PowerVS-Resident Backup
Protect IBM i, AIX, and Linux Workloads in PowerVS
FalconStor provides the only IBM-certified third party solution for backing up PowerVS workloads, underscoring its importance to IBM customers. For over 20 years, FalconStor has provided a virtual tape library (VTL) disk-based solution to IBM customers that reduces storage costs and now greatly simplifies migration to PowerVS. StorSafe VTL for PowerVS is fully integrated into the IBM Cloud Catalog with one-click provisioning and integrated billing with PowerVS.
KEY BENEFITS
- Scale with Pay as You Grow. With no limits to workload size or frequency of backups, you pay only for what you use, from 1TB to many PBs.
- Reduce Costs with Up to 95% Data Reduction. Reduce storage capacity required by backup data by up to 95% with deduplication techniques and advanced compression based on nine patents
- Increase IT Productivity with Central Management Console. Centrally manage all instances of FalconStor technology across your environment with clear visibility into the status and health of data protection operations worldwide – includes reports, customizable dashboard, and proactive alerts
PowerVS-Resident Backup
Figure 1 provides an overview of the process for backups of workloads resident in PowerVS.
- Backups are directed to StorSafe VTL for PowerVS
- All data is encrypted in flight and at rest
- StorSafe VTL deduplicates backups, reducing the size by up to 95% over time
- Maintain excellent visibility through the management console to ensure all backups are completed, SLAs met, and billing based on usage reported (for MSPs)
PowerVS-resident backup ensures cost-effective, fast, and reliable backups and restores for all PowerVS workloads. It is compatible with BRMS, TSM, Veeam and other leading backup software and easily scales to any size workload. With global deduplication across all systems, StorSafe VTL for PowerVS provides ultimate cost savings via storage reduction and also leverages PowerVS COS for long-term storage.
Read how Tupperware uses StorSafe VTL for PowerVS for its IBM i workloads in PowerVS.
FAQs
How does StorSafe deduplication technology reduce storage costs by up to 95%?
When the backups are received by the StorSafe VTL it uses FalconStor’s patented deduplication technology to discover any redundant information which can be eliminated to reduce the size of the backups. Typically, every Friday the backup administrator does a full backup of the mission-critical application servers. Because the backup data received over time is highly redundant, StorSafe can deliver up to 95% deduplication rates. The figure below shows how this process works over time to reduce the amount of data backed up.
When the backups are received by the StorSafe VTL it uses FalconStor’s patented deduplication technology to discover any redundant information which can be eliminated to reduce the size of the backups. Typically, every Friday the backup administrator does a full backup of the mission-critical application servers. Because the backup data received over time is highly redundant, StorSafe can deliver up to 95% deduplication rates.
What hardware is required to run StorSafe VTL?
Every customer site is going to be different. With StorSafe is software you can use the hardware of your choice, and it stores the backup data on block or object storage.
StorSafe can run in something as small as a single VM or up to nine industry-standard servers. StorSafe VTL stores backups on disk, which of course is much faster than storing them on tapes.
What is the best way to manage instances of StorSafe VTL across sites and clouds?
StorSight delivers management simplicity to StorSafe VTL, an especially critical tool for large enterprises and MSPs. Management of all the instances of StorSafe VTL that are being run by all the customers of an MSP is easily achieved.
When the backups are received by the StorSafe VTL it uses FalconStor’s patented deduplication technology to discover any redundant information which can be eliminated to reduce the size of the backups. Typically, every Friday the backup administrator does a full backup of the mission-critical application servers. Because the backup data received over time is highly redundant, StorSafe can deliver up to 95% deduplication rates.
What have the IBM i MSPs experiences been?
Meet three IBM i Savvy Managed Service Providers that are servicing IBM i customers with StorSafe and StorSight software world-wide today.
IBM Champion
“”
Vice President of hosting at Ricoh IT Services
Former
Consulting IBM Champion
IBM i Power Systems
A leading worldwide MSP
“FalconStor was the easiest to deploy, the most scalable, flexible and product that gave us fantastic dedupe ratios.”
Technical Lead
Service Express
A prominent Swiss MSP
“I needed a trustworthy, proven solution and that’s why FalconStor was on top of the list.”
Senior IT Solutions Architect
Wagner AG
Nicholas Mattera, VP Ricoh IT Services: “When we have an opportunity for a hosted Power Systems environment or a managed services Power cloud environment, the IBM Cloud with StorSafe VTL is a good option. That’s the direction we intend to take.”
Mike Boreham is the Technical Lead at Service Express where he uses StorSafe heavily and reports that “FalconStor was the easiest to deploy, the most scalable, flexible and product that gave us fantastic dedupe ratios.”
Martin Meier is the Senior IT Solutions Architect at Wagner AG and was recently quoted saying that “I needed a trustworthy, proven solution and that’s why FalconStor was on top of the list.”
What is a more detailed explanation of how the IBM i to PowerVS migration works?
StorSafe works on premises at the customer site, and two instances of StorSafe VTL can be used migrate an IBM i System from a customer site to PowerVS at an MSP or IBM cloud.
Looking at one of the stacks in the above diagram we see that the IBM i systems send their backup data to the StorSafe VTL. Because it emulates an industry standard VTL, StorSafe is 100% compatible with the backup software and operations that are in place today.
What are all 4 use cases for FalconStor software and IBM i, AIX, and Linux systems?
There are four primary use cases for StorSafe VTL:
1. Migrate From On-prem to PowerVS
Migrate workloads and legacy tapes to IBM PowerVS with backup and restore process
2. Hybrid Cloud Backup
Backup on-prem, deduplicate, and send a copy to PowerVS
3. PowerVS-Resident Backup
Back up IBM i, AIX, and Linux workloads in PowerVS via StorSafe VTL for PowerVS
4. PowerVS Disaster Recovery
Replicate workloads in PowerVS to another cloud location for recovery in the event of disaster
The figure below shows the entire FalconStor solution for IBM customers, from protecting data on-premises, migrating workloads to PowerVS, and then protecting them while resident on PowerVS. A single solution supporting on-prem to cloud greatly simplifies IT environments while increasing business continuity.
Contact us and we will have a representative explain the details of our solutions.