Large Australian Bank’s Active / Active CONNEX Migration

Situation

A large Australian bank needed to migrate its CONNEX ATM/POS application from an aging Active/Active HPE Nonstop NS3 environment to new NS4 systems. The bank’s infrastructure team initiated this migration due to hardware refresh needs, expiring replication software licenses, and broader datacenter and cloud transition plans. This project was critical for maintaining business continuity, minimizing downtime, and modernizing infrastructure while keeping the CONNEX environment operational and customer-facing services uninterrupted.

Problem

1. Timelines were aggressive, driven by the need to avoid relicensing replication to avoid related costs and an impending hardware support expiration.
2. The original system utilized a combination of audited and non-audited Enscribe files, with the non-audited files introducing risk into the organization.
3. The project involved modernizing an existing partitioned Active/Active environment, transitioning from its existing, legacy replication implementation to a Shadowbase Active/Active partitioned environment.

Solutions

• Implement an Active / Active architecture using Shadowbase solutions for HPE Nonstop software
• Use HPE Nonstop AutoTMF for transactional consistency of unaudited files
• Use Shadowbase Compare for Data Validation across the HPE Nonstop systems
• Implement a Shadowbase Zero Downtime Migration

Outcomes

• The project met its target deadline, avoiding costly relicensing of the previous replication solution
  • From a financial standpoint, the switch to Shadowbase resulted in lower replication license fees and simplified support by consolidating everything through HPE
  • The migration was completed successfully with zero impact to end users and external interfaces, which was a top priority for the business
• Performance improved significantly on the new hardware, with CPU usage dropping from around 70% to under 40%, thanks to better resource distribution and system efficiency
• Replication lag was reduced to sub-second RPO, enhancing data protection and availability

“The business side couldn’t understand it, but they were ecstatic that we didn’t impact our customers…the collaboration was brilliant.”

-Large Australian Bank’s Business Analyst

Shadowbase Products of Interest

• HPE Nonstop Shadowbase Basic Replication Software (BE441AC/QSA49V6)
• HPE Nonstop Shadowbase Advanced Replication LTU (BE442AL/QSA50V6)
• HPE Nonstop Shadowbase Compare Software (BE445AC/QSA53V6)

Contact us or your Shadowbase representative for HPE Nonstop software, and learn how Shadowbase software will benefit you.