05
Sat, Oct
2 New Articles

Maxava Delivers a Timely Disaster Recovery Solution

High Availability / Disaster Recovery
Typography
  • Smaller Small Medium Big Bigger
  • Default Helvetica Segoe Georgia Times

Maxava, a global leader in IBM i high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) software for both on-premise and cloud environments, has received acclaim from UK industrial supply company Smith Brothers Stores for providing a product and service exceeding their high availability (HA) and disaster recovery (DR) expectations.

After a power substation near their Leicester location went out of commission causing a severe power failure, it become apparent to Smith Brothers Stores that their current tape based solution which required travel to an off-site location 40 miles from their primary server, was not suitable for their DR requirements. Peter Hulcoop, IT Manager says, “It was important for us to be able to use the back-up machine without a day’s lapse in availability. The key to recovery is speed and we needed to find a HA solution that was more feasible for a company of this size.”

Maxava HA’s unique software based approach to DR for IBM i allows users to remotely access an off-site back-up system. Users can then perform a Role Swap delivering the ability to switch their on-going business from a primary system to a dedicated off-site location in the event of an emergency, all within a matter of minutes. This allows for maintenance and recovery procedures to commence without interrupting day-to-day operations, a procedure which was not possible with Smith Brothers Stores previous tape based solution.

 

Two weeks after going live with Maxava HA Enterprise+, Smith Brothers Stores required maintenance on the production system. What should have been a one day task resulted in a three week ordeal. “Without Maxava we would have been in dire straits, there’s no two ways about it. It would have meant a minimum of two to three days of downtime to our business without Maxava HA,” says Peter Hulcoop. He then added, “Machines simply go down when you don’t want them to and this event happened at the end of the day, the worst possible time for us.”

 

With assistance from the Maxava support team, Smith Brothers Stores successfully ran for three weeks on their back-up system while the maintenance procedures took place. The

Maxava support team were able to plan a controlled Role Swap back once the maintenance was complete, returning daily operations to business-as-usual. Peter notes, “If we were down for any length of time it would dramatically impact our revenues. We could deliver a physical product but we could not produce invoices, which when dealing with hundreds of thousands of pounds per order… well, you get the picture.”

 

In addition to successfully saving the business from a substantial loss of revenue, the team is able to monitor their systems remotely with the added flexibility of maxView Manager, an application for iPhone and Android. There is minimal action required to run the application and additionally it provides the IT support staff with a piece of mind.

 

Peter Hulcoop and Smith Brothers Stores are ultimately thrilled with the addition of Maxava HA to their IT infrastructure. “Thank goodness we bought Maxava when we did,” Peter says. “Given the circumstances, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief when it worked successfully at a critical moment for us”

 

You can download the Smith Brothers Stores case study here.

Maxava is a worldwide provider of innovative Monitoring, High Availability and Disaster Recovery software solutions for the IBM i platform and other systems. Customers have been using Maxava HA software for more than 16 years to ensure business continuity, reduce risk and meet regulatory requirements. Maxava’s software ensures business resilience for a cross-section of the world’s most demanding IBM i customers through SaaS, Cloud, Subscription and traditional Licensed software models.

Providing critical business continuity solutions to customers around the globe, Maxava’s implementations span a diverse set of industries including Banking, Telecommunications, Government, Manufacturing and Healthcare. Many of the worlds most trusted consumer brands are supported by IT environments strengthened by the use of the Maxava HA suite. Maxava is responsible for over 2000 installations globally and provides 24x7x365 support directly to over 40 countries through regional offices located in North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Visit maxava.com for more information or find out what our customers have to say at Maxava Customer Case Study Videos.

BLOG COMMENTS POWERED BY DISQUS

LATEST COMMENTS

Support MC Press Online

$

Book Reviews

Resource Center

  • SB Profound WC 5536 Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application. You can find Part 1 here. In Part 2 of our free Node.js Webinar Series, Brian May teaches you the different tooling options available for writing code, debugging, and using Git for version control. Brian will briefly discuss the different tools available, and demonstrate his preferred setup for Node development on IBM i or any platform. Attend this webinar to learn:

  • SB Profound WP 5539More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT Generic IBM announced the E1080 servers using the latest Power10 processor in September 2021. The most powerful processor from IBM to date, Power10 is designed to handle the demands of doing business in today’s high-tech atmosphere, including running cloud applications, supporting big data, and managing AI workloads. But what does Power10 mean for your data center? In this recorded webinar, IBMers Dan Sundt and Dylan Boday join IBM Power Champion Tom Huntington for a discussion on why Power10 technology is the right strategic investment if you run IBM i, AIX, or Linux. In this action-packed hour, Tom will share trends from the IBM i and AIX user communities while Dan and Dylan dive into the tech specs for key hardware, including:

  • Magic MarkTRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now!  Request Now.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericForms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericIT security is a top priority for businesses around the world, but most IBM i pros don’t know where to begin—and most cybersecurity experts don’t know IBM i. In this session, Robin Tatam explores the business impact of lax IBM i security, the top vulnerabilities putting IBM i at risk, and the steps you can take to protect your organization. If you’re looking to avoid unexpected downtime or corrupted data, you don’t want to miss this session.

  • SB HelpSystems ROBOT GenericCan you trust all of your users all of the time? A typical end user receives 16 malicious emails each month, but only 17 percent of these phishing campaigns are reported to IT. Once an attack is underway, most organizations won’t discover the breach until six months later. A staggering amount of damage can occur in that time. Despite these risks, 93 percent of organizations are leaving their IBM i systems vulnerable to cybercrime. In this on-demand webinar, IBM i security experts Robin Tatam and Sandi Moore will reveal:

  • FORTRA Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAManaging messages on your IBM i can be more than a full-time job if you have to do it manually. Messages need a response and resources must be monitored—often over multiple systems and across platforms. How can you be sure you won’t miss important system events? Automate your message center with the Robot Message Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAThe thought of printing, distributing, and storing iSeries reports manually may reduce you to tears. Paper and labor costs associated with report generation can spiral out of control. Mountains of paper threaten to swamp your files. Robot automates report bursting, distribution, bundling, and archiving, and offers secure, selective online report viewing. Manage your reports with the Robot Report Management Solution. Key features include:

  • FORTRAFor over 30 years, Robot has been a leader in systems management for IBM i. With batch job creation and scheduling at its core, the Robot Job Scheduling Solution reduces the opportunity for human error and helps you maintain service levels, automating even the biggest, most complex runbooks. Manage your job schedule with the Robot Job Scheduling Solution. Key features include:

  • LANSA Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.

  • LANSAWhen it comes to creating your business applications, there are hundreds of coding platforms and programming languages to choose from. These options range from very complex traditional programming languages to Low-Code platforms where sometimes no traditional coding experience is needed. Download our whitepaper, The Power of Writing Code in a Low-Code Solution, and:

  • LANSASupply Chain is becoming increasingly complex and unpredictable. From raw materials for manufacturing to food supply chains, the journey from source to production to delivery to consumers is marred with inefficiencies, manual processes, shortages, recalls, counterfeits, and scandals. In this webinar, we discuss how:

  • The MC Resource Centers bring you the widest selection of white papers, trial software, and on-demand webcasts for you to choose from. >> Review the list of White Papers, Trial Software or On-Demand Webcast at the MC Press Resource Center. >> Add the items to yru Cart and complet he checkout process and submit

  • Profound Logic Have you been wondering about Node.js? Our free Node.js Webinar Series takes you from total beginner to creating a fully-functional IBM i Node.js business application.

  • SB Profound WC 5536Join us for this hour-long webcast that will explore:

  • Fortra IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn: