Mainframe users have more options than ever when deciding whether to utilize a traditional on-premises mainframe data center or an off-site alternative to run their mainframe workloads.
When choosing how to house and manage their mainframe, companies need to take into consideration multiple factors, such as the current age and viability of an existing physical data center, energy consumption, backup power supplies, fuel availability, access for technical personnel, security, control over data and applications, and future growth or contraction.
Companies choosing to run their own workloads have several options, including:
- Utilizing their own on-premises data center
- Utilizing a colocation facility
- Hosting with a third-party Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider
- Outsourcing both the mainframe systems operations personnel as well as physical infrastructure with a third-party provider
We will examine these 4 alternatives to better understand when these alternatives make sense.
1) On-Premises
Data centers considered to be on-premises could be located in any property owned or leased by the firm that provides the physical infrastructure needed to run and manage mainframe workloads. The on-premises data center was always the traditional model prior to third-party colocation sites, cloud providers, and outsourcers.
This on-premises mainframe model makes sense for larger organizations that are dependent on the mainframe for their mission-critical applications. Companies falling into this category are insurance companies and financial institutions, such as commercial and custodial banks, credit card processors, and asset managers. These companies are in industries that tend to be highly regulated, so managing and controlling their own physical and network security, high availability, and disaster recovery process is of critical importance.
Clients in this category tend to have deep resources and benches of operations personnel who manage the day-to-day operations, keep up with current software releases and patches, and manage the technology lifecycle for server, storage, and network.
2) Colocation Facility
Colocation facilities rent physical space to house servers and other IT equipment. Colocation has gained popularity over the last decade as cloud providers have gained acceptance. The colocation provider is responsible for supplying the physical location, HVAC, physical security of the site, monitoring, remote hands support, primary and backup power, access to telecommunications providers, and networking between sites.
Colocation providers can rent rack space, fenced cages with a site for a specific client, or a private self-contained space within the site. The amount of space rented can increase or decrease depending on needs.
These providers can achieve economies of scale by supplying physical data center space and infrastructure, such as the building, fire suppression, primary and redundant power, security, and personnel to manage the site, and allowing access to third-party personnel such as IT engineers.
For firms that wish to maintain full control of their infrastructure but may have a smaller physical space requirement, colocation may make sense. In these scenarios, the firm can benefit from a state-of-the-art facility that would be difficult to justify for a limited mainframe environment. Clients falling into this category would be small to medium sized with one to 3 mainframe systems, storage and virtual tape devices, and other open systems equipment, all of which can be located at the same site.
Colocation also makes sense for disaster recovery when owning or leasing a separate facility for backup systems is financially and technically challenging for the company.
3) Hosting
Mainframe hosting is an IT service that provides compute and storage to run production or disaster recovery workloads. Unlike a colocation provider, the hosting firm provides the mainframe, direct access storage device (DASD), and virtual tape. The provider is responsible for the physical environment, HVAC, and primary and backup power. The hosting firm may or may not provide the network to the client location.
Hosting makes sense for smaller mainframe workloads when the firm can still maintain control over the production workload but does not wish to make the investment in the physical server and necessary storage. Clients who have moved applications to the cloud or SaaS providers but still have the need for z/OS or z/VSE workloads may benefit from a hosted approach.
The hosting provider may offer their services for production workloads, disaster recovery (DRaaS), or both.
The benefit of a hosted model is that it allows the user to maintain control over their workloads while eliminating the capital expenditures needed to maintain a data center and computer hardware. Servers and storage in a hosted offering can be dedicated or shared.
When hosting their mainframes remotely, companies can locate their own equipment in a colocation facility or use the services of a third party that provides infrastructure as a service (IaaS) for the mainframe. Colocation involves moving the mainframe to a remote data center facility.
4) Outsourcing Your Mainframe
When companies outsource their mainframe, they move everything off-site, including equipment and management. Strategic outsourcing means companies turn the management of the mainframe over to experts instead of maintaining control themselves.
When choosing to outsource the mainframe, your company should determine that the service provider is setting realistic expectations in their service level agreement (SLA).
Weighing Mainframe Infrastructure Options
Each mainframe infrastructure option has its advantages and disadvantages. To help your company make the right decision, here’s an overview of some of the features of each option for housing the mainframe.
Keeping Your Mainframe On-Site
When companies house their mainframes in-house, using their own data center, they maintain full control over managing hardware, software, and mainframe workloads. These companies are responsible for providing their own mainframe security and management.
Housing a mainframe in-house can have security advantages because the mainframe is supported by the company’s internal network. Using their own data center gives companies greater visibility into the supporting network and more control over network management. Companies can also tailor their infrastructure hardware and software to meet unique business needs that a colocation provider may not be aware of.
Housing a mainframe on-premises has a downside. Using your data center to house the mainframe can be expensive because of investments in infrastructure and maintenance. Infrastructure investments need to be made upfront, and capacity needs are difficult to predict. The company is also responsible for energy, cooling, and maintenance costs.
Housing a mainframe in your own data center can be resource intensive. Managing and maintaining a mainframe in-house requires that a company have an IT staff that is skilled in the mainframe and has enough time to dedicate to the needs of the mainframe.
Companies that house their mainframe in-house may have limited flexibility for growth. These businesses may not be capable of scaling to accommodate spikes in capacity needs.
Mainframe Colocation
Using a colocation to house a mainframe means moving your equipment to another facility. In a colocation, the equipment is connected to the internet by a fiber network.
Using a colocation for the mainframe is a cost-efficient alternative to housing the mainframe on-premises because the company isn’t responsible for energy and cooling. The right colocation will provide state-of-the-art security for the physical location. Moving to a colocation solves a facility’s problem while allowing the company to continue managing the mainframe.
Companies that move their mainframe to a colocation may have some security and performance concerns. Data may be vulnerable during migration and transmission to the colocation, and access control may be inadequate. Latency issues related to data transmission to a remote location may have a negative impact on critical workloads by slowing them down.
Mainframe Hosting
Mainframe hosting is a hybrid solution in which the mainframe is moved to a third-party provider, becoming infrastructure as a service (IaaS). Mainframe hosting is a good option for companies that have an aging infrastructure. With mainframe hosting, the mainframe runs on someone else’s equipment. Resources are shared in a multi-tenant environment.
Having the mainframe hosted is a great alternative to upgrading the data center. Organizations can choose whether to own all their equipment or only part of it. Because the organization doesn’t need to provision all their hardware, hosting the mainframe has a lower overhead cost while delivering the latest technology.
By hosting their mainframe, companies can turn management over to mainframe experts at the provider. The hosting provider will have access to dedicated experts who specialize in mainframe management.
Like most IaaS, mainframe colocation resources can be adjusted based on the needs of company workloads. New resources can be spun up easily to meet changing demands, even if they are temporary.
The downside to hosting the mainframe is that the user may need to depend on the service provider, meaning they must surrender control of their workloads.
Making the Right Decision About Mainframe Housing and Management
Housing a mainframe in a colocation or hosting your mainframe can be great alternatives to housing your mainframe in-house. Deciding on one option over the other is a matter of weighing the advantages and disadvantages and matching them up against your company’s requirements, resources, and goals.
At PSR, we focus exclusively on the mainframe, so we can help choose the right option and make it a reality. We provide mainframe hosting and colocation services. Our colocation services have additional advantages, such as the ability to maintain control over your workloads.
PSR can help your company move your mainframe equipment, a process that can be difficult unless it is done right. We also offer backup and disaster recovery along with IaaS for mainframe hosting.
Let us help you find the best way to host your mainframe. Reach out to the mainframe experts at PSR today.
