IBM i Disaster Recovery Buyer's Guide
A planning guide for IBM i teams building disaster recovery plans that hold up under real failure conditions, not just paperwork.
Start with the continuity plan, not the software
IBM i disaster recovery evaluations go sideways when buyers start with product demos instead of a documented continuity plan. Before comparing platforms, teams need a clear picture of which systems must recover first, who declares a disaster, and what "recovered" actually means for each workload.
That groundwork usually surfaces gaps in RTO and RPO targets that were assumed but never written down.
Clarify site strategy and data movement
Disaster recovery overlaps with backup and high availability, but the planning lens is wider. Buyers need to decide whether a second physical site, a cloud-based recovery environment, or a hybrid approach fits their risk tolerance and budget.
The answer shapes which vendors are even relevant, so this decision should come before a shortlist is built.
- Document current secondary site posture, if any exists
- Map network, security, and access dependencies for a failover scenario
- Decide whether recovery infrastructure should be owned, hosted, or cloud-based
Recovery plans earn trust through testing
A disaster recovery platform is only as strong as the last successful test. Buyers should ask how recovery testing is scheduled, how disruptive it is to production, and how results are documented for auditors or executives.
The strongest vendor conversations focus on rehearsal discipline as much as replication technology.