It’s well known that DB2 pureScale is an IT department’s ‘must-have’ product to cope with its customers’ growing workloads. It provides outstanding database scalability which is unlimited, plus continuous availability and application transparency. However, any single-site system, even a DB2 pureScale system, can be vulnerable to external events that could affect power or communications, or heaven forbid, cause physical damage to the system with loss in revenue and confidence.
Geographically Dispersed DB2 pureScale Cluster (GDPC) provides the scalability and application transparency of a regular single-site DB2 pureScale cluster, but in a cross-site configuration which enables ‘active/active’ system availability. Should a power failure or fire disable a single business site, by utilising GDPC, separate IT functions on two sites allow business to continue as normal.
James Gill, Principal Consultant at Triton Consulting explains that ‘The active/active element is really important because during normal operation, the DB2 pureScale members at both sites share the workload between them as usual. So the second site is not a ‘standby’ site which is used only in the case of something going wrong, but instead pulls its weight. In this way there’s value for investment even during day-to-day operation.’
There are of course system prerequisites for a geographically dispersed DB2 pureScale cluster, plus important steps to take in its implementation. As DB2 experts and IBM Premier Business Partners, Triton Consulting can advise on all aspects of DB2 pureScale and GDPC.
James elaborates: ‘by extending the range of the Infiniband interconnects, and utilising SAN-attached GPFS clustered storage, the solution is able to provide an active-active configuration spread over two data centres. The range that the cluster can be extended to will depend on the workload being performed – the higher the volume of update work, the shorter the separation without adverse impact on application throughput. Importantly, with DB2 pureScale there is no need to change your application code and it’s possible to grow your application to meet the most demanding of business requirements.’
Triton Consulting specialise in DB2 for mainframe and midrange customers, providing consultancy and support to customers throughout the UK, Ireland and Europe. For more information click here.