“Should I embrace AS400 cloud migration or wait on it?”
We bet you’ve been there at least once, didn’t you?
The AS400 system, a top choice for enterprise computing for decades, is known for its integrated architecture, scalability, security, and data management capabilities.
The AS400 iSeries is another name of the IBM power systems server line. The IBM iSeries is designed to provide high availability and uptime.
It came to existence in 1980, and technically AS400 is the name of the first generation. Now, it’s called IBM iSeries, but most veterans prefer to use the former term AS400 only.
AS400, IBM i, IBM iSeries — you can call it whatever you want, but this system is an invisible force behind many IT organizations. Nearly 100,000 businesses rely on this incredible, robust, and resilient platform to run their core business operations.
But no better, cheaper, and smarter alternative has emerged for decades. IBM continues to innovate and keep the AS400 system alive and running.
What does this Article have for you?
- Why should you consider AS400 migration to cloud?
- AS400 migration challenges & how to overcome them?
- How do IBM Cloud Paks accelerate cloud migration?
- VTL Solutions and its relevance
- IBM i PTFs and TRs to Keep Your AS400 Systems Up to date
- How Performance Navigator helps track AS400 performance
Before diving deep into the topic, it’s worth spending a little time to better understand why do businesses still rely on AS/400?
Why do Companies Still Use AS400 if it’s Outdated?
Although the IBM iSeries AS400 is considered old, it is highly reliable.
Close to 43% of AS/400 users said that they are sharing most of their workload on iSeries, which shows its constant relevance ~ According to a report by Fortra.
Here are a few reasons why the AS 400 system is far from dead.
It is a workhorse – Many companies have a single machine that keeps ticking year after year. Distributed systems worldwide are built for redundancy and failure, which is an admirable model, but the IBM AS400/iSeries is built to last.
It runs the core business applications – Whether it’s an ERP or any in-house developed business-specific application, everything is painstakingly written and implemented around AS400. And new software is hard to implement, or they do not exist.
It integrates seamlessly – The AS400 system has the ability to integrate legacy and modern technologies.
It offers multiple options – You can choose from different AS400 IBM i systems such as powerful servers or mid-range servers as per your convenience.
Bad News – The AS 400 systems are helping businesses run their mission-critical applications on-premises. However, there are several areas where AS400 falls short, especially around scalability, cost, and maintenance.
Good news – AS400 cloud migration turns out to be a prominent solution, where your iSeries applications will be moved to the cloud. This transition helps you optimize your applications, reduce downtime, lower overall operational costs, and offers scalability.
Simply put – AS400 to cloud migration is your answer to modernizing legacy systems and efficiently meeting the business world’s needs.
We know you have many Why’s, How’s, and What’s rumbling around your mind.
Sit back and get ready to explore – IBM AS400 cloud migration.
Why AS400 Cloud Migration Proves Advantageous?
While leaders, like yourself, anticipate AS400 application modernization, they also want to hold on to the AS400 business logic.
Among many AS400 modernization preferences, as400 to cloud migration claims the top spot owing to the scalability, flexibility, and security cloud environment offers.
AS400 migration to cloud is the process of migrating AS400 applications to cloud infrastructure. This migration cultivates an agile IT environment, leading to impeccable resilience and a significant competitive edge.
This approach frees your organization from the constraints of legacy systems, offering multifarious benefits.
Let’s look at why AS 400 migration is a must for modern enterprises –
It Offers Improved Operational Agility
By sticking to the age-old system, you risk innovation and reduce agility. This gives your competitors the upper hand to grab emerging opportunities first.
We bet that, in this competitive space, you cannot afford a weakened edge, while your competitors leverage cloud-powered agility and innovation.
Whereas opting AS400 migration enables the leverage to make the most out of your existing iSeries application investments.
In simple words – It allows you to employ the same business logic, just in a new scalable & flexible environment.
It Fosters Cost Savings
Are you overwhelmed by the ever-inclining operational & maintenance costs?
IBM AS400 Cloud migration may be the best solution.
With AS400 to cloud migration, you experience significant cost savings on maintaining on-premises data centers.
Up next, most of the cloud-computing services providers offer pay-as-you-go models. With this type of set up, you only pay for the resource that you use.
This proves advantageous for companies, particularly with limited budgets. Cloud migration doesn’t only save costs, it also benefits your entire business process.
It Reinforces Enhanced Security Stature
The importance of proper security measures in place has never been higher.
Legacy AS400 applications often fall short against sophisticated cyber security threats, becoming the easy targets of cyber villains.
AS400 Cloud migration breathes new life into your AS400 system by securing the infrastructure plus adding advanced security features to protect your applications and data against evolving cyber threats.
To be apt, AS400 migration has immense benefits to offer. But it is not without its share of challenges.
Up next – let’s uncover the top challenges involved in IBM AS400 cloud migration to understand the process better.
Common Challenges of AS400 Migration to Cloud
AS400 cloud migration is a powerful solution that enables you to manage sizable AS400 applications and relevant data in the cloud environment, effectively.
But what are the challenges this transition might produce?
Let’s look into a few of them.
Legacy System’s Complex Architecture
Certain legacy AS400 applications may require collocation for optimal service quality whereas others may function effectively post AS400 migration to cloud.
If your existing AS400 system has a complex IT infrastructure, a seamless transition becomes challenging as different aspects call for meticulous coordination.
Scarcity of AS400 Developers
Another top concern with AS400 cloud migration is finding capable AS400 developers.
You need qualified AS400 developers with proficient AS400 development skills and exposure to AS400 cloud migration processes. The right expertise is the cornerstone for successful AS400 migration.
Time-Consuming Migration Process
AS400 cloud migration is a complex and time-consuming process.
The complexity involved may mislead the perception and discourage potential stakeholders.
You need to be patient with the process. Having a reliable AS400 cloud service provider to help navigate the process proves instrumental.
Inefficient Data Recovery
Most AS400 services providers press on having a disaster recovery plan in place, proactively.
However, ensuring a seamless transition and testing its effectiveness can bring another set of challenges that may deteriorate the AS400 migration success metric.
AS400/iSeries Application Dependencies
Application dependency is a critical challenge during AS400 cloud migration.
You simply can’t ignore the fact that you’ve been running IBM i applications on the AS400 platform for years, having created voluminous data siloes.
Ironing out these intricacies demand attention-to-detail and a time-tested AS400 migration process, that ensure success.
User Adoption
Who do you think will be impacted the most by the AS400 cloud migration initiative?
It’s the users, right?
Introducing AS400 cloud migration or AS400 application modernization may not be welcomed by all stakeholders, especially tenured users.
They may find the transition to be more disruptive than productive and prefer to stick with the status quo.
Are these challenges discouraging you from embracing the AS400 migration or AS400 modernization?
Being an IBM Silver Business Partner with 20+ years of experience, we know a surefire way to success – it’s in the process.
Moving forward, let’s explore how you can overcome these cloud migration challenges and embrace a seamless transition.
How to Overcome the AS400 Cloud Migration Challenges?
It would be an understatement to claim that AS400 cloud migration is an easy process.
Considering the volume of data, complexity of the IBM i applications and other dependencies, it’s certainly not!
But it is worth the effort, provided you follow a strategic approach.
Let’s dive straight into the approach without further ado.
An ideal approach for AS400 to cloud migration looks like this –
Lay Out a Solid AS400 Migration Plan
The success of AS400 cloud migration largely depends on a clearly outlined migration plan.
This step involves –
Assess the Legacy System
Assessing the iSeries infrastructure, evaluating its complexities, and dependencies on data, and spotting critical elements for smooth migration.
Outline a Transition Strategy
Next, building a futureproof AS00 migration strategy focused on phased implementation, resource planning, and short-term and long-term goals.
Involve Key Stakeholders
Involving key stakeholders since the start of the project to align expectations and gather insights when required.
AS400 Cloud Migration – Moving Application & Data to the Cloud
This is the key stage for successful iSeries application migration to the cloud.
It includes –
Data Migration
Carefully transferring AS400 applications & data to the cloud, ensuring data security and mitigating risks of data leakage.
Testing
Next in the process, is carrying out stringent testing to ensure top-notch performance and compatibility within the cloud environment.
Phased Execution
The last phase is opting for a phased migration approach to maximize resource allocation, minimize disruption, and focus on complex applications.
Optimizing Cloud Environment Post-Migration
Often underestimated, this process is important for fine-tuning application performance, ironing out the inefficiencies, and ensuring excellence in the cloud environment post AS400 cloud migration.
It involves –
Monitoring Application Performance
Constantly monitoring system performance, addressing security breaches, optimizing resources optimization, identifying potential loopholes, and resolving them on time.
Training and Support
Providing constant support to the end-users to familiarize them with the system and ensure effortless adoption.
This thought-out plan is a one-stop answer to your AS400 cloud migration challenges.
Now, as you’re aware of the benefits, challenges, and process of AS400 migration to the cloud, let’s unwind a bit about how the migration process can be accelerated.
Accelerate AS400 Cloud Migration with IBM Cloud Paks
The COVID-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for many IBM iSeries enterprises by giving them the “platform” they needed to drive their digital transformation and AS400 application modernization.
For many companies, this means accelerating attempts to move an expanding percentage of workloads to the cloud.
Although due to Covid-19, annual IT expenses were reduced by the end of 2020.
At the start of the year 2018, some analysts predicted that around 80% of IT organizations’ workload would shift to the cloud by the end of 2020.
But the reality was something different, as 15 months later then, IBM and McKinsey revealed that only 20% of the total workload shifted to the cloud.
The journey of AS400 cloud migration is not that easy, especially for applications with a significant legacy. But, certainly not impossible if you act with plan and apt strategic guidance.
Thinking, “Is there a way to accelerate the process of AS400 to cloud migration?”
Yes, there is.
IBM Cloud Paks is the solutions that helps you accelerate AS400 migration.
Just to give a bit of technological context – here’s a quick lookback at what IBM Cloud Paks are.
IBM Cloud Paks are company-ready software solutions that are based on Red Hat Openshift technology. IBM cloud Paks enables a fast and secure way to move any business application to the core cloud whilst AS400 cloud migration journey.
This speedup required outcomes by facilitating intelligent, reliable, and automated systems and providing programmers, developers, and data managers with a free environment to quickly –
- Modernize existing applications
- Develop new cloud-native applications
- Deploy middleware consistently across the clouds
IBM Cloud Paks have been developed purposefully to address six significant workloads in IT organizations –
- Cloud Pak for Applications
- Multi-cloud management
- Automation
- Integration
- Security
- Data
Thinking, “How does IBM Cloud Paks offer an advantage during AS400 migration to cloud?”
Up next – let’s uncover the benefits of IBM Cloud Paks during AS400 cloud migration
Benefits of IBM Cloud Pak Deployment
Organizations with IBM Cloud Paks on board will have better efficiency and resiliency, which will reduce development time up to 84% and operational expenses up to 75%.
You will also reap various specific advantages like –
1. In Terms of Applications
- Easily and quickly modernize the existing application
- Additional security can be embedded to meet current regulations and standards.
- Quickly develop a new application to unleash digital transformation
2. In Terms of Data
- Improved flexibility and AS400 cloud migration readiness
- Increased data virtualization
- Enhanced deployment of AI & ML models
3. For Integration
- 3X faster integration
- 33% lesser maintenance costs
- 2X faster responsiveness to customer expectations & market trends
4. For Multi-cloud Management
- Complete control & transparency on the workload
- Integrate AI across IT operations
- Improved operational efficiency and application resilience for business continuity
5. For Automation
- Rapidly scale up or down to meet customer expectations
- Quickly generate new products & services to gain a competitive advantage
- Tactically support the efficiency of onsite & remote users
6. For Security
- Expose hidden threats proactively
- Make informed decisions about the looming security risks
- Respond quicker to the hazards, before they disrupt the business environment
IBM Cloud Paks gives you a fully flexible and easy-to-work environment needed to bring the remaining 80% of your workloads to cloud-based environments. But at every step, you need a guide to maximize the chances of success.
Thinking, “Where to get the right guidance to maximize the value of IBM Cloud Paks?”
Simple – get an AS400 services partner to help you out.
We, at Integrative Systems, are IBM’s silver business partners and have been deploying IBM i applications on the cloud for over two decades. Integrative Systems have also helped organizations in deploying essential components of Cloud Paks.
Thus, we can apply this unique technology and help you in accelerating your hybrid cloud journey.
IBM cloud Paks can be used majorly in four areas –
Discovery & Assessment
This includes understanding the existing deployment environment of business, application analysis, and future strategy.
Deployment & Configuration
Purpose-built to support varied environments, we help deploy the appropriate IBM Cloud Pak elements and align options and security for your certain needs.
Integration & Customization
This means integrating IBM Cloud Paks with various data sources and other applications across implementation options, boosting your ROI and time to value.
Modernization & ROI
This includes optimizing your applications and maximizing efficiency, agility, and security.
Think you’re not ready for AS400 cloud migration? Sticking to IBM iSeries setup? It must have a safety net to fall back during times of disaster. Check this alternative.
Virtual Tape Libraries – Safety Net during Disasters!
The reason is direct and straightforward, with an IBM iSeries setup, you must execute daily backups without any excuse.
And backup is not just about data recovery in a disaster, but it will also help you to recover a file that is deleted accidentally.
If you think that you do not need daily backup, then you should re-think your decision.
Duplication makes sure that your source data are synchronized, but you cannot get them back with repetition if you delete your business records. Business data is an asset, and backups protect this.
Many IBMi users use tape as their backup medium, and this is a perfect answer.
However, some companies consider Virtual tape libraries. A VTL is a disk hooked to your IBMi, a fast and easy method to manage.
Thinking, “Instead of approaching AS400 modernization or AS400 cloud migration, why IBM i users entrust VTL solutions to date?”
It’s because it’s yet another alternative to ensure your business data is backed up in time even if you’re operating with the legacy setup.
Read forward to explore!
1. Shrink Your Backup Windows
Time is money, and the businesses are asking you to reduce windows downtime.
You may have a backup in advance, but that is not the issue.
You can always invest in a fast tape drive and power system like Virtual tape libraries, which reduces the backup windows. With VTL onboard, you will notice a significant reduction in the backup window.
2. Reduce Tape Handling
Tape handling is a difficult task, and to use the tape, you must know how to handle it.
Someone needs to take the recordings and take them offsite. Someone from a third-party organization or someone from your office should be assigned to do the task.
Virtual tape libraries eliminate tape handling with the use of duplication.
The duplication of data ensures that your tapes have secured your data at any other location—what more vital reason you need than this.
3. Replicate Your Backups Offsite
You are exposed if your backups are not stored on the second offsite.
In case your office building caught fire, there is no other way to access backup and restore it, and therefore tape handling is an issue.
VTL’s can produce duplicate copies between two units. Duplication is wholly automated and the best method for offsite backup.
Having deduplication is better with your VTL as it will improve the speed of your duplication and decreases the amount of space on your VTL.
Since the virtual tape libraries only need to send the changed objects and the time it takes to replicate to reach the target will be reduced. With VTL, you won’t have 52 copies of the same file each week, you will have only one copy for each week, and that’s a tiny unit.
4. Encrypt Your Backups
Compliance is affecting more and more companies.
As a result, more companies need to encode their backups to comply. Executing tape encoding can be more complicated and time-consuming than using VTL.
Moreover, there is no need to use SKLM, unlike tape, which requires software to encode. The device can encode the backups at rest and encode every media file you create. This method streamlines the procedure of being able to encrypt your backups.
5. Reduce the Time of Data Restore
Why do organizations need a backup – It may happen anytime that someone accidentally deleted the vital record or file.
Then you need to struggle to get that file back. Moreover, it will take extra time than usual to restore a file. But virtual tape libraries can help you to fix the system in a fraction of the time.
Disaster recovery sorted? How’re you keeping your applications up and running in alignment with changing user demands & market dynamics?
AS400 Services to Keep your IBM i PTFs And Technology Refreshes Up to Date
We are concerned about the lack of attention among our iSeries customers who ignore IBM PTF and technology updates to keep their IBMi OS (OS400 / i5 / OS) up to date.
Well, we understand the general justification – “The system is working fine and will be taken care of in the next release version. If it is not broken, do not repair it. Then why not wait?”
First, let us understand what “PTF” means.
PTF is Program Temporary Fix.
PTF is a software patch to fix “bugs” or “improvements” using IBM Licensed Software Products (LPPs), typically operating systems.
The “temporary” part of this is a temporary fix until the next version of the operating system is released. At that point, a “fix” will be added to the new release code.
That’s where a reliable AS400 services provider proves instrumental in keeping your systems up & running. They keep an eye on the upgrades, and help your AS400 system stay up to date, so it functions just fine.
Here’s a glimpse of what regular technology updates have to offer –
- Support for new hardware and firmware (e.g., new I/O equipment or newly announced models)
- Support for new virtualization functions
- Performance improvements
- Enable new functions
Starting with the V6R1, IBM has significantly slowed the pace of new OS releases to give its customers more time to evaluate and upgrade to the latest version (IBM has many customers worldwide struggling to upgrade to the new OS version in less than 3 years).
So, instead of a new OS every two years, IBM introduces new functionality and fixes by releasing technology updates, or TR.
This means that the old way of waiting for the next IBMi OS to update your PTF is more dangerous. Due to the long distances between IBMi OS versions, it is now important to stick with PTFs as new OS versions will take longer to release.
In addition to updating PTF levels, TRs add additional capabilities to existing operating systems.
For example, what has been added to V7R1 are user profile enhancements, object auditing improvements, data encryption, security enhancements, and updated programming tools. They were all delivered to V7R1 by TR. There were also several TRs for the V7R2.
Unsure if you should care about it or not? Read on!
Why Should You Care About PTFs and TRs?
If you are using IBM as400 software support, they first ask for your PTF level. If you go back to the previous level, they will want you to engage with them before you start working on your problem.
When IBM recognizes a widespread problem, such as the recent WebSphere application server Java vulnerabilities, it develops a solution.
However, this fix depends on the latest version of the operating system level. They don’t go back and test those fixes on non-running OS versions with the latest PTFs and TRs.
Therefore, during repair testing and verification, there is no guarantee that PTF will work on a system that goes backward.
Excluding too many PTF / TR levels can lead to IBM i OS and microcode incompatibility. (Microcode is software that programs hardware functions, also called firmware or licensed internal code.)
This may prevent your server from upgrading to a new operating system until the microcode is updated, which causes additional downtime and, in some cases, upgrades until the issue is resolved. Must be returned. The current PTF cannot be determined if the TR level is too late. Additional steps and more time are required to update the system’s official internal code.
IBM tends to add the same OS functionality to all levels of the existing OS using TRs. So, for example, new features and functionality built into V7R2 were added to V7R1 by TRs. This means that you can work on the operating system longer without upgrading to a more recent version to get the functionality you or the software vendor needs.
IBM LPP programs such as WebSphere products are debugged by the same process but require additional steps and are dependent on your overall PTF and TR level. LPP patches are needed to improve performance and protect these products from intrusion.
Now, as you’re aware of the importance of keeping your IBM i PTFs and TRs in check, let’s understand why it’s essential to replace legacy AS400 schedulers?
Why is it Good to Replace Legacy IBM AS400 Schedulers?
IBM iSeries AS400 scheduler runs natively on operating system 400, i.e., OS400. It can manage third-party applications and automate jobs on the system and integrate other enterprise jobs running on Windows, Linux, Solaris, and Mainframe systems.
The iSeries AS400 job scheduler contains enhanced elements like building complex job needs and variable quantity that apply to any product and database, has built-in security, alerts facility, compliance reporting, screen capturing, and many more.
The job scheduler’s insightful GUI user interface enables the same job organizing elements for every platform, providing the status of every scheduled job and all system jobs on any OS like (Windows, Android, or Linux).
Thinking, “How to know if AS400 scheduler needs consideration?”
Here’s a quick breakdown to help you navigate this riddle.
Assessing the Replacement of IBM AS400 Scheduler
If a survey report is to be believed, 62% of IBM iSeries AS400 professionals have experience of more than 20 years on this platform, and around 27% of professionals have experience of 30 years.
IBM combined System/36 and System/38 with IBM AS400 in 1988, with an operating system (OS400) and an integrated relational database (DB2). IBM AS/400 increased the uptime and disk redundancy and established itself as an advanced business solution. Many organizations and aspiring IT giants built their foundation on IBM AS400.
Over these decades, IT organizations have seen the benefits in business due to new applications and technologies, leadership, and more. Yet, some are still working in the same traditional way that they did in the past.
If your business functions in parallel with the changing market dynamics, you surely must have felt the need to replace the existing AS400 schedulers.
Wondering what signs to watch before you go for the replacements?
Here are a few to consider –
- Limitations of schedulers
- Signals that indicate the time for change
- Need for automation to accelerate business processes
Companies need to realize that the things that worked 30 years ago might not be a good fit today, especially when you are aware of the marketing trends of IBM AS400. It’s time to upgrade yourself and get ready for the next 30 years.
Limitations of IBM AS400 Schedulers
If you have been using IBM AS400 services for more than a decade or two, you’ve had thought of IBMi as legacy software. But we can assure you or even your boss that IBM AS400 iSeries runs on our state-of-the-art technology.
But unfortunately, its outdated interface is the reason that the system is underperforming.
Just like your business requirements have evolved over the years; your operating system strategy must evolve in this process.
If your IBM AS400 is complex and facing difficulty in supporting a heavy workload, you need the right set of tools to manage the process.
But you don’t need to worry if you aren’t into the IT automation business; Integrative Systems is here for your rescue.
Sometimes senior management is not too interested in turning things in their favor, and the hidden cost of the software upgrade is also one of the reasons that they are scared off.
However, they need to realize that a solution that worked well for many years may reach its breaking point.
The typical style of scheduling scenarios includes manual operations, Homegrown Scripts, and CL Programs. Moreover, native schedulers ship with the OS, schedulers embedded with advanced schedulers that understand IBM AS400.
CL Programs and Homegrown Scripts
IT admins are happy while writing scripts, but there’s an irresistible desire to overuse scripting. IT admins can unintentionally create scripts that may put the business at risk when they face project deadlines, high-pressure events, or even day-to-day tasks.
In IBM AS400 systems, it’s not uncommon for IT admins to start scripts simply and develop them into complex code over time.
Managers and program analysts are frequently appalled to determine how many scripts they depend on for successful IT operations. Still, they usually don’t pay any heed to such danger until a business-impacting point kicks off.
Now, as you’re aware of how evolving business needs call for AS400 scheduler upgrade, limitations of schedulers and other factors affecting the processing capabilities of AS400, let’s understand how to upkeep your AS400s performance in check post IBM discontinued performance management.
Performance Navigator – An Alternative to Performance Management
Like many other businesses, are you also worried about the future of IBM iSeries after IBM discontinued the services of IBM PM400?
If yes, we can suggest a better option.
But before that, you must be aware of the importance of IBM PM400 so that you can compare it with other available options and develop a better understanding.
Do You Know What IBM PM400 is?
IBM PM400 or Performance Management System is an easy-to-use, dynamic, and capacity-planning tool. It’s a way for customers to share their data with IBM Power Systems to be analyzed.
IBM PM400 includes a set of reports and graphs that allow businesses to analyze performance without investing too much time that was previously wasted in data collection and report preparation.
Why did IBM Discontinue PM400?
IBM discontinuing the services of Performance Management for Power Systems was a huge setback for various business owners as many managed service providers (MSPs) and business partners relied on IBM PM400 for historical data collection and reporting across their software.
And unlike various companies, you may also have multiple questions in mind –
- What will happen to my pre-existing data on the portal?
- What will happen to my performance data?
- What are the alternatives going forward?
- How to use performance data to determine problems & capacity planning?
- How to get the latest reports as per today’s needs?
Well, we have a modern alternative to PM400, and that is — Performance Navigator.
What is Performance Navigator?
Hundreds of IBM AS400 iSeries business partners, cloud partners, and managed service providers worldwide rely on IBM PM400 for problem determination and capacity planning.
Performance Navigator allows producing similar reports as PM400.
Furthermore, users can schedule reports to run automatically in JPG format or those who want to crunch data in a CSV file.
Performance Navigator uses the Collection Services data efficiently from IBM PM400. It means Performance Navigator also allows you to keep data on your IBM i, along with in-built data reduction components.
This way, you won’t lose data suddenly and can incorporate the data into your standard backup. And, Performance Navigator uses NMON data.
Apart from reporting, Performance Navigator uses historical data in identifying issues, understanding how the change will impact, and check how the overall workload will look in a different configuration, whether that’s for on-premises capacity or if you are looking to migrate to the cloud.
Furthermore, it’s easy to download Performance Navigator today.
Without any licensing constraints, you can use CPU on priority and utilize disk space and graphs and run health check-ups across servers.
Performance Navigator Utilize IBM Collection Services Data
Performance Navigator uses Collection Services data from IBM and keeps four-day data backup for current day graph representation.
For a typical IBM AS400 server, this typically adds around 50MB/day. But Performance Navigator runs an information decrease work (PERFNAVDR) every day to pack this information and store it in its own MPGLIB library where it lives.
The benefit of the pressure is that you can significantly store more information than you would somehow have the option to with the basic IBM Collection Services information, adding important history and profundity to your presentation announcing and investigation.
Moreover, when packed like this, a whole of historical information possesses around 70MB!
IBM PM400 Reporting in Performance Navigator
Since Performance Navigator utilizes IBM Collection Services information as to its central information base, you can use it to make the very reports that IBM PM400 had the option to deliver.
For your benefit, identical PM400 reports have been incorporated into a progression of PM400 Report Sets in Performance Navigator.
You can characterize your reports’ format as per will (JPG, BMP, CSV, or HTML), where you’d like them to put away, or an email beneficiary.
Moreover, Report Sets can likewise show extrapolation utilizing the recorded information. The dispatched IBM PM400 Report Sets incorporate segment details.
Performance Navigator and Capacity Planning
Since Performance Navigator can pack IBM Collection Services information, this authentic information can be utilized to fuel the item’s capacity planning component — the more information you have, the better you’ll know your responsibility, its inconsistencies, and its pinnacles and troughs.
In the wake of recognizing a peak day, a progression of assessed development figures can be applied, covering framework, interactive, and cluster responsibilities over extended periods to help comprehend when server bottlenecks are probably going to happen and, more critically, how long the current equipment design will last. You can likewise mimic these extended workloads on new equipment to help envision how any new equipment is probably going to perform and over what period.
In case you’re hoping to lead a Power Systems server exercise, workload from various physical machines can be assembled to assist you with understanding the effect of consolidating these unique workloads in an exertion to lessen your equipment impression, possibly additionally decreasing cooling, electrical, and licensing costs.
The historical data on your existing servers is a treasure of information, and you must have access to this data to get root cause performance issues.
Now, as we looked into multiple aspects of AS400 cloud migration, IBM Cloud Paks, VTL solutions, AS400 schedulers, and Performance Navigator, you must be looking for an AS400 services provider to help you make most of your AS400 investments.
Look no further than Integrative Systems!
Integrative Systems – AS400 Services Partner of Your Choice
At Integrative Systems, we have a team of experienced in-house AS400 developers.
Need a team of dedicated AS400 programmers as an extension of your in-house team? We can deploy just the right developer/s with the exact skills you need within 2 days.
At Integrative Systems, we have a proven track record of providing effective IBM AS400 “production support” services worldwide.
Our IBM iSeries consultants provide additional services to fully support your AS400 operations – from administration to application enhancements, deployment, and maintenance support.
We bring in more than 2 decades of experience in AS400/ iSeries development and have worked for various industry verticals like banking and finance, insurance, manufacturing, distribution, and retail.
Our team of AS400 experts is comprised of highly skilled and experienced senior system engineers who strive to provide best-in-class support for existing and repeatedly emerging issues.
Our range of AS400 solutions and services includes –
- EDI Services
- RPG Support
- GUI for iSeries
- Cloud Migration
- AS400 Consulting
- iSeries Integration
- AS400 Automation
- IBM i Modernization
- Hire iSeries Developers
Think we are the match you’ve been looking for?
Drop us a line at [email protected] and our team of experts will get back to you within 2 business days.