We primarily use the solution for backup replication.
Complete, Scalable HA/DR Protection for IBM i
| Title | Rating | Mindshare | Recommending | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle Enterprise Manager | 4.2 | 4.0% | 95% | 129 interviewsAdd to research |
| IDERA ER/Studio | 4.2 | 3.1% | 88% | 39 interviewsAdd to research |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 4 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 4 |
| Large Enterprise | 9 |
| Company Size | Count |
|---|---|
| Small Business | 44 |
| Midsize Enterprise | 14 |
| Large Enterprise | 26 |
What's New in MIMIX Availability 8.0?Today’s business environment demands continuous availability no matter what. Thousands of companies worldwide – from small businesses to global enterprises – count on MIMIX Availability to keep their data safe and their operations running smoothly. MIMIX Availability is the trusted industry leader in IBM i high availability and disaster recovery, protecting businesses from catastrophic events, server or storage failure, human error and even downtime normally associated with routine maintenance, queries, reports or backups.
MIMIX [EOL] was previously known as Vision Solutions MIMIX.
ACG Automotive, Autoliv, Takataês Manufacturing, AMPORTS, Faurecia, Unipres, Wheeler Machinery Company, PennEngineering, Parsons Corporation, Hindustan Dorr-Oliver Ltd. India, Amway India
| Author info | Rating | Review Summary |
|---|---|---|
| IT Consultant at Ministry of Justice, Kuwait | 4.5 | I primarily use this for backup replication, finding its data replication simple and excellent. It's stable, scalable, and easy to set up. While dashboards could improve for new users, I recommend it, rating it nine out of ten. |
| Application Manager with 10,001+ employees | 4.5 | I find MIMIX excellent for real-time DR replication; it performs perfectly, is stable and scalable. While initial setup is complex and licenses are costly, customer service is good. A better GUI would help new users. |
| Technical Director at a tech services company | 4.5 | I find MIMIX 8.1 very stable and scalable, with excellent 24/7 support and easy basic setup. While switch procedures need improvement, I believe its advanced features make it superior to alternatives, advising users to utilize them fully. |
| AS/400 Technical Analyst at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees | 5.0 | I highly recommend MIMIX for reliable iSeries HA and data replication. Despite complex setup and MQSeries issues, its stability, professional support, and quick failover make it a worthwhile solution for business continuity. |
| IT Architecture & Infrastructure Program Manager Consultant | 4.0 | I found the solution excellent for AS400 DR, praising its remote journaling and scalability. Setup can be complex, and I'd like easier object error fixing. Customer service is good; cost-wise, mention hardware DR. |
| Systems iSeries & HA administrator at a construction company with 1,001-5,000 employees | 4.0 | I value its failover and HA, ensuring no downtime. Setup was easy, with no deployment or stability issues. Technical support is professional. My main concern is replication errors, but I recommend it. |
| AS400 (iSeries) Senior System Administrator at a comms service provider with 1,001-5,000 employees | 5.0 | I find MIMIX an excellent, stable disaster recovery solution with intuitive self-healing data replication and unbelievable support. Setup is easy, but I think the monitoring system needs improvement to reduce false alarms. It's truly worth it. |
| iSeries System Administrator at a consultancy with 51-200 employees | 4.0 | I found the solution's replication speed excellent for quick user migration and backup, avoiding tape restores and downtime. While stable, scalable, and backed by good customer service, the dashboard needs improvement and deployment required customization. I used it for over two years. |
| Technical Analyst at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees | 4.5 | I value MIMIX's flexibility and robustness for high availability and data distribution. It's very stable with excellent support. Though complex to configure initially, especially for unique environments, I consider it the best solution available. |
| Independent IT Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees | 4.0 | I've used this for two years; it automates back-end processes, cutting time and manpower. My version isn't portal-ready and requires many service packs, but support is above average. Newer versions seem scalable. |
We primarily use the solution for backup replication.
The most valuable feature is data replication.
Everything about the solution is very simple, which makes it easy to use.
The solution could use better dashboards for new users. They can look complicated until you get used to using the solution.
The solution is stable.
The solution is very scalable.
Technical support has been good.
I did not previously use another solution.
The initial setup is straightforward. It's very easy to implement. Deployment took about one hour. You only need one person for deployment and maintenance, so long as that person has a good administrative and operational background.
We use the on-premises deployment model.
I would recommend this product. The replication portion of the solution is perfect.
I would rate the solution nine out of ten.
Complete/custom machine real-time replication process (including apply and verification of destination).
Used it just as DR solution, but can be used in other scenarios as well (like a 24x7 solution).
Product works perfectly. Just for a new customer, a GUI with more functionality would help. Already offered VSP is a huge help for those not willing to work with a green screen.
Nine years.
No.
No.
Nine out of 10.
No previous DR solution used.
Initial setup done by Vision Solutions specialist. Implementation itself can be done by MIMIX professionals quickly and does not require downtime (except when performing the test switch after the implementation). Design and analysis of the replication configuration is the crucial part, can be time consuming and requires mainly client input. We used a specific Vision Solutions implementer very familiar with our Core Banking system and were very happy with his professional services.
Licenses are not cheap. Also for migration of licenses to a less powerful machine, Vision Solutions charges. In the recent infrastructure migration process, we used a POWER 8 machine with CBU option, that kept down license fees for both OS and MIMIX.
No, went straight to MIMIX as the best solution for IBM i without PowerHA.
Calculate appropriate resources for running and managing the solution after the implementation.
Stability of replication and its audit feature. If systems and communications remain at a good level without problems, no problems will occur in MIMIX.
About 10 years ago, a large Portuguese bank successfully merged banking systems that were used in other countries because of the MIMIX replication solution.
Switch procedures are not as easy and straightforward as it may seem at first glance. The product needs a virtual switch and better programs to improve simplicity in the switch procedures.
I have been certified in MIMIX since 2000, with V4.1, so I use it for internal testing, self education, support and the development of associated tools.
With older versions there were some issues, but with this version (8.1) even with complex sensitive software applications such as SQL collections, stability is very good.
No, from the simplest to the most complex environments, and with millions of transactions, MIMIX can adapt to any environment. Normally the adjustment is related to systems hardware and software.
The technical support is at a very high level, and reachable 24 hours a day.
I work with customers who had Vision Solutions OMS/ODS and switched to MIMIX because it has more advanced features such as easy monitoring and administration. They had more confidence in it.
Basic initial setup is very simple and, almost always, any problems are related to systems problems and/or communications.
It depends on which version of MIMIX is most suitable for your production systems, and according to the needs and expectations of the business.
While working with MIMIX for many years, I know the evolution of this product and have checked others and they are steps behind.
If you want to deploy this product, do not use only simple replication. Take advantage of all the features that this product offers. Test the Role Swap (Virtual and Real) regularly, to ensure that the alternate system can take place from the production system at any time.
Data replication functionality, with which it is very easy to achieve the most strict HA requirements and ensure business continuity. It is a very reliable product.
Keeping production and backup machines in synch, switching from production to backup within minutes without any data loss.
The MQSeries replication part doesn't work smoothly, sometimes requiring more manual activity to ensure synch between live and backup.
Ten years.
Not really, it works without any serious problems.
No, it can be tuned easily.
It is very professional, helpful, and experienced.
No, I used only MIMIX. I have no experience with other replication software.
It could be a very complex task. You have to very much know the nature of the data and system you want to replicate. During the initial phase I requested the help of support. Our replication environment was very complex (i.e. intra replication, automatic switch over procedure, etc.) so the initial setup took at least two weeks. It should be much less in case of a simpler environment.
It isn't a cheap product, but if you need a reliable HA solution and data protection is important to you, then MIMIX is your product, it worth every penny.
In our region, only two similar products were available for business then. I tested and compared them and MIMIX was the winner. Since than I haven't done a similar investigation.
I can recommend it to all shops using iSeries for which data availability is important, and looking for an HA solution. This is a really good product. Easy to use, easy to manage, and easy to configure. You can sleep without fear every night if MIMIX takes care of your data replication.
The built-in remote journaling and the comparison tools.
We used it solely for IBM AS400 replication for disaster recovery/failover purposes.
Could make it easier to fix object errors.
Six to seven years.
Nothing out of what we expected for object replication.
No, fairly easy to add data groups and/or files to the intended replication group.
A nine out of 10.
At a previous installation, we used external storage for the AS/400 and did a complete hardware disaster recovery, which was a great DR strategy but provided very little HA.
Can seem complex for new product users.
Just tell them you're looking at a hardware-based DR solution and they should come back with a lower cost.
No.
Make sure you have at least two people learn it inside and out, so replication and object errors, when they occur, can be managed.
Failover capabilities is valuable.
Replication errors need to be resolved.
I've been using it since 2005.
No issues encountered.
No issues encountered.
No issues encountered.
It's fine.
Technical Support:It's professional.
No previous solution used.
It was quite easy.
We implemented it in-house.
No other options evaluated.
Buy the product, then roll it out as well.
The major advantages are:
It allowed us to have a stable, low maintenance, worry free disaster recovery solution that we can present to our management and our clients.
The monitoring part of MIMIX - VSP (Vision Solutions Portal) needs some improvements. They need to fine tune the monitoring criteria to reduce false alarms.
I've used it for four years.
No issues encountered, and the upgrades are almost fully automated.
The data replication never breaks and most data discrepancies are solved automatically in real time, or at night, when the data audit runs with self healing programs.
We have just one instance, and our production is not expanding much over the year. But we produce 150 million records per 24 hours on the system, so it is a significant scale, a unique production environment, and very heavy data replication.
10/10 - they have an excellent response rate.
Technical Support:10/10 - they are unbelievable, this is the best tech support I have ever had. All of them are very kind, and very knowledgeable. When they can't solve the problem by giving me advice, they take over my computer, and keep going until the problem is fixed.
We have used this from day one. I have personally used iCluster in a different company, and I can say that MIMIX is way better.
The installation is almost fully automated - it's walk in the park.
We implemented it through a vendor (Midrange), and they have an excellent level of expertise.
That's difficult to quantify in the IT department as we don't monitor the company's profits. Plus, it's difficult to put a price on loss of client's trust if we were to lose a production system in a 24x7 environment without an adequate disaster recovery solution.
Our implementation is with expensive enterprise level IBM iSeries systems, so the price is adequate to the scale, and importance of the system. And with their support and the application stability, it's worth every penny.
We didn't evaluate other solutions because we mimic a configuration from our application vendor.
It's the best product on the market for enterprise level data replication. If you want to sleep at night, this is the right product for you.
Replication speed - while CPU intensive with the right settings, even during peak I/O times, specifically End of Day processing, the replication was very quick, and only a matter of minutes in most cases.
For data replication purposes, we would migrate users from the live box to the backup machine in a matter of minutes. This was much quicker for the end user and required no restore from tapes.
The product dashboard that comes with the product could use some work. While functional, it required intimate knowledge to be able to dissect the information.
I've used it for just over two years.
No major problems were encountered during deployment, however it did take several tweaks to get it working the way we wanted.
No, none, the product worked as designed, it was a matter of customizing it to our workflow.
No issues encountered.
I was pleased with the response time and technical advice, especially in the initial roll-out.
Technical Support:8-9/10 - as good as any tech support that I have worked with.
No real product, just tapes, lots of tapes.
It was fairly straightforward, however there are some complex settings you could find if you dug deep enough, again we did a lot of custom work to get it to work the way we wanted.
Both, as we worked with a vendor team but did the install on our own. I would say that the service technician that we worked with was well prepared and knew what he was doing, and I would give them a solid 7/10.
There is no value that can be assigned when working on a core system and potential downtimes that come with system failures.
Not to my knowledge.
Plan. Plan. Plan, especially with the network folks. There is a lot of data that goes back and forth for the synch to work. We had to work with our internet provider on several instances. I would also advise you to look closely at what really needs to be archived in semi real-time, and plan accordingly. We still used tapes for a good number of files/libraries, and only used Mimix for files that were updated constantly.
I like its flexibility. I have been told that we have one of the most complex installations that Vision has ever had deployed. We replicate our environment outside of the normal parameters.
We use MIMIX in two forms – high availability and data distribution. High availability is used to replicate files from our production environment to our Colo. Data distribution is used to replicate data from one system to another and keeping the data synchronized automatically.
Installation is pretty easy but it can be fairly complicated to setup and configure. This could possibly be improved.
I have used this product for over five years.
Only that when you do the installation yourself (for dev, test, or QA environments), they will not support you. As they want you to have a Business Partner or their Services group do the installations. Once you know the product really well, you really don't want to pay for basic installations, which is what most companies will use.
No, the stability of the product is rock solid. Any issues that they get feedback on from clients is fixed pretty quickly via service packs or fixes.
No, they have a product to fit every level of scalability from single LPAR to clustering.
Customer service is very good, and can either be handled directly or through the Business Partner and also through their customer portal.
Technical Support:Their tech support is very good, as is their knowledge-base. So is their documentation.
They stay on the issue until it gets resolved. They also have a customer portal with a knowledge-base where you can search for issues as well as download documentation, installation software, service packs, licensing, etc.
We previously used Data Mirror, but we switched due to the complexity we needed for our environment, as well as ease of use of MIMIX over Data Mirror.
It was complex due to the nature of our environment's complexity and the scale of work needed.
MIMIX generally is set up that each data group is replicating a whole library. In our case, we have some libraries that have 20,000 files but we do not need to replicate them all, so it was simpler to just put in the entries we needed.
We had a Business Partner expert work with our previous MIMIX Admin to implement our configuration.
Pricing and licensing is complicated because it is based on how big the system is, and how it is configured.
I think it is the best, most robust and flexible product available. Make sure you plan it out before hand – work with the developers to assess their needs as well as the business needs.
This version, 7.1.x, has reached its EOL. Vision is no longer providing service packs.
Version 8.0.x has some very nice enhancements. We plan to upgrade to a stable version, 8.0.10 sometime Q1 2016. We will implement it first on our sandbox, then QA then Test and finally Production, which encompasses Data Distribution and HA.
It can automate back-end data processes.
It has helped us cut down process time and manpower.
The version we're using is not portal ready.
I've used it for about two years.
It was already set up when I joined.
It has many service packs to fix issues.
It seems to be scalable in the newer versions.
It's above average.
Technical Support:It's above average.
We used it in conjunction with help systems and Connect:Direct.
It was implemented in-house.