For years our AS/400 - i5 administrators have envied the simplicity and reliability of the Data Domain disk backup appliance. It works with our existing network backup software but was faster and more reliable than any tape drive. It also automatically replicates the backup to our offsite disaster recovery site over our VPN.

Unfortunately, we could never enjoy the same peace of mind on the AS/400. We were continually repairing broken drives and rotating tapes as they were picked up and delivered between sites. Laservault provides the software that now allows us to do our nightly AS/400 backup on the Data Domain.

Laservault is simple to install and easy use. It consists of a library installed on the AS/400 and software that can run on any Windows PC or server. The AS/400 talks to the Windows software which talks to the Data Domain.

After the software was installed we simply changed our nightly backup from a series of savlib commands to savliblv and we were done. We get an email telling us about the success of each library saved which works well for auditors looking for evidence of successful backups.

The solution is as fast as our tape drive but much more reliable. It’s also much faster and easier to restore files without having to mess with tapes. The catalog of what was saved and when is available on an AS/400 screen and the restore can be launched from the same screen.

One of the best side benefits of the Laservault/Data Domain solution is the ability to backup our development AS/400 with the same ease as our production box.

Having trouble sharing the same tape drive between two AS/400s or even two partitions on the same AS/400? It’s no problem for Laservault and Data Domain. Simply install the Laservault library on your second AS/400 and you’re in business.

Want to create a test environment? Simply restore your production libraries on your development box using Laservault with no tapes to manage. “Look Ma – no hands”, we automated this process to refresh our test environment weekly.

Laservault and Data Domain team up to create an elegant solution that will save money on tape drives and cartridges for years to come.

Over the past year Laservault has continually improved the reliability, performance and compression ratios of the product. It is now very stable and performs well. It is simply a great product that fills a much needed void in the AS/400 world that allows us the convenience of backing up to disk and the security of replicating to a disaster recovery site.

Now we can enjoy the same benefits on the AS/400 that our network has experienced for years.

Steve Tuscher
Director of IT