Informing the IBM Community

Multi-threaded replication speeds IFS backups

0
(0)

Maxava is gearing up to introduce multi-threaded IFS replication to help firms back up their ever-increasing mountains of data faster.

According to the HA specialist, IBM i replication solutions have generally only been able to run IFS replication in single-threaded mode until now. This, in effect, drip-feeds data replication – which can be a problem if there’s a sudden outage and unprocessed data is waiting to be applied. Multi-threaded replication allows more data to be processed concurrently, which speeds up the processing.

Giving PowerWire.eu a quick sneak-peek at the new technology, Peter Kania, Maxava‘s technical services and development director, says: “In the past, customers tended to use their IFS to store mainly archival documents or similar. Nowadays, application vendors are integrating the IFS more fully into their solutions and storing far more inflight and online data than previously.

“As a result, the demands being placed on the IFS are growing and it is now even more important that this data be replicated in as close to real-time as is possible.”

The plan is to introduce multi-threaded IFS replication as an update to users of the high-end Enterprise+ version of Maxava’s HA Suite before the end of the year.

The software starts replication using a defined number of concurrent processes. Depending on workload, the number of processes can be dynamically increased or decreased to a pre-defined limit that ensures the allowed load is not exceeded.

The rate of adjustment is determined by the required/received throughput at the time, meaning that the flow can be dynamically adjusted to suit the backlog. Users can define minimum and maximum limits as well as make on-the-fly alterations.

“We have identified customers with rapidly expanding IFS volumes across multiple verticals including distribution, retail and manufacturing,” says Kania. “But, in our experience, heavy IFS use is not limited to or noticeably associated with any specific industry sector; an increase in IFS volumes seems to be across the board.”

How useful was this post?

Click on a star to rate it!

Average rating 0 / 5. Vote count: 0

No votes so far! Be the first to rate this post.