IBM i Hosting Providers Need A Completely Different Skill Set And Expertise Than Other Hosting Providers
Selecting the right IBM i hosting provider is no easy task. You are in the business of what you do…not evaluating hosting providers.
There are lots of folks that now claim they can host your critical IBM i business applications that really fall short at many levels. Unfortunately, you may discover this when it is too late…and after a painful surprise.
How do you separate a qualified IBM i hosting provider from those “wanna-be’s” who claim they can but fail to deliver.
Simple.
1. What expertise does the IBM i hosting provider have to integrate and implement all the elements for a successful IBM i hosting platform? It takes way more than just having some IBM i servers.
- It takes a whole lot more than having an IBM POWER server and a firewall. If you are moving from an older IBM server with a combination of legacy IBM i OS and an older tape drive, does the hosting provider have the expertise to move you to a currently supported IBM technology?
- Does the hosting provider have a library of older IBM i OSs to be able to provide missing pieces or needed PTFs for your Save 21 backup to restore?
- How does the hosting company accommodate your firewall IP range that may be a commonly used range by other hosting clients?
- Can the provider easily explain the security, redundancy and technology in place to protect and monitor your business critical applications.
2. What experience does the IBM i hosting provider have in supporting customers and managing workloads? It takes more than just tape backup or applying PTFs.
- When you interview hosting providers, do they give you confidence that they understand the effort needed to support your operation?
- How well do they seem to understand your backup retention and recovery needs?
- What practical suggestions or ideas do they offer that may improve your operation or IT value?
- What confidence do they give you that they can help with networking and lost connections that do not occur at the hosting data center?
- What kind of automated backup and replication for disaster recovery is in place?
- Before you proceed with go live do you get a solid sense your provider understands your operation and have the skills to handle the job?
3. What expertise does the hosting provider have with IBM and other software providers’ practices and policies that affect your ability to transfer software, support, and get questions answered?
- This can be particularly important when it comes to IBM software like Advanced Job Scheduler and BRMS, or setting up backup software for disaster recovery, just to mention a few.
- As you interview your hosting provider, do the topics of software transfer and software keys come up?
- And when it does, does the provider sound knowledgeable of the variations of how different software companies make their software keys available in a hosted environment.
- Does the provider explain the limitation of transferring IBM License Program Products (LLPs) compared to IBM Passport Advantage software?
- Does the provider explain the differences between IBM LLPs compared to IBM software like BRMS and Advanced Job Scheduler?
- Does the provider sound conversant with how software keys for Disaster Recovery servers are handled differently than for production servers?
4. What IBM i Certification does the provider have? How many engineers does the provider have and how many certifications are on file?
- IBM requires IBM Business Partners to have an extensive skillset demonstrated by passing IBM certification tests.
- Further, as IBM introduces new technology, IBM Business Partners are required to pass newer certifications.
- One way to evaluate IBM i hosting providers is to understand how many IBM i engineers are on staff and what certifications they have.
- In addition to the number of engineers and certifications the hosting provider has, how many years of certification does the provider have on file?
- If you are moving from IBM i V3R7, IBM i V4R4 or IBM i V5R2, this may be particularly important.
5. What service level can you expect from your hosting provider?
- How quickly and competently can you expect your provider to respond to your needs?
- What Service Level Agreement (SLA) is specified in the hosting agreement?
- Can the providers provide references to back up their SLA claims?
Asking the right questions to understand the hosting provider’s background is every bit as important as understanding the technology they offer to make sure your critical business applications are safe.
Here’s the big picture. When looking at IBM i hosting options, you want to be confident of the provider who will properly handle your company’s critical intellectual property.
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