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Status Future consideration
Workspace IBM i
Categories Save and Restore
Created by Guest
Created on Sep 13, 2022

RELATED IDEAS

Create a new GO SAVE option to save all the OS

Sometimes, when migrating a system to the cloud, we use a save-and-restore method for migration. We take Option 22 for the basic OS on Virtual Optical media to install using NFS and Option 23/21 on Virtual Tape for the data, because is faster.

But option 22 doesn't save all the OS software components. To upload the Virtual Tape media we need the TCP , FTP and desirable SFTP/SSH.

Sometimes we create our own Option 2x, sometimes we install the OS from the media.

It would be great to have this GO SAVE option as part of the OS.

Idea priority High
  • Guest
    Aug 4, 2026
    Hello,

    Thank you for submitting this enhancement idea! We are pleased to inform you that this functionality is already available today with the delivery of IBM i Migrate While Active. IBM i Migrate While Active provides the capability to safely and easily migrate an IBM i partition while minimizing downtime. Fortunately, the basic save and restore functionality you are inquiring about is included in the base IBM i operating system. While it is a more hands-on process than a standard menu option, it delivers exactly what you need. The tool creates a minimized, network-bootable optical image to handle the initial install. The remaining user data is saved separately to virtual tape or your specified physical tape devices and libraries. This user data save is performed in parallel?with optional compression?to maximize performance and drastically reduce your migration outage window.

    For step-by-step instructions and technical parameters, please refer to our official documentation, "Using the QSRMIGRATE program for manual save/restore," available here: https://www.ibm.com/docs/en/i/7.6.0?topic=saverestore-using-qsrmigrate-program-manual

    Best regards,

    IBM Power Systems Development
    Reply
  • Guest
    Nov 12, 2025

    We have found useful to save Option 22 + QGPL + QUSRSYS on the Virtual Optical media, because this allows to use FTP and upload the Virtual Tape images to the target system.

    We have this on our migration scripts, but this should be included with Option 22 as default, or some kind of native Virtual Optical for Cloud creation (cloud-init activation -> backup -> deactivation)  so we can backup and migrate to the cloud easily.

    Reply
  • Guest
    Nov 1, 2022
    IBM will use this Idea as input to planning, but no commitment is made or implied. This Idea will be updated in the future if IBM implements it. IBM will use votes and comments from others in the community to help prioritize this Idea.

    - IBM Power Systems Development
    Reply

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