If there’s one topic that has caught fire over the last couple of years more than any other, it’s the need for your systems to have high availability. In this Internet-connected world, the need for systems that are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year isn’t a luxury; it’s a necessity. Your customers and suppliers are expecting to access your system on their schedule. If you take your AS/400 offline to perform a system backup, you may alienate your user base, resulting in your users finding another business to service their needs. High availability has become critical in recent years. In fact, you might even say that this need for high availability is following an accelerated version of Moore’s Law, which dictates that every 18 months or so, processor speeds of integrated circuits will double. In today’s world, the need for high availability grows exponentially with the number of businesses creating a Web presence. As more and more businesses jump on the Web, more and more customers are expecting all businesses to be on the Web. And customers expect to be able to access that business at any time—day or night.

That’s why this month’s focus on high availability and clustering is so timely. We are bringing you the information you need right now to make informed decisions about enabling high availability and clustering on your AS/400. To accomplish those goals,
we’ve gathered together some of the industry’s leading experts in the areas of high availability and clustering to share with you their knowledge of the technology of these topics and how the technology works together on the AS/400.

In “Clustering and the iSeries 400,” IBM AS/400 technologies segment manager, Steve Finnes, and IBM’s Mike Snyder, a senior technical staffer in the AS/400’s base enablement area, give you the lowdown on just what clustering on the AS/400 is, along with the reasons why it’s so critical that you implement clustering. These are the guys who are working in the labs and inventing this technology. You can’t get any more up-to-date and accurate information than this!

In “The Road to ClusterProven,” Glenn Van Benschoten tells what it takes for AS/400 applications to receive the coveted IBM ClusterProven and Advanced ClusterProven certifications. These important certifications ensure that the applications that carry the certifications are guaranteed to provide you with 100 percent reliability in the area of high availability.

In “Enhancing Systems Availability with Quiesce Points,” Glen Sakuth introduces what is probably a new concept for most of us—quiesce points—and then shows how they fit into the high-availability paradigm. Glen takes a very complex subject and slowly peels

away the layers of complexity to tell you not only what quiesce points are, but why they are an integral part of any high-availability solution.

Finally, in “Single-system High Availability,” David E. Brown gives you the information you need to ensure that your system maintains its maximum level of high availability, even if it’s the only system in your shop. After all, not everyone can afford a high-availability solution that requires a second AS/400 or another standalone storage device.

So, grab a cup of coffee and find a comfortable place to sit. You’re about to embark on an interesting and fact-filled journey that will teach you all you need to know about clustering and high availability on the AS/400.

Shannon O'Donnell has held a variety of positions, most of them as a consultant, in dozens of industries. This breadth of experience gives him insight into multiple aspects of how the AS/400 is used in the real world. Shannon continues to work as a consultant. He is an IBM Certified Professional--AS/400 RPG Programmer and the author of an industry-leading certification test for RPG IV programmers available from ReviewNet.net.