during a software backup.

Where did you say those backup tapes are kept
An AS400 user talks about a backup tape blunder in this blog post

Computer failure grounds United flights
United needs a better disaster recovery / business continuity / high availability plan for its data center and servers, says news writer Mark Fontechccio.

 

Disaster recovery planning on the iSeries:

Ten disaster recovery considerations
This tip offers 10 reasons why your disaster recovery plan might fail and offers advice on how to make sure your organization is prepared to recover from a disaster.

Think small to avert big disasters
There are several approaches to dealing with the prospect of the loss of a single critical file. Here are three strategies for dealing with this problem on the iSeries.

Assessing the risks of human error in the data center
Risk assessment is part of the job of every data center operator. In reality it falls within the purview of every IT professional. Why? Because the more we depend upon technology, the more we miss it when it fails.

Are you saving everything?
When it comes to iSeries administration, there are some system "things" that are not saved in your normal daily save. Make sure your iSeries is saving everything it should be with this tip.

Optimizing tape restores
Every organization understands the need to backup data, but many do not actually backup with restorability in mind. This tip will help you solve tape restore problems by following a few simple guidelines.

How to determine acceptable data loss
How to create a good disaster recovery plan, taking into account your recovery point objective, recovery point time and the distance between your primary storage site and the recovery site.

 

Technical disaster recovery advice:

Automate disaster recovery restores
A major part of disaster recovery is recreating your computing environment on a completely different system and this always involves data and program restores.

How do I automate a full system backup on my i5 server?
An iSeries user asks expert Ken Graap about automating system backup for his i5 server.

Monitoring for *Escape messages in AJS (Advanced Job Scheduler)
Many system administrators utilize BRMS and IBM's Advanced Job Scheduler to backup their systems. In the past, one of the major drawbacks to the AJS was the fact that you couldn't directly monitor for *Escape messages within the AJS command definitions. You had to create a CLP shell in order to do this. I don't know when this changed, but I was looking through the AJS documentation the other day and stumbled across this:

How to backup optical platters
An iSeries user asks expert John Brandt about backing up optical platter.

Improving backup times
A user asks how he can improve the backup time of his data with 170 GB from the current two and a half hours using a 3590-tape drive with a transfer rate of 9 MBPS and compressed rate of 78 GB per hour.

Correct way to restore logical files
It is important to restore objects in a certain order. OS/400 will take care of this if dependent objects are in the same library. But if you have for example, physical files in one library and logical files in another, you are responsible for restoring the physical files before you restore the logicals.

Restoring procedure after using "SAVCHGOBJ"
SAVCHGOBJ can significantly reduce the amount of time spent doing daily backups. It does, however, increase the amount of time needed to restore.

BRMS backup failed when backing up QUSRSYS
An iSeries user asks why a BRMS backup failed when backing up QUSRSYS; expert Ken Graap responds.

The ins and outs of journaling -- Part III
Journals can be used as protection against loss of data from a disk crash. Journaling uses a lot less disk space than mirroring since it's only protecting files. However, this is also a disadvantage because only files are protected. In addition, set-up and recovery require a few more manual steps. For maximum protection, use these steps.

How can I save and restore spool file data as part of my backup/recovery process?
An iSeries user asks expert Ken Graap about saving and restoring spool file data.

 

iSeries disaster recover and backup vendor news:

Uh-oh, iTera-Vision merger causing support problems?
Remember back in November when System i high-availability software vendors iTera and Vision Solutions merged? They painted the picture of a smooth transition, rosy outlooks and, of course, uninterrupted support. Well, here's the first sign that mergers don't always do what they're supposed to for the customer.

IBM mainframe encryption: The gold standard for security does an upgrade
IBM software for encrypting file formats on mainframe tapes and disks is not merely another System z9 encryption story; it rounds out an IBM mainframe security solution that should set the standard for another generation of business-critical system security.

How to choose a backup reporting tool
Backup reporting tools help track backup failures and determine their causes. Some tools can identify weak links in your backup processes where there is potential for failure.

IBM expands System i Capacity Backup Editions for SMBs
IBM Corp. has announced more System i Capacity BackUp (CBU) Editions to target small and midsized businesses that seek disaster recovery and high availability.