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Migration to IBM Power8
MindCraft helped a leading global bank to migrate their existing systems from IBM’s P7 to P8.
The client is a leading global bank which provides a broad range of financial services and products to consumers, corporations, governments and institutions. The bank strives to offer solutions that are simple, creative and responsible that have financial ingenuity and are best for their clients. The bank was amongst the first American banks to set up a branch in Singapore. The bank is committed to helping consumers achieve their financial goals and over the years has been catering to the needs of individuals and small businesses.
The client decided to migrate their existing hardware stack of P7 systems to P8 as they wanted to mitigate the business risk of running on aging hardware with hardware support lapsing. Given the critical nature of the business, the client wanted to ensure that there were no unexpected Interruptions on account of running on an older system.
Client
The Client Is A Leading Global Bank Which Provides A Broad Range Of Financial Services And Products To Consumers. Corporations, Governments And Institutions. The Bank Strives To Offer Solutions That Are Simple, Creative And Responsible That Have Financial Ingenuity And Are Best For Their Clients. The Bank Was Amongst The First American Banks To Set Up A Branch In Singapore. The Bank Is Committed To Helping Consumers Achieve Their Financial Goals And Over The Years Has Been Catering To The Needs Of Individuals And Small Businesses.
Challenges
The Client Decided To Migrate Their Existing Hardware Stack Of P7 Systems To P8 As They Wanted To Mitigate The Business Risk Of Running On Aging Hardware With Hardware Support Lapsing. Given The Critical Nature Of The Business, The Client Wanted To Ensure That There Were No Unexpected Interruptions On Account Of Running On An Older System.
Scope
MindCraft Partnered With IBM GTS To Execute This Project For The Bank. As Part Of This Project. The Client Aimed To Migrate 40 Frames Having 600 LPAR’s Hosting 180 Applications. The Migration Was For The APAC And Japan LPAR’s From P7 To P8 And Was Covering Various Lines Of Business Like, Consumer Banking. Corporate Banking And Compliance. The Entire Migration Was To Be Completed Within 22 Months.
Solution
Multiple Approaches Were Discussed For Arriving At The Final Solution. Ranging From Versioned WPARs To Cloning To Live Partition, Options Suggested For Migration Were Evaluated And Merits/Demerits Of Each Approach Were Listed Down. Finally. The Cloning Option Was Chosen To Minimize Downtime And Overall Impact. As Part Of The Migration, The Following Activities Were Conducted:
- Storage Team Allocated The New Disk To The P7 System
- Frame Team Mapped The New Storage To P8 LPAR
- Allocated Data Disk To P8
- Conducted Post Checks And Sanity Tests For The Hosted Applications
- Copied The Root Image From P7 To P8
- Brought Down P7 And Brought Up The P8 Box
- Clean Up And Plumping Of The IP Address
Benefits
Upto 50% Saving In Operating Costs
Upto 40% Faster Processing
Latest State-Of-Art Hardware
Assured Support
Tools
Native Tool Called As ALT_DISK_COPY
Workload Estimator
PowerVM Virtualization Performance LPAR Advisor
Conclusion
Utilizing MindCraft’s Platform Migration Services Enabled The Bank To Harness The Full Power Of The P8 Platform With Minimum Disruption To Business While Also Meeting Timeline Goals.