From Risk to Resilience: Rocket^® iCluster Elevates IBM^® i High Availability

Unplanned downtime isn’t just an inconvenience—it’s a threat to business continuity, customer trust, and the bottom line. As organizations increasingly rely on IBM^® i systems for mission-critical operations, the need for a robust high availability HA/DR strategy has never been greater.

According to the 2024 IBM i Marketplace Survey, 63% of businesses cited HA/DR as a top IT priority, yet many still struggle to implement a solution that meets their recovery time and recovery point objectives

The initial load challenge

A significant roadblock for many organizations is the initial setup of a HA/DR environment. The process of transferring vast amounts of data to a remote HA site presents logistical and technical challenges.

Currently, 57% of organizations rely on tape-based recovery—a solid backup strategy, but one that falls short of ensuring continuous access to critical data. While tape backups offer reliability, they do not meet modern recovery time objectives (RTO) or recovery point objectives (RPO). This is where HA solutions, such as Rocket^® iCluster, come into play.

The role of remote HA sites and cloud adoption

For true HA, organizations must host their secondary system at a remote location. Many companies turn to hyper scalers to ensure geographical redundancy and resilience against local failures. However, this introduces a fundamental challenge: how do you efficiently transfer large amounts of data to a remote HA site?

Rocket iCluster 9.3: revolutionizing initial load performance

Rocket iCluster has long been a trusted HA/DR solution with strong cloud compatibility. With the release of iCluster 9.3, initial data load performance has seen a dramatic improvement thanks to the adoption of the new ZLIB compression algorithm. This enhancement significantly reduces CPU consumption, especially on modern IBM Power10 machines.

By leveraging ZLIB compression, the time required to transfer vast datasets to a remote cloud environment has improved by a factor of 5 to 14 compared to traditional group-based synchronization methods. This advancement makes it faster and more efficient than ever for organizations to establish their HA environment and ensure business continuity.

Moving forward: making HA/DR a reality

The increase in organizations prioritizing HA/DR underscores its growing importance. However, successfully implementing a solution requires overcoming initial data transfer challenges. With Rocket iCluster 9.3, organizations can simplify and accelerate this process, making it easier to protect critical business operations.

So, if HA/DR is on your priority list, it's time to take the next step. With the right tools and strategies, ensuring continuous access to your data is no longer just an aspiration—it’s a reality.