Storage migrations made simple.
Page 15
Local mainframe migration with volume consolidation
A major savings and loan institution had an older locally attached storage
array under strain that it was replacing with a new locally attached storage
array. The institution was running DB2 and CICS VSAM applications with
very high availability requirements.
The key migration challenges were as follows:
• Converting data between volume sizes—The project required moving MOD 3
arrays onto MOD 3s, and MOD 3 arrays onto MOD 9s at both volume and
dataset levels
• Limited downtime—The only permitted system downtime was Sunday mornings.
• Personnel constraints—There were limited personnel available to perform
the migration.
• Complex project—Due to the complexity of the migration and the personnel
constraints, the estimated duration of the project was at least two weeks.
The savings and loan company evaluated several migration options:
• Manual methods—This option was considered too labor intensive, especially
with the “overworked and understaffed” customer resource base. Avoiding
bandwidth impacts also would be difficult.
• Array-based replication — This option could not be used as the project
involved migrating MOD 3s to MOD 9s.
Highlights
A savings and loan company faced
migration challenges such as
personnel constraints and strict
availability requirements.
