FAQ's for Migrating to Maxava
What versions of IBM i will Maxava HA run on?
Maxava HA is supported on any version from V5R3 right up to 7.5.
How long does it take to migrate from my existing HA/DR solution to Maxava HA?
Each migration is different. We'd normally start by scheduling our Discovery Report to establish an understanding of the environment. From here we would be able to provide an estimate of effort required to conduct the migration. For MIMIX we would utilize our migration tool to help fast-track the migration process.
I’m currently paying maintenance, how will Maxava HA handle that?
Maxava offer what we call a maintenance holiday. If you already have a HA/DR solution in place and are looking for an alternative, we will work with you to discuss the best time to consider switch well, normally somewhere between 3 and 6 months of your maintenance being due. This is ideal for parallel testing, avoids any cancelation penalties with your current HA/DR software, and with our maintenance holiday, you don't start paying for Maxava until your existing legacy software maintenance expires so that you don't pay twice.
What information do you require to provide a Maxava HA quote?
Maxava HA is priced by IBM Processor Group (P Group) details of all machines requiring a license, usually two. Licensing is per machine/per serial number.
Can Maxava HA be used in the cloud?
Yes, Maxava HA can be used both from on-premise to the cloud, and within the cloud itself.
How is Maxava HA priced?
Pricing is based on IBM Processor Group (P Group) e.g. P10 per machine/per serial number. Ongoing maintenance/support costs apply to purchased licenses; maintenance is included in subscription-based licensing. Pricing can be purchased as a one-time license fee with an ongoing annual maintenance charge, via subscription on a monthly/quarterly/annual basis (this includes maintenance and support), or as Hosted DR (HDR), where the license covers the use of software on behalf of Partner customer/s hosted by the Partner.
What do I pay if I change IBM processor group from P05 to P10?
Simple – just the difference between the product cost of a P05 to a P10. Maxava will not charge you additional fees for upgrading. Maintenance costs will change accordingly and if you need any technical services to assist you with your upgrade, we can help with that too. Let us know your plans and we can give you a quote on whatever your requirements may be.
How do I get support?
Contact our friendly technical support team! Maxava offers 24/7 support to customers with a maintenance agreement in place. If you have an urgent Maxava HA code issue, call your local support number, otherwise email our team.
When you need technical support for your IBM i Maxava HA environment (not covered by Maxava Software Maintenance), Maxava Technical Services is here to help.
https://www.maxava.com/support-maxava
Is support 24 X 7?
Maxava has a global 24/7 support team. Staff are located in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, and New Zealand.
What can I replicate with Maxava HA?
Replication is supported for files, objects, IFS directories, folders, spooled files, user profiles, DLO and IBM MQ.
Can Maxava HA replicate IBM MQ?
Yes, IBM MQ replication is supported.
How efficient is Maxava HA?
The Audit Journal (QAUDJRN) is a valuable tool for protecting the IBM i server with over 70 auditable events. However, in large environments, it can become overwhelmed with hundreds of thousands of entries every minute. Some logical replication solutions heavily rely on reading this journal for high availability, but reading the vast number of events can consume a significant amount of CPU and lead to bottlenecks. This can cause delays in replicating crucial transactions to the target server and potentially leave the business vulnerable.
Maxava has taken a unique approach and does not require any core jobs to be active on the production server reading QAUDJRN. Maxava’s innovative command intercept method minimizes the resource requirement on the source server and performs the majority of the processing on the target, away from the demands of production environments. This approach ensures the transactions are relayed quickly and in their natural order, eliminating the need for re-sequencing on the target system.
Maxava's efficiency is achieved through the use of a library named MAXSYS, which contains IBM commands for dynamic replication. The MAXSYS library is located above QSYS in the System Library List (QSYSLIBL) and each copied command has its Command Processing Program (CPP) modified to a Maxava version and is tagged with an exit point program to initiate a Maxava HA function before the normal execution of the QSYS command. The Maxava HA action is transparent to applications, and the QSYS command operates normally. Object and data activity are captured and moved from the production server instantly adding next to no overhead to the production server.
Does Maxava HA replicate the IFS?
Over the years, the Integrated File System (IFS) has become an integral and crucial aspect of the IBM i server. Many Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and homegrown applications rely heavily on the IFS for their operations. Recognizing the importance of the IFS, Maxava have taken a proactive approach and developed a solution that provides both flexibility and efficiency when compared to some other products available in the market.
Unlike some competitive solutions that limit the number of apply sessions tasked with replicating the IFS, Maxava HA has no restrictions, enabling users to run an unlimited number of apply sessions. For many, this results in faster end-to-end replication. Additionally, Maxava HA does not require the use of the IBM i Audit Journal for the replication of the IFS.
Does Maxava HA use QAUDJRN?
Maxava believes that QAUDJRN is an excellent repository for security and audit information, however there are several drawbacks in using it for provoking HA processing. In particular, separating the processing of object updates and data updates will regularly cause ‘match and merge’ issues. Maxava HA does not have to use QAUDJRN to keep in synch and relies on an IBM approved technique we call Command Intercept.
If there are differences between the database on the Source & Target Systems, can Maxava HA HA fix those for me?
Yes. We provide a self-healing Autonomics feature so that if Maxava HA identifies any discrepancy it can efficiently and correctly re-synch the whole object, or even part of the data. The first objective is always to ensure that accurate replication occurs, but Autonomics is there for when it is needed.
We need to have 2 replication Targets, one local to the Production system, and another which is more remote. Can Maxava HA HA handle this?
Yes. Multiple Targets is one of the many configurations we actively support. In addition, you can configure Multi-Node Role Swaps so that you can choose which system becomes the new Source Server during a test, and we will restart the replication to the remaining two Systems.
Does Maxava HA use remote journaling?
Yes, Maxava believes that remote journaling is the most efficient way for data transfer and has chosen this method for Maxava HA software.
How will my production system workload be affected by Maxava HA?
Maxava HA has been designed to have as small and efficient footprint as possible on the source system.
This is achieved by undertaking as much of the required replication workload on the Target system. The majority of Maxava HA core dynamic replication activity on the Source system is streamlined within what happens during the execution of the MAXSYS resident commands, rather than having to have independently running jobs. No requirement to enable and run system audit functions and jobs means there is less workload happening on the source system and no need for management software to check these jobs are running. It also has the benefit of minimizing the number of jobs that it is necessary to stop and start during the time-critical situation of a Failover or Role Swap.
Are Triggers and Constraints supported?
Full support is provided for triggers and constraints, which are managed so that changes being applied to files on the target system are not affected by triggers and constraints which are required in a production environment.
Is Simulated Role Swap supported?
Yes. When you can’t afford downtime to test your DR plan, the Simulated Role Swap (SRS) is a feature of Maxava HA Enterprise that allows you to temporarily turn your backup system into a simulated primary system for testing, whilst the primary system remains unaffected as live production.
Can I perform a full role swap?
Yes, full role swaps are supported.
Do you have customers that have migrated from MIMIX to Maxava HA?
Yes, we have customers both small and large that have successfully migrated to Maxava HA.
How flexible are Maxava HA audits?
Ensuring data integrity is always a top priority in high availability solutions - making auditing of data crucial - Maxava HA offers flexible auditing options with three distinct variations being available: existence audits to verify the presence of objects, description audits to check key attributes, and content audits to examine the data within objects. This flexibility extends to the ability to run audits on configurations, libraries, specific objects, object names, and object types, in both fix and reporting modes. For large objects, partial content audits can be performed at the block level, ensuring data is checked and repaired efficiently.
Maxava HA also utilizes the powerful capability of remote journaling to provide before and after images. This feature allows for real-time, in-flight data consistency checking by comparing the before image with the data on the target server prior to update. If any differences are detected, corrective action is initiated by automatically performing a partial audit and checking for any other bad records, fixing only the records that need attention. This results in a more efficient use of resources and ensures consistent synchronization of data.
At our local site we already use Hardware replication for the IBM i, but we need to add another replication Target at a cloud provider. Can Maxava HA enable such a requirement?
Yes. We recognize that there are a number of benefits in using hardware replication for local protection, but the added security of using logical replication to a partner’s cloud is attractive to many. Maxava HA can run successfully and efficiently in this sort of infrastructure, and Multi-Node Role Swap can be configured for extra flexibility.
Is library name mapping supported?
Yes.
Is intra-replication supported?
Yes.
Can Maxava HA replicate SYSBAS objects?
Yes.
Can Maxava HA replicate data to and from IASPs?
Yes.
Is mixed-level replication supported?
Yes, IBM i levels up to two apart is supported.