Cluster Support on the Way From Lakeview
Lakeview Technology (Oak Brook, Ill.) recently previewed a clustering solution that enables ISVs and AS/400 sites to maintain two simultaneous systems to manage failover and availability. The vendor also recently began shipping a version of its high-availability software that includes new caching technology to speed performance and increase capacity. In addition, Lakeview announced additional database capabilities to its data mirroring solution.
For companies interested in maintaining continuous operations with a separate AS/400 serving as a hot standby or failover system, Lakeview announced development of Mimix Cluster Server, its long-awaited middleware solution that supports deployment of AS/400 ClusterProven applications from ISVs. Cluster Server, to be included in Mimix 4.2, will provide managed workload balancing and systems availability during planned downtime. The work on Cluster Server resulted from extensive work with IBM's Rochester Labs, according to David Wegman, VP of marketing for Lakeview. A formal announcement for the release of version 4.2 had not been made at press time.
IBM's ClusterProven program recognizes applications that are configured to be available on a backup server in the event of a failure. The applications take advantage of clustering capabilities in V4R4 operating system and disk mirroring middleware. Along with Lakeview,
Vision Solutions Inc. (Irvine, Calif.), and
DataMirror Corp. (Toronto) are underpinning IBM's ClusterProven initiative.
Both versions 4.1 of Mimix--which began shipping in October--and 4.2 include a new caching feature, also co-developed with IBM Rochester, which supports high-volume transaction environments exceeding 20 million transactions per hour. During the replication process, Mimix analyzes incoming data request patterns and provides advance notification to the operating system, so the data can be cached into memory to minimize DASD bottlenecks and streamline access.
Lakeview also announced OmniEnterprise 3.2, which now mirrors data to six different database environments. They includes DB2 UDB on the AS/400 and five other database environments, SQL Server, Oracle, Informix, Sybase and DB2 on other platforms. OmniEnterprise, managed through a GUI console, includes change replication, snapshot copying and data loading and extracting modules. Lakeview also adds data movement support for Oracle 8i, which includes the capability to replicate long datatypes. OmniEnterprise 3.2 will be available in the fourth quarter of this year. "Anybody with an AS/400 can now transparently share data within the enterprise," notes Glenn Van Benschoten, director of product marketing for Lakeview. He adds that OmniEnterprise serves as just a replicator, "which is sufficient for some companies."