ORION Express Brochure

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ORION Express is an entry-level high availability/disaster recovery solution designed to manage the application and data availability of an OS/400 system for small-to-medium size companies. These environments tend to be a single iSeries server or possibly two iSeries servers or LPARs responsible for hosting one-to-two line of business applications. The solution leverages IBM’s remote journaling in providing full server replication with Enterprise Class Data Integrity and operator managed switching in a non-clustered environment. The typical customer will have a limited IT staff and operational skills as well as limited processes, procedures and budget for managing their information availability.

These sites still have a critical requirement to ensure applications and data hosted on the iSeries systems are highly available during specific production periods, as well as protection from disastrous situations.
With ORION, you can improve the availability, scalability, and manageability of your critical business information.

The ORION Express for OS/400 solution includes the following technology and solution services:

ORION Solution Design - Business requirements are the foundation of solutions. The Solution Design services offering is the initial step in helping a client meet their managed availability and data integration objectives. A dedicated, experienced Project Manager will involve the necessary Vision Solutions and client resources to analyze and design the right managed availability solution. Vision’s proven tools and techniques are utilized to draw out the client’s goals, objectives and expectations. Key client personnel are interviewed, and their current and desired managed availability state is assessed. The ultimate result is the design of a custom managed availability solution, which will act as the blueprint in meeting the client’s availability and data integration needs.

ORION Engine for OS/400 - At the heart of the ORION solution is the ORION Engine, a unique Java/XML application which resides on each server within an ORION solution, providing the common infrastructure and interface for the environment. The Engine functions as a distributed application and is responsible for controlling the clustering functionality, replication, information processing and overall management of an ORION solution across servers and databases from a single point of operation.

Embedded in the ORION Engine is the ORION Navigator, the intuitive interface that provides a consolidated view for the entire ORION environment. The Navigator communicates directly with the ORION Engine via XML and provides the management console responsible for monitoring and administrating the replication environment, configuring and managing views of the replicated objects, data links, and system alerts as well as management of operations including system switching.

This single interface enables companies to better leverage IT resources by enabling companies to consolidate training, skill sets and management of availability across OS/400, Windows, and Linux environments. Through the common interface, administrators can manage more with less, allowing them to re-allocate resources, save valuable time and reduce their overall total cost of operations.

ORION Server Replicator (Express) - ORION Express Solution Snapshot
ORION Express is an entry-level high availability/disaster recovery solution designed to manage the application and data availability of an OS/400 system for small-to-medium size companies using remote journaling, replication and operator managed switching.

Key Features include:

Remote Journaling
Sample and Attribute syncheck
Data and Non-Data replication
Operator managed switchovers
No distance limitation for replication
Supports iSeries logical partitions
Replicated data on target supports non-transactional purposes such as queries, reports and tape saves
Single integrated graphical interface to manage multi-system environments

At the heart of the ORION solution is the ORION Engine, a unique Java/XML application which resides on each server within an ORION solution, providing the common infrastructure and interface for the environment. The Engine functions as a distributed application and is responsible for controlling the clustering functionality, replication, information processing and overall management of an ORION solution across servers and databases from a single point of operation.

Embedded in the ORION Engine is the ORION Navigator, the intuitive interface that provides a consolidated view for the entire ORION environment. The Navigator communicates directly with the ORION Engine via XML and provides the management console responsible for monitoring and administrating the replication environment, configuring and managing views of the replicated objects, data links, and system alerts as well as management of operations including system switching.

This single interface enables companies to better leverage IT resources by enabling companies to consolidate training, skill sets and management of availability across OS/400, Windows, and Linux environments. Through the common interface, administrators can manage more with less, allowing them to re-allocate resources, save valuable time and reduce their overall total cost of operations.

The ORION Server Replicator for OS/400 component is responsible for data replication. It supports the following features:

Data Object Replication - Replication of all data objects such as physical files, data areas and data queues so all data objects are available with the highest integrity on one active, available system in the event of planned or unplanned downtime.
Active Replicated Copy - Replicated copy of information is active, so resource intensive jobs such as data queries or report generation can be off-loaded to secondary servers, saving users time, resources and processing power.
Non-Data Object Replication - Replication of all system objects such as configuration files and user profiles, so these system objects are available with the highest integrity on the appropriate system. In the event of planned or unplanned downtime, the target machine is ready for users to switch and continue to work.
Data Change Replication - Replication is based on database changes and supports triggers, constraints and referential integrity. In addition, only altered data changes are transferred and applied to the target machine through sophisticated mechanisms enabling the efficient use of processor power and network bandwidth, improving system performance and overall data replication throughput.
Remote Journaling -  The data transportation between servers is natively managed by the operating system, and the latest data changes are transferred to the replicated server before they are applied to the source server.
Flexible Topology - Supports server-to-server replication and single system replication from partitioned instances of OS/400.
Triggers and Referential Integrity - Provides complete database replication ensuring information is securely and highly available on replicated servers.

Solution Services
Successful implementations and oversight of a solution for managing availability begins with experience. Through the Visualize framework, solid experience is leveraged through a comprehensive set of services to help clients achieve their managed availability and data integration goals. From an initial environmental analysis through world-class technical support, Vision Solutions professionals are dedicated to help clients meet their business needs.