If requiring sizing for Dynamic Solutions International (DSI) Virtual Tape Library (VTL), send the following information to IBMsizing@dynamicsolutions.com

1. Customer Name

2. What VTL/Tape drives are used today

3. If using a VTL please provide the following information:

   1. What is the current deduplication ratio

   2. What LPARs have been saved at what location if there are multiple sites

   3. Average size of virtual volumes

   4. Using 10Gb adapters for replication (Yes/No)

   5. Using Fibre Channel cards for replication (Yes/No)

   6. Will you be using DSI Conductor for migration of media (Yes/No)

4. If using a mixture of VTL and physical and you are planning on continuing the same practices, list control groups that will use physical media

5. Data collected from one of the actions below

Collecting information if using BRMS

The PRTRPTBRM EXPDATE(*ACTIVE) parameter was introduced in 7.2 and later and requires one of the following PTFs: 7.4 SI72867, 7.3 SI72866  7.2 SI72865

If using BRMS backup control groups, run the following commands on each LPAR and send the spooled file. The spooled file can be zipped to transfer easier. These commands need to run in the same job stream.

• CRTDTAARA DTAARA(QTEMP/Q1ARPTRETN) TYPE(*CHAR)

• PRTRPTBRM TYPE(*CTLGRPSTAT) EXPDATE(*ACTIVE)

If using BRMS backup control groups without PTFs 7.4 SI72867, 7.3 SI72866 or 7.2 SI72865 then run the following commands on each LPAR and send the spooled file. The spooled file can be zipped to transfer easier. These commands need to run in the same job stream.

• CRTDTAARA DTAARA(QTEMP/Q1ARPTRETN) TYPE(*CHAR)

• PRTRPTBRM TYPE(*CTLGRPSTAT)

Send the spooled file in text (.txt) format. (The files need to be downloaded as .txt files, not as .pdf and converted.)

If you have multiple systems in a BRMS network, you can use the following command on one of the systems to run the reports for each the other systems. These commands need to run in the same job stream.

• CRTDTAARA DTAARA(QTEMP/Q1ARPTRETN) TYPE(*CHAR)

• PRTRPTBRM TYPE(*CTLGRPSTAT) FROMSYS(xxxxxxxxx) EXPDATE(*ACTIVE) - CAUTION: Do not use *NETGRP or list multiple systems

Send the spooled file in text (.txt) format. (The files need to be downloaded as .txt files, not as .pdf and converted. )

Collecting data when not using BRMS or BRMS control groups

If not using BRMS control groups or not using BRMS, send in the following for each LPAR. You can use RTVDSKINF and PRTDSKINF to get library and IFS sizes.

• Type of backup -  Daily, weekly, monthly, yearly etc

• Size of each backup

• How often each backup is done - Example: Daily 6 days a week, Weekly once a week,

• Retention of each backup - Example: Daily 14 days, Weekly 35 days

• Start time of each backup

Example

How to order a DSI VTL

All DSI orders are down via Passport Advantage .  Once you have the IBM part numbers provided to you after submitting your sizing request, you can sign on to Passport Advantage (PPA) and enter the part number. All the part numbers are listed below.

Passport Advantage DSI part numbers

Notes:

• Shipping is not included. To receive a shipping estimate, send an email to shipping@dynamicsolutions.com with the following information
  • Customer name
  • Contact person
  • Contact phone number
  • Full physical address
• DSI Conductor is as optional software product - Integrates into your existing IBM i Power Systems environment and Media Management Software (MMS), delivering automated, host-based policies that leverage all of the Virtual Tape Library’s (VTL) functionality without leaving the standard IBM i interface.
  • Supports BRMS
  • Tape management - create tapes as required, move tapes from vault to logical library
  • Tape library and drive management - create and assign
  • Reports
  • Migration from existing tape media
  • Assist with exporting and importing volumes from object storage (Cloud)

Associating DSI part numbers with Passport Advantage part numbers

Archiving data to object storage (Cloud)

Archiving data to external object storage (Cloud) will be available Q2 2021. Data can be saved to the VTL and then data can be sent object storage. The following are some considerations when using this option:

• This will only occur automatically when the host ejects the cartridge from the logical library on the DSI VTL.  If moved to the vault on the DSI Console, a manual export will need to be run.
• When the data is sent to the cloud, it will be re-hydrated first but may be if configured.
• Volumes will be need to be manually retrieved from the cloud on the DSI VTL Console. (DSI Conductor will be able to help automate this from the IBM i if installed)
• Imported volumes from the cloud will be write protected. They will remain un-deduplicated until write enabled
• Available at 10.3 DSI VTL code only. (Systems at lower releases cannot be upgraded)
• Replicated tapes cannot be exported to the cloud
• Requires DSI VTL to recover an exported tape
• Recovery times may be affected

• Local disk (block storage) will still be required for landing space and index space. Only the SIR repository will be in the cloud.
• Restore time may be affected
• Data in the cloud will be deduplicated

• Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • OEL 7u6
• Microsoft Azure
  • OEL 7u6
• IBM Power Virtual Server
  • Red Hat 7u6