Vision Updates iTERA and MIMIX for i OS HA

May 12, 2009 Alex Woodie

Vision Solutions unveiled new releases of its iTERA HA and MIMIX HA products last month at the COMMON conference in Reno, Nevada. With the version 6 releases, Vision has concentrated on improving the installation and on-going management of the software, including improvements to the product’s auditing capabilities and more autonomics that improve the products’ capabilities to self-correct when errors are encountered.

While high availability products have been in use for decades, the HA product category can’t seem to overcome the stigma that the software is difficult to maintain, often requiring a full-time attendant to monitor and manage it. To that end, all of the HA vendors have been trying to drive so-called autonomic features into the software so that it can fix basic problems without manual intervention.

This is the main theme with iTERA HA 6.0, the second major release of the product since Vision Solutions acquired it from upstart HA vendor iTera three years ago. One of the major enhancements delivered with iTERA HA 6.0 is a feature called Auto Action Messages, which is designed to “allow users to define and automatically trigger corrective action routines when specific messages are generated by iTERA HA,” Vision says.

Version 6 also tackles problems with primary and secondary System i servers getting out of synch when running iTERA HA. Vision responded by delivering faster resynchronization of data and objects, and better audit performance. Also with this release the auditing function provides “deeper examination of objects.” This allows the software to see whether objects like user profiles, directory entries, job schedule entries, output queues, and configuration settings (of devices, lines, and controllers) are out of whack and need to be resynchronized to ensure the product’s capability to failover in the event of an emergency.

Lastly, iTERA HA 6.0 brings a faster installation through the automation of steps to configure the HA environment, including discovering libraries, configuring the environment, creating a journal, synchronizing the data and objects, and starting mirroring, auditing, and monitoring.

MIMIX HA 6.0

The latest release of the MIMIX HA product, which Vision obtained with its acquisition of Lakeview Technologies two years ago, contains similar enhancements as its HA sibling.

One of the chief enhancements with this release is improvement of the performance of MIMIX’s apply process. This results in faster replication and is especially important for large, high-transaction environments, which is the target market for MIMIX HA. (iTERA HA, by comparison, is targeted at the small and medium sized business segment, although companies of all sizes use both products.)

MIMIX HA’s auditing capabilities have also been enhanced with this release. Customers gain more flexibility in scheduling audits, while audits now check a larger number of attributes, making the HA environment more robust, Vision says.

MIMIX HA 6.0 also brings closer integration with IBM i OS (i5/OS) environments, including the capability to access the software through the IBM Director Navigator GUI. Support for MAXOPT3 also boosts MIMIX HA’s support for high-transaction environments. Last but not least, version 6 brings an improved installation process and enhancements to its audit features.

Alan Arnold, Vision’s CTO and executive vice president, says the company continues to concentrate on making HA technologies easier and more affordable. “Our latest versions of MIMIX HA and iTERA HA underscore this commitment by providing unprecedented flexibility including improved installation experiences, enhanced monitoring, and more automation capabilities, delivering dramatically simplified configuration, deployment, and tuning,” he says in a press release.

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Do the Math When Looking at IBM i Hosting for Cost Savings

COVID-19 has accelerated certain business trends that were already gaining strength prior to the start of the pandemic. E-commerce, telehealth, and video conferencing are some of the most obvious examples. One example that may not be as obvious to the general public but has a profound impact on business is the shift in strategy of IBM i infrastructure from traditional, on-premises environments to some form of remote configuration. These remote configurations and all of their variations are broadly referred to in the community as IBM i hosting.

“Hosting” in this context can mean different things to different people, and in general, hosting refers to one of two scenarios. In the first scenario, hosting can refer to a client owned machine that is housed in a co-location facility (commonly called a co-lo for short) where the data center provides traditional system administrator services, relieving the client of administrative and operational responsibilities. In the second scenario, hosting can refer to an MSP owned machine in which partition resources are provided to the client in an on-demand capacity. This scenario allows the client to completely outsource all aspects of Power Systems hardware and the IBM i operating system and database.

The scenario that is best for each business depends on a number of factors and is largely up for debate. In most cases, pursuing hosting purely as a cost saving strategy is a dead end. Furthermore, when you consider all of the costs associated with maintaining and IBM i environment, it is typically not a cost-effective option for the small to midsize market. The most cost-effective approach for these organizations is often a combination of a client owned and maintained system (either on-prem or in a co-lo) with cloud backup and disaster-recovery-as-a-service. Only in some cases of larger enterprise companies can a hosting strategy start to become a potentially cost-effective option.

However, cost savings is just one part of the story. As IBM i expertise becomes scarce and IT resources run tight, the only option for some firms may be to pursue hosting in some capacity. Whatever the driving force for pursing hosting may be, the key point is that it is not just simply an option for running your workload in a different location. There are many details to consider and it is to the best interest of the client to work with an experienced MSP in weighing the benefits and drawbacks of each option. As COVID-19 rolls on, time will tell if IBM i hosting strategies will follow the other strong business trends of the pandemic.

When we say do the math in the title above, it literally means that you need to do the math for your particular scenario. It is not about us doing the math for you, making a case for either staying on premises or for moving to the cloud. There is not one answer, but just different levels of cost to be reckoned which yield different answers. Most IBM i shops have fairly static workloads, at least measured against the larger mix of stuff on the public clouds of the world. How do you measure the value of controlling your own IT fate? That will only be fully recognized at the moment when it is sorely missed the most.

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