Functional scope

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GDPS/PPRC for Linux® on System z® supports availability solutions as described in this topic.

The following availability solutions are supported by GDPS/PPRC for Linux on System z:
  • Support for planned disk, system or site outages:

    The solution provides high availability during planned downtimes. For example, in case of disk maintenance, HyperSwap® technology provides continuous availability for the disk subsystem. In case of system maintenance, the clustering software Tivoli® System Automation for Multiplatforms provides high availability for the applications.

  • Support for data that spans more than one platform:

    A complete cross-platform disaster recovery task that can be done by one operator. There is no need for availability of all experts for example, storage team, hardware team, OS team, application team. Highly automated tasks reduce the risk for operating failures.

  • Support for managing the data replication environment:

    GDPS® provides an integrated solution managing the Metro Mirror replication provided by the storage subsystem.

  • Support for data consistency:

    Data consistency across all copies of replicated data, spread across any number of storage subsystems and in some cases across multiple sites is essential to provide not only data integrity, but also the ability to do a normal database restart in the event of a disaster.

  • Support for unplanned disk, system or site outages:

    The solution allows to detect disasters for example, disk failures or system failures on Linux systems running on System z. These failures are reported to GDPS which coordinates the necessary recovery actions.

    For example, in case of a system failure, systems can be re-IPLed in place which provides high availability for systems. In case of a disk failure, HyperSwap technology provides continuous availability for the disk subsystem and all applications accessing the disk subsystem.

  • Support for monitoring the production environment:

    GDPS provides monitoring of the production environment on system-level and cluster-level. Tivoli System Automation additionally allows monitoring of applications in the production environment.

  • Dynamic provisioning of resources:

    GDPS uses CBU and OOCoD for dynamic provisioning of resources

  • Clustering and high availability:

    Tivoli System Automation provides high availability in case of system or application or network failures

  • Single point of control from GDPS:
    • Integration with IBM® Tivoli System Automation for Multiplatforms
    • Shutdown and startup of systems and clusters
    • Start of resources/applications after IPL
    • Stop of resources/applications before shutdown
    • Integration with z/VM®
    • Coordinated IPL/shutdown of z/VM and its guests
For detailed information about using GDPS/PPRC functionality with Linux on System z systems, refer to the IBM Redbooks® publication GDPS Family - An Introduction to Concepts and Capabilities, which can be downloaded at:
http://ibm.com/redbooks
The information provided in the following chapters is of particular interest:
  • Chapter 1 Introduction to Business Resilience and the role of GDPS: Conceptual information about GDPS and disaster recovery
  • Chapter 8.2 GDPS/PPRC Multiplatform Resiliency for System z : Information about configuring and using GDPS/PPRC Multiplatform Resiliency for System z (xDR) for Linux systems running on System z