Softek Storage Solutions, the leading provider of non-disruptive data migration software for multi-vendor environments, today announced new software that expands support for the Softek Transparent Data Migration Facility (TDMF) product line, with the unique ability to keep UNIX-based applications on-line during data moves.
TDMF UNIX is built on the proven technology of Softek TDMF for z/OS, which has been the standard for non-disruptive, heterogeneous data migration in mainframe environments since 1996 and used by 60 percent of Global 1000 enterprises.
Softek Transparent Data Migration Facility (TDMF) UNIX is host-based data migration software that utilises patent-pending technologies to dynamically switchover the I/O of source volumes to target volumes during the data migration process. Additionally, in the event of an interruption, TDMF UNIX is able to switchback to the original source volume with no application disruption.
With a plethora of operating system versions, data migration in UNIX environments is one of the most problematic activities facing IT administrators today, said Steve Duplessie, founder and analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. Software tools that can automate the data movement process and keep applications, and their associated business processes up and running, such as Softek TDMF UNIX, help storage administrators maintain service level agreement commitments during technology refreshes and other maintenance activities. Softek, having written the book on non-disruptive local data migrations in the mainframe world, now brings their gold-standard expertise to the world of open systems.
TDMF, on UNIX platforms, is designed for use in local environments to perform activities such as replacing or consolidating storage hardware, implementing tiered storage environments, performing routine server maintenance and load-balancing. Initial customer and reseller-partner testing of TDMF UNIX has demonstrated the attractive value proposition for online data migration for technology replacement, load balancing, system performance improvement and other activities that are frequently performed in enterprise data centre environments.
"Following successful testing on a HP Integrity Superdome server attached to IBM storage arrays, we are expecting Softek TDMF UNIX to realise significant improvements in overall system performance during primary operational hours, said Ad van Leeuwen, senior systems designer at a major international bank based in Amsterdam. We plan to deploy Softek TDMF UNIX across all our Unix servers as a tool to perform on-line data migrations for technology replacements, as well as for load balancing and to enhance our application service level agreements.
We tested TDMF UNIX in our labs, and based on what we saw, we believe that this product will prove to be highly effective in helping us more quickly install new storage and servers for our customers, said Dan Molina, chief technology officer at Nth Generation, a San Diego, Calif.-based leader in implementing high-availability computing, enterprise storage and data protection solutions, with a record of implementing more than 400 successful enterprise-class solutions. One of the key features we like is the ability to freely switch between source and target volumes early in the migration process to determine how the new storage is performing. If we need to make any modifications, we can then switch back to the old storage without taking any applications off-line. This feature is a real time saver that will help our engineers more quickly complete migration projects and significantly reduce risk to our customers.
TDMF Unix is the latest release for Softeks Enterprise Data Migration family of products. It supports the companys strategy that enables enterprises to see, move and recover data, regardless of server platform or storage vendor, and the promise to reduce the downtime for moving and recovering data.
TDMF UNIX enhances the companys strategy for allowing storage administrators the ability to migrate online, anywhere, to and from any vendors hardware, said Amena Ali, senior vice president of worldwide marketing and product strategy. Our primary research, polling more than 700 IT users, has shown that the majority of data migrations exceed planned levels of staff time, application downtime and budget. Our mission is to help businesses more tightly control these situations to improve their bottom line and ensure that applications are available and running, even through the most complex data migrations.
Elegantly Designed for Non-Disruptive Local Data Migrations
In addition to its unique dynamic switchover capabilities, other key features of TDMF UNIX include:
Simple installation can be loaded on a server in under five minutes with no reboot needed
Dynamic configuration to enable set-up after installation with no application disruptions
Throttled migration enables users to control the I/O rate, number of concurrent volumes and copy block-size, as well as CPU overhead, for low impact to server-resident applications.
Full recoverability in the event of server failure
Scalable tested in concurrent migrations of more than 1,000 volumes, and with volumes of up to 4 terabytes
Works with and supports:
All volume managers, and with or without any file system
All storage arrays
High-availability environments, including HA clusters
TDMF UNIX currently operates across HP-UX (RISC and Itanium processors), with support for IBM AIX and Sun Solaris planned for later this autumn. Softek offers a variety of licensing options, including enterprise, host-based, and volume-based.
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