Find your save window

When you run save procedures, how you run save procedures and what you save depend on the size of your save window.

Your save window is the amount of time that your system can be unavailable to users while you perform your save operations. To simplify your recovery, you need to save when your system is at a known point and your data is not changing.

When you select a save strategy, you should balance what your users think is an acceptable save window with the value of the data that you might lose and the amount of time it might take to recover.

If your system is so critical to your business that you do not have a manageable save window, you probably cannot afford an unscheduled outage either. You should seriously evaluate all the availability options of the iSeries™ server, including clusters. The Availability roadmap for your iSeries server topic has more information about availability options.

Based on the size of your save window, choose one of the following save strategies: simple, medium, or complex save strategy. Then reevaluate your decision based on how your save strategy positions you for a recovery.

• Simple save strategy
  You have a long save window, which means that you have an 8- to 12-hour block of time available daily with no system activity (including batch work). The simplest save strategy is to save everything every night or during off-shift hours.
• Medium save strategy
  You have a medium save window, which means that you have a 4- to 6-hour block of time available daily with no system activity. Use this strategy if you find that you do not have a long-enough save window to use a simple save strategy.
• Complex save strategy
  You have a short save window, which means that there is little or no time when your system is not being used for interactive or batch work. A very short save window requires a complex strategy for saving and for recovery.