Re: Document level backup and other point. -- DOMINO400

Mike  see below for Responses----> 


message: 2
date: Sun, 01 Oct 2006 11:55:20 -0400
from: msmith6@xxxxxxxxxxxx
subject: Document level backup and other point.

I've been 'challenged' by the Domino administrator who wants to move 
the Domino servers to Windows because 'he not comfortable with 
OS/400'.  Don't know when he actually had to do anything with the 
operating system but that's another story.

Anyway, in trying to make his case about moving to Windows he 
mentioned that they, being the Windows camp, can do document level 
backups through our backup software (ComVault).  He went on about how 
on the iSeries it is 'clunky' to have to restore a users entire 
mailbox to another directory and sift through to find the document(s) 
that they deleted then  paste them back into their Mailbox.  With this 
facility, he could just recover the one document back to their mailbox.

Anything, third party or through BRMS anyones aware of?

RESPONSE---> BRMS supports incremental restores, I am not sure how the 
ComVault software
actually restores the deleted docs, but they must be using the same Domino 
APIs for backups.

http://www-03.ibm.com/servers/eserver/iSeries/service/brms/domRecoveryIncremental.html

It may not work the same but is similar. How many restores do you actually 
perform?
Have you implemented soft delete? We use it and it has cut down our 
restores to one or 
two per month. I have allot more accounts that you do, so I can't really 
see the volume of
restores and the actual ADMIN time involved to be that significant. 

He's planning on running a physical server and one VMWare server and 
clustering them. The OpenSystem folks do that a lot because they can't 
recover a Windows system if it not running under VMWare (without 
rebuilding the server and reinstalling all the software, patches, 
etc).  Don't know what their planning on doing in a real disaster if 
the 'recoverable system' is running under VMWare.  I'm figuring that 
the physical server is in the picture because they know the VMWare 
server won't handle the load.
(Home Office : about 550 Notes clients, Field : 300ish Web users - 
iNotes). 

REPONSE----> You don't need LPARs or Virtual setups on iSeries since 
Domino can support lots of LPARs on one iSeries. VMWare is a good solution 
for Windows, however iSeries has been available via LPARs
for several years now, and Domino LPARs have been around alot longer. 
VMWARE ESX IS NOT CHEAP, 
and requires additional skill sets and admin work to build and maintain. 
That adds to the cost.
A Domino Cluster is a better solution for HA.....




Another point that I need clarification on :  I did a Show Stats (?) 
on each of our Domino Servers and recorded the transaction counts:
Home Office Mail (iSeries) - 5.5 Million transactions for the dates 
8/8 through 8/16
Field Users (Windows server browsers based) - 380 Thousand 
transactions for the same period.

Is it fair to compare the transactions between these two types of 
connections?  I would have thought the iNotes connection would have 
resulted in the server doing more transactions.  Both server just do 
email, calendaring, etc.

REPONSE---->There is about a 5 to 1 Server Transaction cost difference in 
client server models between HTTP and Lotus Client.  You need to add take 
that into account. HTTP requires allot more CPU time and memory.
SH ST HTTP can help you get a better idea of what is occurring.


We have two other Domino application servers, one on the iSeries 
(Notes Clients) and one on Windows (Notes clients and Web users). 
Those transactions are more in line with each other (iSeries - 3 M, 
Windows 2M)

Just thought of another question.  IBM is changing the licensing model 
to PVU (?), Processor Value Units.  How does that work with VMWare? 
The VMWare ESX server they are planning on running the 'backup' Domino 
server on (and one of the application servers) is running on an eight 
way dual core box.  Is there a PVU for each processor?  If so,  I 
think I just found my cost savings for being on the iSeries.

RESPONSE---> Here is a decent chart or basic setups, and a good article on 
actual costs.
http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh080706-story01-fig01.html
http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh080706-story01.html

Domino on VMWARE ESX on Windows sill cannot beat the number of Domino 
LPARs you can create on
iSeries and VMWARE on a SAM requires allot of different skill sets to 
setup and maintain.
iSeries is almost never cheaper, but it is also not that far out of wack.

Other points he brought up:
iSeries disk is expensive.  He's got me there.

SAN.  We have a SAN for OpenSystems.  He said he can just go over to 
the SAN admin. and ask for 100GB of DASD and get it on the fly.  My 
response is, "OK,  I'll by three to four hundred GB of DASD, let it 
sit around till you need it"
I was wondering if we had to implement an archive email server (all 
emails are retained for seven years.  We're and insurance company so 
it may have to be done) that if I could mount a NFS volume to the 
SAN?  Do you think something like this might be supported?  I was 
thinking about mounting everything below the Data directory , 
ie ../data/mail would be on the SAN accessed through a NAS head 
device.  Could mount it at IPL.

RESPONSE---> iSeries can participate in SANs like any other system, V5R4 
and the newer hardware
makes the implementation much easier. I am not sure about OpenSystems, 
since we use EMC and IBM
SANs but you should check anyway.

DUCS. Domino Universal Connector.  Allows voice mail to be referenced 
through you Notes client.  Currently, the users mailbox has to be on a 
Windows Domino server.  I think it's one of those things that is 
looked at, don't really seeing it being a big deal and it's nice to 
have.  More importantly, one more thing to use as a 'knock' against 
the iSeries and boost 'their agenda'.


RESPONSE--->There are much better solutions for voicemail integration. 

Replication : They are planning on replicating the SAN off site.  I 
guess from a D.R. perspective (as Domino goes), I could have a 
partition running offsite and just forward a copy of all email and 
other applications.

RESPONSE--->Domino clustering has been around for a long time, and is 
actually a better HA solution
since it can be built as a HOT site with no service interruption and is 
low cost. Just mirroring the SAN 
offsite does not Mirror the applications and access to them. We have every 
mail file clustered
using Domino and never have an user outage  for IPL, or a network or 
hardware failure etc. We even cluster
between Windows and iSeries domino servers for good measure. 

I talked about the usual things of the iSeries.  Overall TCO, 
reliability, scalability, support (this is really big - Calling the OS 
guy , IBM, and having them conference in a Lotus person).  Problem is, 
it's difficult to show and get folks to understand these things if 
it's been there all along.  The TCO thing is tough to talk about when 
we already have 125-150 Windows servers...  Think they would have 
already understood that by now.

RESPONSE----> TCO. Every solution has upfront and recurring annual costs, 
the Windows
people don't talk about the recurring costs very much since they usually 
need more
personel to maintain those systems. iSeries does not require rip and 
replace, since most
hardware is upgradeable. Still for smaller implementations, Linux and 
Windows do make a
good case. Again refer to 
http://www.itjungle.com/tfh/tfh080706-story01.html

I, like probably most folks on this list, realize that the iSeries is 
a superior OS (when I said that to them, one guy laughed... wanted to 
smack 'em.. or  volley back "When you know something more than Window, 
perhaps you opinion will mean something :)  )

RESPONSE----> You can't lead a blind horse to water. The Solaris people 
will tell 
you their OS is the best too. Forget that argument and move on, Windows is 
here to stay
along with Linux, Solaris and everything else. 



My recommendation on Monday may be to upgrade the iSeries (maybe an 
520 express) and consolidate all the Domino servers on the iSeries.

RESPONSE----> Best bet is to compromize and let them build the OFFSITE 
using Windows
and VMWARE, but use Domino clustering to build a HOT failover at the 
Application layer.
 You will win here since they will not be able to build a HOT Failover 
system, no iterruption at the Notes Client or iNotes since it can be 
easily configured to fail over. Add an HTTP load balancer for good measure 
to perform failover of iNotes. 

 
Anyway, I've just got too worked up and PO'd for a Sunday morning. 
Cold and pissing rain in Albany.. enough to put anyone in a bad mood.


RESPONSE---->New England won and so did the Bills, why worry? 


Any info or counter points that you can think of would be great.

TIA,

mike.


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