“Cloud400 Online Backup With Remote Journaling – Very Affordable With Recovery From Point Of Last Transmission. Way Faster Than Tape Backup And We Don’t Have To Mess With Tapes!”
Background
AmesburyTruth located in Owatonna, Minnesota manufactures hardware such as locks and handles for companies that make windows and doors.
They support up to 500 users with an 8202-E4D running BPCS. The POWER server has 60 GB RAM and 3 TB of disk storage.
IBM POWER Server And Intel x86 Linked SAN To SAN
“Our SAN support was getting ready to expire,” explains CIO Pat Bayer. “We had our IBM POWER server and our Intel x86 servers linked to our SAN with replication to another SAN for recovery.”
Expiring SAN Support Starts Search For Options
“We started looking at our options to replace our SAN.”
“When we looked again at a new SAN with replication to a second SAN for recovery, it was very expensive.”
IBM i Split From Intel x86 Leads To IBM i Cloud Backup Search
“We decided it would be best to split off the IBM i separate from the Intel x86 servers. By returning to internal IBM POWER disk storage, we started to look at IBM i cloud backup solutions.”
AmesburyTruth Also Wants Out Of Tape Management
“We also wanted to get rid of tape backups. In our experience, we knew the tape media could fail. Tapes go bad. There is the hassle of getting tapes offsite as well as the whole process for managing all the related activities. We wanted out of tape management.”
Cloud Backup Less Expensive But Recovery Times Differ
Pat continues, “We looked at several IBM i solutions to back up to the cloud. They were all a lot less expensive that the SAN solution. They all worked but at best we could only recover from the point of last backup the day before.”
Cloud400 Online Backup With Remote Journaling And Real Time Replication
“In contrast, Cloud400 Online Backup really stood out. Only Cloud400 Online Backup offered remote journaling in addition to backup to the cloud. With remote journaling, changes from our system are replicated in real-time from our 8202-E4D to Cloud400 so we can recover from the point of last transmission.
“None of the other solutions we looked at could do that.”
Current Business Partner Skeptical
“When we told our current Business Partner about the Cloud400 Online Backup with remote journaling, they were skeptical and told us it would not work.”
Cloud400 Offers 60 Day FREE Trial
“Cloud400 offered a 60 day free trial to prove how well their solution with remote journaling worked. Wow, we were thrilled.”
Extremely Easy VTL Backup Appliance
“Cloud400 shipped us the Virtual Tape Library (VTL) backup appliance configured for our needs at 2.5 TB. We found the VTL User Interface extremely easy to work with.
“We learned it in 15 minutes.”
1.5 TB IFS Separated From Mission Critical System Dramatically Reduces Backup
“Early in the test phase we determined we had about 1.5 TB of IFS (Integrated File System) images that were not business critical for recovery. By separating the mission critical system from the IFS, we could make big differences with our backup.”
Production Backup Takes 14 Minutes Instead of 30
“Specifically, our production backup went from 30 minutes to 14 minutes. This meant that our second shift could take a break as we completed the mission critical backup and then they could go back to work. Then the VTL replicates our backup to Cloud400.”
Remote Journaling Always Replicating Changes To Cloud400
“And remote journaling is always replicating any changes after the backup to Cloud400 so our recovery point is from last transmission.”
IFS Backup Now 5 Hours Instead Of 13
“Separately, our IFS backup can be scheduled at convenient times. Better still, the IFS backup went down from 13 hours to 5 hours. That is a huge improvement.”
Cloud400 Technical Team Responsive, Reliable, Knowledgeable.
“We have also been very happy with the Cloud400 technical team. They are very good to work with. We found them responsive, reliable and knowledgeable.
“We work with several different technical support groups. The better ones may get to us with their response in hours. Cloud400 would get back to us in minutes. The Cloud400 technical team is way more responsive.
“We found the Cloud400 technical support team to much more responsive than other technical support groups we work with.
Pat Bayer Recommends Cloud400 Online Backup
Pat says, “I recommend Cloud400 Online Backup with Remote Journaling. Technical support is excellent. The solution is very affordable. Backup is way faster than tape backup and we don’t have to mess with tapes!”