Big Iron Data: Replicating Data on AS/400, z Series, and beyond

If you work on mainframe computers, you have the sometimes under-recognized honor of keeping most large business IT infrastructure afloat. IBM Systems Magazine reported that 50 of the top 50 banks use mainframes, and 24 out of 27 major retailers also rely on mainframes. Big iron is so stable and so entrenched in the modern IT landscape, that most people don’t realize just how prevalent mainframes are today. I certainly didn’t realize until many of our clients started asking questions like “Can SymmetricDS sync with z series?” or “Does SymmetricDS support AS/400?” I’m happy to report that SymmetricDS has first-class support on DB2 for z/OS, Db2 for i, and of course, Db2 for LUW. But what does this mean for you?

Whether the mainframe is your world — or you just heard of them during a recent integration — SymmetricDS is here to help. SymmetricDS is a real-time, multi-platform data replication engine. Need more reporting? How about an up-to-the-moment feed of data from z/OS to PostgreSQL? Or what about a stream of data to your Oracle BI solution? SymmetricDS can do all that with style, as well as piping data back into your mainframe. For example, we worked with a client who inherited some MS SQL Server technology through acquisition and was able to immediately roll that data into DB2, while keeping both systems in use. In another case, SymmetricDS is used to constantly stream data across the U.S. between Sybase and z/OS nodes.

This is about the possibilities. What if your mainframe data could be immediately distributed to users that need offline access in their MySQL databases? Or, what if all that data being collected on mobile devices could be piped into your z series investment for further processing? Some folks will choose to write these kind of routines by hand, and for some simple cases maybe that is the right choice. But SymmetricDS is free and open source, and brings the following benefits to the table:

• Large scale production deployments on i and z series.
• Hard-won expertise and tuning for dozens of database platforms.
• Offline resiliency and auditing.
• Ability to transform data and schema names, supporting divergent data sources.

Since the infamous prediction for March 15, 1995 is long past and the last mainframe is far from being unplugged, SymmetricDS is more committed than ever to supporting mainframe computers as a vibrant platform. You can download SymmetricDS open source today at http://www.symmetricds.org/download to get started. JumpMind Inc. also offers support options for SymmetricDS Pro (http://www.jumpmind.com/products/symmetricds/try), giving you total confidence to rely on SymmetricDS as your sync solution on big iron.