Five Non-Negotiables for IBM i Disaster Recovery

IBM i disaster recovery is often discussed in terms of features and technologies. In practice, effective DR comes down to a small number of non-negotiable requirements. If any one of these is missing, risk remains, regardless of how advanced the solution appears.

1. Proven recoverability

Disaster recovery must be demonstrable.

The organization must be able to show that systems can be recovered, applications can run, and data integrity can be verified. Assumptions are not enough.

Non-negotiable measure: Successful recovery tests performed under realistic conditions.

2. Transactional integrity

Recovered data must reflect real business transactions in a consistent state.

Partial transactions, unknown commit points, or unclear sequencing undermine trust and create downstream risk.

Non-negotiable measure: Transactional consistency verified at recovery time.

3. Predictable RTO and RPO

Recovery objectives must hold under pressure.

It is not enough to meet targets during quiet periods. DR must behave predictably during peak load, interruptions, and catch-up scenarios.

Non-negotiable measure: Measured RTO and RPO during peak and recovery conditions.

4. Clear operational ownership

The team accountable for recovery outcomes must have direct control.

When recovery depends on coordination across multiple teams with different tools and priorities, complexity and delay are introduced.

Non-negotiable measure: Monitoring, recovery, and testing managed within the IBM i operational domain.

5. Long-term viability

Disaster recovery is a long-term commitment.

Solutions must remain effective as hardware, workloads, and IBM i releases evolve, without introducing unpredictable cost or risk.

Non-negotiable measure: Stable operation and cost across hardware refreshes and platform change.

Why these matter for IBM i Disaster Recovery

Solutions that meet all five non-negotiables tend to deliver confidence, not just availability. Logical replication-based architectures such as Maxava HA are designed around these principles, ensuring that recovery remains trustworthy as environments grow and change.