An "availability solution" for the IBM System i platform, RAP achieves fast apply rates by using IBM technology to its advantage, which results in an efficient, affordable solution for data protection and disaster recovery, according to the company. The product already includes object and profile replication, object and file auditing.
RAP meets the needs of any high availability requirement at an affordable cost without the need for expensive expert consultants, the company says. Easily implemented, RAP is designed to be installed by the user. It can be installed and configured in less than a day, and in most cases, with in-house staff skills. Once installed, RAP is easy to use and extremely reliable. Customers are secure in the knowledge that IBM is doing all the data updates, not a proprietary process.
The new features included in the 3.1 version of RAP bring the product even closer to full "high-availability" solution status. These include the following:
- Automated switching process
- Built-in notification capabilities
- IASP support (independent auxiliary storage pool)
- Improved user interface
- New status screens
- New auditing features
- Additional tools
Background Information
RAP is a service program which will apply Journal Entries from a Remote Journal Receiver each time the Journal Receiver is detached. It will apply any entry which can be applied using the APYJRNCHG command. This includes entries for IFS, Data Area and Data Queue objects as well as Database file objects. RAP supports Commitment control and is configurable to either honour or ignore Commit Boundaries.
RAP comes with full context sensitive help available for the commands and menus, plus a traditional printable operations manual. The ability to Email messages to the user has been built into the product, allowing immediate notification of errors. The same process can be used to send notification messages out showing the status every time a journal receiver is changed. The receiver management can be automated using a new feature available in this version, allowing the user to determine the maximum number of days a receiver should be kept before it is deleted, thereby providing better DASD management. Using the iASP functionality allows the data to be replicated to a database which is housed in an iASP environment. The product supports replication between the same iASP name or *SYSBAS to an iASP and vice versa.
Feature Details
Automated Switching Process
This version of RAP provides an improved switch management process that allows the system's role to be changed automatically. Any process required to be ended or started automatically as part of the switch process is handled. The journal receiver chains can be cleaned up and the local journal receiver on the target system is correctly named. This allows the role swap to be carried out by users very quickly.
Built-in Notification
An improvement derived from customer requests, allows administration staff to be notified of certain activities within the replication process. This version can be configured to send email notifications when certain events occur.
IASP Support
The use of IASP for data segregation and systems availability is growing within the IBM i community. This release of RAP has been re-written to take advantage of the IASP technology--particularly useful for hosted solutions giving the ability to segregate customer data and provide secure environments.
Improved User Interface
The latest RAP release offers many new features and screens that allow the user to control the replication process, and gain information about the data presented to them.
New Status Screens with Detailed Activity
The process used by the Receiver Apply Program (RAP) is based on the IBM APYJRNCHG technology and as such does not allow the user to view status about the data being applied. With this version the user can view more detailed information where available, such as, the Current Apply processing and the Last Applied information.
New Auditing features
For RAP to function it relies on certain criteria being met with respect to the objects and journal environment. The most important of these is the JID (Journal Identifier) which has to be the same for the objects to be updated. This latest audit feature provides a process where the JID is extracted on the source system and compared with that on the target system. Mismatches are detailed with an option for viewing the related object on the target system.
Additional Tools
Among additional tools provided within this release are--receiver management and tools to journal objects by library.
OS Support
RAP supports i5/OS V5R4 and above.
Pricing
System-based pricing starts at $5,000. A free 30-day, no-hassle software trial is available.
Webinar Series
As part of the new release cycle Shield Advanced Solutions the company will be running a series of webinars to demonstrate the product and its new features. To sign up, fill in the registration form at http://www.shield.on.ca/Email/register.php.
About Shield
Shield Advanced Solutions (Canada) Ltd. is an IBM Advanced business Partner. For more information, visit http://www.shield.on.ca/, write
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