StorageTek to Archive DB2 Data on Mainframes

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The concept of information lifecycle management (ILM) continues to get ringing endorsements from the storage sector’s top companies. StorageTek will soon add to its ILM strategy with archive software geared to help administrators manage IBM’s DB2 database on mainframes.

The Louisville, Colo., company will unveil Lifecycle Director for DB2 for IBM mainframe databases at the Share IBM conference in New York next week. The software will corral, manage and repurpose data in IBM’s mainframe databases, in which a lot of data in traditional Fortune 500 businesses is stored.

With Lifecycle Director software, DB2 managers in enterprise legacy IBM OS/390 or IBM z/OS environments can automate the movement of older or less frequently accessed files from expensive disk storage systems to lower cost storage media, such as tape, while maintaining speedy data recall.

Ted Battreall, database archiving product marketing manager at StorageTek, said Lifecycle Director is part of StorageTek’s strategy to introduce new ILM products that will classify, manage and move data in different environments.

“Lifecycle Director does all of this in a way that is transparent to the application and in such a way that application code modifications are not required,” Battreall told internetnews.com. “That’s the key differentiator. You can archive-enable an application without touching a line of code.”

This element is crucial for legacy applications that may be 30 years old or more, because there is generally less personnel with expertise to tinker with such software. So the idea is to eliminate the need for manual coding. As part of the so-called ILM strategies for cradle-to-grave data management, StorageTek, IBM, Veritas Software and EMC are endorsing this idea of relatively hands-free management.

In fact, EMC has a similar agreement with OuterBay in which it resells the start-up’s Application Data Management software. And Veritas inked a deal with Princeton Softech that combined the companies’ data management software to attract customers focused on improving their overall data management practices.

According to a StorageTek statement, Lifecycle Director curbs the need for the modification of application code, which can eclipse the cost savings and reductions in management complexity promised via competing DB2 archive products. In that sense, Lifecycle Director competes directly with software from OuterBay and Princeton Softech.

Lifecycle Director can reduce active table sizes by an average of 85 percent and eliminate the over allocation of disk storage space. Administrators can conserve valuable disk storage resources and accommodate continued data growth, which is brought about by the explosion of data and the myriad new government regulations that dictate how long it must be stored.

Lifecycle Director also renders the data as soon as the application is active at the recovery site to alleviate downtime. And the software automates the replication of up to four tape copies via single and concurrent tape write operations.

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com

Clint Boulton
Clint Boulton
Clint Boulton is an Enterprise Storage Forum contributor and a senior writer for CIO.com covering IT leadership, the CIO role, and digital transformation.

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