LaserVault Debuts New Backup Option for IBM i

January 21, 2014 Alex Woodie

If you’re in the market for a backup and recovery solution for IBM i, you might want to keep Electronic Storage Corp. and its LaserVault line of solutions on your list. The Oklahoma company already offered several backup solutions through its Universal Backup Device (UBD) appliance and its LaserVault Backup software offering. This month the company fleshed out its UBD lineup with UBD Synch.

The new UBD Synch offering is an optional feature for the UBD appliance that provides replication of compressed and encrypted backup data from a primary UBD appliance to a secondary UBD appliance, or to a separate NAS file server. Replicating the data securely across the network can eliminate tape devices, according to Rick Wilson, vice president of sales and support at LaserVault.

“With UBD, companies no longer have to deal with the inconvenience of tape,” he states in a press release. “Since UBD stores the IBM i files as tape images, they are readily available when restores are needed. Now with UBD Synch, the tape image files are automatically transferred off-site electronically, simplifying the process even more.”

The Universal Backup Device from LaserVault can backup data from IBM i servers at rates up to 409 MB/sec.

The offering will make UBD look more attractive to IBM i shops that have many options available to them when selecting a disk-to-disk (D2D) backup solution or a virtual tape library (VTL). Many of the D2D options available on the open market–including LaserVault’s own LaserVault Backup–support the replication of encrypted and compressed IBM i backup files over the Internet. Getting the information offsite is a key element of any good disaster recovery (DR) plan.

UBD Synch will give small and midsize businesses “the reassurance in knowing that their tape image files are located securely offsite in case of an unexpected disaster,” Wilson says, adding that UBD Synch may be cheaper than other replication offerings.

UBD Synch works hand in hand with the UBD offering to ensure that each save file is protected. When UBD writes a save file (actually a backup tape image) to disk, UBD Synch steps in to automatically replicate it to a predetermined folder on the secondary UBD appliance or designated file store.

LaserVault has two backup offerings for IBM i, which makes it a little confusing. So, to recap:

• UBD is a hardware appliance (or a software solution that can be deployed on your choice of hardware) that connects to IBM i and Linux servers via Fibre Channel and emulates a tape drive, providing backup speeds up to 409 MB/second. The appliance can be directly attached to a production server or used as a gateway device to move IBM i or Linux backups to a secondary backup appliance, such as those from ExaGrid and Quantum (two D2D appliance vendors that LaserVault has partnered with) or any other SAN or NAS storage resource.

• LaserVault Backup is a backup product designed to help customers implement a D2D backup solution using the local network and a Windows server of their choosing. The software consists of backup commands that install on the IBM i server, which then directs IBM i backups to the Windows server. The software also creates a backup catalog on the Windows server that tracks each save and a list of all the objects in each save. This gives the customer VTL-like file restoration capabilities for IBM i, but without the expense of a VTL, LaserVault says.

UBD Synch is available now. Pricing for a single UBD gateway appliance starts at $13,995. UBD Synch is an optional add-on that runs about $2,500, which includes installation on two servers. For more information, see www.laservault.com.