Getting Started With Connectria’s Hybrid IBM i And AIX Architecture
November 29, 2021 Roy Flowers
As a leading provider of IBM i systems, we know the ins and outs around your mission critical systems and their importance to your business. As an AWS advanced consulting partner, we’ve also worked with many customers on the best ways to achieve their cloud migration goals.
When considering projects around digital transformation, it’s important to maintain realistic expectations. To keep you on track while on your cloud journey, it becomes essential to organize and plan your digital transformation into a more manageable process consisting of small steps towards big goals.
Time and time again, we find that users target of say 18 months or so to get off platform inevitably turns out to not be enough. A significant portion of these users end up renewing their contracts for a few years because they’ve discovered that it will probably take that long to do it right, rather than to do it right now.
Speaking from the perspective of someone running on Power Systems, I have seen organizations try far too many times to move too rapidly to the cloud. If you approach your modernization process haphazardly, your business will suffer.
I also know that investment in Power Systems hardware is significant and therefore it’s important to retain as much of that investment as possible. Connectria is well positioned to help you organize your digital transformation process. Our IBM + AWS Hybrid Cloud brings the unique capabilities of IBM Power Systems servers to our data centers on the east and west coasts, close to AWS.
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While I can talk about the individual pieces all day, what you want to know is how this would work for your environment. I know that everyone’s environment is a little bit different, but there are usually some commonalities. Below are some example architectures to provide an idea of how each would look in Connectria’s hybrid cloud model.
Starting with disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS), the example above is typically the least cost entry for most and a way to get more familiar with AWS and Connectria services without a full implementation. You can maintain your existing production on-site and replicate production systems to Connectria in AWS environments.
While most folks use VPN tunnels for this, that isn’t the only method. Typically, logical replication using tools like MIMIX, iCluster, Maxava, or other similar tools can be used to replicate the environment into the DR facility. Some detailed replications could also be supported, you’ll just need to check with your Connectria sales rep for available options.
The next example, shown above, depicts a production/DR environment with no connections into Connectria’s data center. Here, the customer is shown using their existing direct connect into AWS and co-locating their Power Systems boxes in our data center.
Let’s say, for instance, you already had a US East/US West environment and existing direct connects into the environment. But then you decide you don’t want to go through the process of standing up any kind of circuit. For the initial onboarding process, Connectria could have a site-to-site VPN tunnel and then remove it upon project completion and do your MIMIX. Then once you get to your cutover, you continue with this direct connect and eliminate any other connectivity into Connectria’s data center except for traffic that would be passing from the Amazon environment as it stands going back into our environment.
The diagram above shows a production-only environment using a co-located Power Systems box. This environment is intended to illustrate what’s possible if you’re only interested in production and uninterested in DR altogether. Here, I show site-to-site VPN, but any of the previously described connectivity methods would be possible.
We know juggling existing on-premises infrastructure, digital transformation efforts, and cloud strategy are challenges that many IT leaders are facing as we head into 2022. That’s why we spent a lot of time this past year sharing details and insights around our hybrid cloud solution. While we can speak at length about the individual pieces of this solution, we know that what you want is to understand how this would work for your environment. Be sure to visit our blog for more information.
“We’re equally passionate about supporting customers in retaining the value of their investment in Power Systems as we are in helping those interested in embracing cloud technologies,” said Jeff Swartz, Connectria regional director. “Whether you need help extending the life of your IBM workloads, migrating to the cloud, or managing public or private cloud environments, Connectria and our partners have the skills and support available to help.”
In the past, not all customers were able to take advantage of AWS services because of complications from the diversity of their on-premises environments, most being mission-critical in nature. We want to ensure all of our customers have the opportunity to take full advantage of AWS services with support from the right partner with strength and expertise in both Power Systems and AWS services.
Roy Flowers is solutions architect at Connectria.
This content is sponsored by Connectria.
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