Tapes, like other media, do fail. Older drives create errors. Bits and bytes may go missing and never come back. If that isn't enough to give you an ulcer, are you sure your last save was complete? Were all the libraries you needed saved? Was that critical object locked when you attempted to save?
Some IT professionals don't worry about nightly saves. They're more concerned about getting the tapes back and restored quickly when the system does fail. Tapes are fragile. Improperly shipped tapes may break on the way to or from offsite storage. In fact, it's not unheard of to have backup tapes arrive in pieces at the recovery site. When tapes do make it safely, will the 24 to 72 hours (or more, depending on system size and tape technology) it takes to restore the system be enough to save the company and your job?
Fortunately, high availability solutions eliminate all this sleep deprivation. These solutions back up your primary system to a second i5 system connected with high availability software. All transactions on the primary are quickly and seamlessly applied on the backup system, giving you a complete mirrored system when you need it. The solution also helps minimize the effects of unplanned (as well as planned) downtime. When the primary system goes down, a failover or role swap moves production work and users onto the second i5 in minutes.
Can't afford high availability? Think again. The cost of high availability has been dropping, and so has the cost of a second i5. Until recently, System i5 high availability solutions were reserved mostly for large enterprises. Today, HA is dramatically easier to use and less expensive to own and manage. Now, thousands of small and mid-sized companies can afford the "luxury" of high availability.
Leading this charge is iTera and its Echo² high availability and disaster recovery solutions. iTera has continually delivered on its goal to make availability affordable and accessible to everyone. In fact, iTera is currently offering its award-winning Echo² HA Edition along with a new IBM System i5 for as low as $50 a day! With rapid, complete data recovery of high availability this affordable, your tape drive should be a new System i5.
Check out the MC Press Buyer's Guide for more information about iTera and its products.
Richard Jackman is a marketing manager at iTera, Inc., a premier provider of high availability software for the IBM System i5 (iSeries). For more information, call 800.957.4511 (in the U.S. and Canada) or 801.799.0300.
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