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Abstract
IBM i Migrate While Active provides the capability to safely and easily migrate an IBM i partition. A new instance of the IBM i partition, otherwise known as the copy node, is established and maintained by Migrate While Active until such time that a client decides to finalize the migration.
This wiki page aggregates resources and enhancements for IBM i Migrate While Active.
Content
IBM i Migrate While Active orchestrates the migration of an IBM i logical partition (LPAR) to a different location. That location can be within the same server, same data center, or to a remote location such as IBM Power Virtual Server in IBM Cloud.
The process starts with taking a source LPAR at IBM i 7.4, IBM i 7.5, or higher, making a copy of that LPAR, and migrating data from the source to the copy. While the source node is still active, changed data will be continuously migrated to the copy node. When the two nodes are "in sync", a cutover to the new node can be performed, which completes the migration.
Migrate While Active is not a suitable solution for High Availability (HA) or Disaster Recovery (DR). Because data synchronization is not done in time order, it is only after the final cutover has been completed that the Migrate While Active copy node will be in a coherent state. Also, Migrate While Active does not support reversing the replication after switching over to the copy node.
Migrate While Active includes multiple technologies that can be used to process the migration of the IBM i. The Migrate While Active content is organized such that these migration methods are found in separate chapters.
Migrate While Active using partition mirroring
Available in both IBM i 7.4 and IBM i 7.5, migrating using partition mirroring uses host-based storage replication technology to copy SYSBAS from the source node to the copy node. The following figure shows Migrate While Active using partition mirroring method. This method has several key advantages:
- No initial outage on the source node is needed because the creation of install media or a full system save is not necessary.
- The host-based storage replication occurs below the technology-independent machine interface (TIMI) so there are no locking considerations or conflicts with on-going production workloads.
- Test mode is available, which allows the user to freely and fully evaluate the copy node before finalizing the migration.
- The status and progress of partition mirroring is easy to observe, monitor, and estimate from within the Db2 Mirror GUI.
To understand Migrate While Active using partition mirroring, start here: Migrating using partition mirroring.
Migrate While Active using manual migration
Manual migration provides users with the following alternative methods for creating a copy of the source node to establish the copy node:
- Storage replication (FlashCopy or remote copy)
- Save and restore
- Storage replication and save/restore
Afterwards, IBM Db2 Mirror for i and Migrate While Active technologies are used to continuously synchronize changes in SYSBAS from the source node to the copy node. This is ultimately followed by a final migration and cutover to complete the migration to the copy node.
The manual storage replication and save/restore migration method provides users reduced source node downtime, compared to the assisted save and restore method. Additionally, the manual save and restore migration method provides users with more options for taking a full system save. During a manual migration, options for taking a full system save include but are not limited to: GO SAVE option 21 or the QSRMIGRATE program.
To understand Migrate While Active using manual migration, start here: Migrating using manual migration.
Migrate While Active using assisted save and restore
As shown in following figure, migrating using assisted save and restore technology approaches the migration differently than partition mirroring.
An initial outage on the source node facilitates the creation of install media and user data save media, which are used to provision the copy node. Afterwards, IBM Db2 Mirror for i and Migrate While Active technologies are used to continuously synchronize changes made to objects after the creation of the media. This is ultimately followed by a final migration and cutover to complete the migration to the copy node.
To understand Migrate While Active using assisted save and restore, start here: Migrating using assisted save and restore.
Recent IBM i Migrate While Active Enhancements
See IBM i Migrate While Active updates by PTF Group and year for a description of the Migrate While Active enhancements and improvements.
IBM i Migrate While Active resources
IBM Documentation
- IBM i Migrate While Active for i 7.6 Documentation
- IBM i Migrate While Active for i 7.5 Documentation
- IBM i Migrate While Active for i 7.4 Documentation
IBM Group PTF information and Requirements
IBM Product Information
Technical Notes & Related Information
IBM Technology Expert Labs
- Comments, questions, and requests for assistance can be made by sending an email to iessspt@us.ibm.com , which is the email address for IBM's Technology Expert Labs (formerly Lab Services).
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Modified date:
20 November 2025
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ibm17172591