Disaster Recovery Options Using IBM PowerVS

While IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) delivers a powerful cloud solution for your Power workloads, the responsibility for disaster recovery (DR) ultimately rests with you, the customer. Similar to on-premises environments, PowerVS requires a well-defined DR strategy to guarantee business continuity in the event of disruptions. Covenco understands the critical nature of DR and has over 25 years of experience in traditional and hybrid DR services. Read on to discover our Disaster Recovery Options using IBM PowerVS.

Examining Backup and Restore Options:

PowerVM Image Copy: 
This feature enables you to create point-in-time copies of your entire PowerVS instance, encompassing operating systems, applications, and data. These copies can be stored in a separate availability zone or region, providing readily available backups for disaster recovery.

External Backup Solutions: 
We can help you leverage various third-party backup solutions, such as Veeam on IBM Cloud, to integrate with PowerVS seamlessly. Veeam on IBM Cloud offers powerful functionalities such as incremental backups, continuous data protection, and encryption, and malware scanning, ensuring comprehensive data protection.

Covenco’s Approach to DR on PowerVS:

Tailored DR Strategy: 
We collaborate closely with you to understand your specific Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO) requirements. This collaborative approach allows us to design a customised DR solution that aligns with your needs and budget.

Hybrid DR Approach: 
Combining PowerVM Image Copy with an external backup solution can provide a layered approach to DR. PowerVM Image Copy offers a swift recovery option for more minor disruptions, while external backups provide a robust solution for more significant events.

Additional Considerations for a Robust DR Strategy:

MIMIX Integration: 
MIMIX can be a valuable tool for DR testing. It allows you to create test environments in the cloud, enabling you to simulate disaster scenarios and validate your DR plan without impacting your production environment.

High Availability (HA) Solutions: 
While PowerVS itself doesn’t offer built-in HA capabilities, you can leverage solutions like PowerHA to achieve HA within your PowerVS instances. This ensures continuous system uptime even in case of hardware failures within the cloud environment.

PowerVS: A Potential DR Solution for On-Premises Systems:

Critically, where Covenco sees huge potential for IBM PowerVS is in serving as a DR solution for your on-premises Power systems. Consider this scenario:

• You might already maintain two data centres in a co-located structure for high availability, incurring significant costs for both systems and their infrastructure.
• By transitioning one of these systems to a minimally resourced PowerVS instance (e.g., ¼ core, 16GB RAM), you can achieve a cost-effective DR solution. This minimal instance remains inactive until needed for disaster recovery, significantly reducing ongoing costs.
• During a disaster, you can quickly activate the PowerVS instance and restore your data from a pre-populated cloud storage solution, sized similarly to your on-premises storage, ensuring minimal downtime and data loss.

Covenco: Your Trusted Partner for DR on PowerVS

Covenco’s team has extensive experience designing and implementing DR solutions for IBM Power environments, both on-premises and in the cloud. We can assist you in:

• Assessing your DR requirements
• Developing a customized DR strategy
• Implementing backup and replication solutions
• Integrating DR testing with MIMIX
• Providing ongoing support and guidance

Covenco delivers the expertise and resources necessary to help you build a comprehensive  Disaster Recovery Strategy using IBM PowerVS. This ensures business continuity and minimises downtime in the face of unforeseen challenges, allowing you to focus on what matters most – running your business effectively.

For further reading, download the tutorial: AIX Disaster Recovery with IBM Power Virtual Server

See our dedicated content page for more information about IBM Power Virtual Server (PowerVS) and how it can be used to your advantage.