SOLUTION BRIEF

Modernizing Mainframe
Backup for Healthcare Payers
Luminex Software and Pure Storage collaborate to enhanceand simplify mainframe data protection.
Healthcare payers rely heavily on mainframe computing. Payers’
high-volume transaction processing plus the exceptional reliability,
security, and scalability of mainframe systems has kept thetechnology firmly in place. Moving away from mainframes is achallenge and a lengthy process, but modernization is easy andavailable for mainframe data protection.

Improved RPO and RTO
Virtual tape provides faster time
to recovery, allowing payers
quicker return to service.

The partnership between Luminex Software and Pure Storage® offers a simple, highperformance replacement of legacy tape storage systems for mainframe backups. The
result is better performance, greater reliability, and the ability to rapidly restore data for
improved RTO.

Disaster Recovery
Resilient and redundant

Mainframe Virtual Tape Solutions

solution offers multi-site disaster

Virtual tape is a simple concept: A server is used to emulate a physical tape drive. The

recovery options.

mainframe backup tools recognize it as a tape drive and back up data accordingly.
However, Luminex offers many more features and capabilities besides just replacingtape. By adding Pure Storage to the solution, you gain exceptional levels ofperformance, reliability, and scale.
The mainframe is connected via FICON/ESCON to one or more Luminex CGX controllers,
which emulate both 3490 and 3590 mainframe tape drives. The mainframe source
can be z/OS, z/VM or z/VSE. The CGX is connected to a Pure Storage FlashArray™ orFlashBlade® appliance via Fibre Channel (FC) or NFS.
Because all-flash storage has greater performance capabilities than physical tape, theend result is improved performance for all tape operations. This includes the criticalattributes of recovery point objectives (RPOs) and recovery time objectives (RPOs).
Faster recovery time means a quicker return to service in the aftermath of a data loss
event, minimizing customer and patient impacts.
In addition, Pure Storage appliances are extremely dense and can fit petabytes ofstorage capacity into a small footprint, freeing up rack and floor space and reducing
electrical costs and HVAC requirements. And because “tapes” are virtual, there is nevera need to retrieve a tape either locally or from a remote location. Tape management andtransport costs are eliminated.

A Greener Solution
Luminex plus the industry leading
efficiency of Pure Storage
dramatically reduces powerand space consumption.

SOLUTION BRIEF

FIGURE 1

A basic virtual tape conceptual diagram. The mainframe is connected via FICON/ESCON to the Luminex GCX which emulates tape drives. The “virtualtape” data is stored on the Pure Storage device.

Disaster Recovery and Redundancy
While the diagram above is a simple representation, the virtual tape solution can be deployed with both redundancy anddisaster recovery features. The CGX servers can be deployed in N+1 configurations for redundancy. They also support
replication across sites. Even greater levels of resiliency are available in a Luminix Synchronous Tape Matrix (STM)
configuration, which provides continuous availability that can survive multiple component failures across networking, computeand storage. The multi-path configuration is fully active: All paths are available during daily operations, not only during afailure scenario.

FIGURE 2

In an expanded configuration, the setup can be fully redundant, as well as adding off-site replication for disaster recovery.

What Storage Do I Choose?
The Luminex CGX can work with both Fibre Channel or NFS connections. Pure Storage provides multiple options across a
range of price and capacity points. The storage you choose will ultimately depend on your specific network, performance andretention requirements. The following is a high-level guide to different options.

FlashBlade Platform
FlashBlade is a massively parallel storage system that supports file (NFS, SMB) and object (S3) protocols. It is an ideal
platform for high speed backup and recovery at scale. FlashBlade//S ™ is optimized for high performance and scales up to30PB of raw capacity. For less performance intensive scenarios, FlashBlade//E ™ is capacity oriented and available at a pricepoint lower than spinning disk. It also scales to 30 PB and makes a perfect repository for longer-term backup storage orDR site storage.

2SOLUTION BRIEF

FlashArray Platform
FlashArray is a unified block and file storage platform that supports both FC connections as well as NFS. The FlashArray
family has four distinct product lines. FlashArray//XL™ and FlashArray//X™ are designed for extremely low-latency workloads
such as databases and may not be ideal for backup scenarios. However, FlashArray//C™ and FlashArray//E™ are capacity
optimized and offer a good mix of price/performance. FlashArray//C scales to 2.5PB and FlashArray//E scales to 4PB.
Pure Storage provides flexible purchasing options, including full storage subscriptions (OpEx) that allow you to easily scalecapacity up and down as needed, paying only for what you use. For CapEx purchases, Pure offers a range of financing
options that can help with cash flow.
All Pure Storage arrays offer exceptional reliability, ease of management and industry leading power and space efficiency. To
determine your best storage options, please consult with a Pure data protection specialist.

Additional Capabilities
The Luminex solution offers many benefits beyond tape replacement. These include CloudTAPE for archiving data to thepublic cloud, data sharing features, and easy disaster recovery testing. Luminex also offers tape migration services that let
you seamlessly transition physical tapes with exact copies of original VOLSER numbers and labels.

About Luminex
Luminex delivers the world’s most advanced mainframe storage and connectivity solutions, backed by nearly 30 years ofcontinuous engineering and technical innovation. We have built our reputation as a valuable and strategic partner withcustomers who require only the best performance, features quality, and proven reliability.

Additional Resources•

Learn more about Pure solutions for healthcare payers.

•Learn more about Luminex.

purestorage.com

800.379.PURE©2024 Pure Storage, the Pure Storage P Logo, FlashArray, FlashBlade, FlashArray//XL, FlashArray//X, FlashArray//C, FlashArray//E, FlashBlade//S,FlashBlade//E, and the marks in the Pure Storage Trademark List are trademarks or registered trademarks of Pure Storage Inc. in the U.S. and/or
other countries. The Trademark List can be found at purestorage.com/trademarks. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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