The concept of an application group provides the ability to group and control resources in a way that maintains relationships between them. The use of application groups is best practice for Assure MIMIX and required for Assure MIMIX for PowerHA.
In a non-clustering environment, an application group provides the ability to control operations for switching, starting, and stopping all data replication associated with an application in a single request.
In an IBM i clustering environment, an application group also identifies an application and its release level, its IP takeover address, and an exit program to control actions. An application represents commercial software or proprietary programs that will be managed as one unit. When a cluster event occurs, the application group provides a coordinated response for all of its associated resources and maintains relationships between resources when responding to cluster events. Application groups also integrate and simplify cluster management and data replication management.