IBM Cloud Global

Migration of IBM Power & Storage On-prem IBM i or AIX systems to The IBM Cloud!

The easiest way to get started in migrating from your on-prem environment to the IBM Power Virtual Server cloud service would be to work to define the following 3 topics:

1.) Take care of Advanced Networking in the cloud

2.) Map out a Migration Strategy “Plan”

3.) Plan for High Availability & Back-up

Advanced Networking

During this phase of the migration, you will need to be sure that your networking in the cloud is setup to mirror your existing network. If that is not possible, you will be required to explore a better or more appropriate way to network according to your system needs. For example, if you have a particular application that must connect to the web for logins of clients, then you need to make sure your application will still work in this scenario.

Setting up the following network architectures are a few solutions which could be used for migration. It is important to both setup networking for your system to run, and to have the advanced networking setup to complete actual migration. Here are some strategies to get you started.

Migration Plan

Put together a plan to strategize the migration by asking some of the following questions:

• Which workloads should you migrate to the cloud, and in what sequence?
• How concerned are you about downtime when migrating to the cloud?
• What is your migration strategy and is it supported by a business case?
• How detailed are your plans for preparing and executing your migration?
• What organization and governance changes do you plan for delivering cloud services?

HA & Back-up

For back-up recommendations we typically see Back-up Recover Media Service (BRMS) and IBM Cloud Storage (ICC) for IBMi. Use the BRMS to automate creation of the IMGCLG. You may automate this by saving to the IMGCLG and move the virtual tapes to Cloud Object Storage (COS) using the Cloud Object Storage connector (5770-ICC). This scenario can be used for Full System Back-up & Recovery as well as Object-level Back-up & Restores.

Image capture produces a storage FlashCopy of the logical partition (LPAR) and works on both AIX, Linux, and IBM i LPARs. You can use image capture to store VM images within your account (locally) as a part of your image catalog, or directly to IBM Cloud Object Storage (COS), or both.

 
Summary

Once all of your planning is completed you can start to do actual migration and it’s pretty easy. See the video below where I will show you how to get started. Here in the IBM Garage we can help with the planning, administration and actual migration of your systems and applications. To get started with an official Garage co-creation, workshop or proof of concept please e-mail aicoc@us.ibm.com.

https://mediacenter.ibm.com/media/Migration+of+IBM+Power+and+Storage+on-prem+to+the+IBM+Cloud/1_knbomjl3

Please leverage the following links listed below to get started in the planning phase. Also, feel free to reach out to me if you’d like to ask a quick question @tsieg on Twitter or LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travissiegfried/ -  I look forward to working with you to make a smooth transition to help get your business migrated to the IBM Cloud!

Here are some great IBM i migration techniques to help you to move to the IBM Cloud on IBM Power Virtual Server: https://cloud.ibm.com/media/docs/downloads/power-iaas-tutorials/PowerVS_IBMi_Migration_Tutorial_v1.pdf