Global Support Enablement Education

SAN Volume Controller

Concepts

June 2015
Study guide

GS41287
Software 7.5

This course is owned and published by the IBM TSS

Global Support Skills and Knowledge Enablement
Team.

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Table of contents
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -vii
SAN Volume Controller concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -vii
Prerequisites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -vii
Objectives. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -vii
SAN Volume Controller concepts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Storage virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-1
Block level virtualization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2
IBM Products using SVC software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-3
Nodes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-4
I/O groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-5
IBM FlashSystem V9000 implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6
Clustered system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6
Stretched systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-6
Enhanced stretched systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
HyperSwap . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-7
SAN zoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8
Internode zones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-8
Storage zones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9
Host zones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-9
Managed disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-10
Quorum disk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
Storage pools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-11
Pool extent size and cluster capacity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-12
Volumes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-13
Space efficient volumes and thin provision feature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-14
Mapping volumes to hosts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-15
Advanced features for storage efficiency. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Easy Tier . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-16
Real-time Compression . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-17
Encryption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-18
Volume mirroring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-20
Native IP replication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-20
Advanced Copy Services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-21
Metro and Global Mirror. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-22
FlashCopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-22
Feature functions by machine type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-23
User interfaces. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-23
Management GUI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-24
Service Assistant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-26
Helpful links. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-1
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-1
Assessment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-1

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 Preface

Preface
SAN Volume Controller concepts
This document may not be copied or sold, either in part or in whole, to non-IBM
personnel.
Release date: June 2015
Course version: 1.0

The information in this publication is current as of the date of the latest revision and is
subject to change at any time without notice.
To provide feedback or receive more information about this course, contact the Global
Support Enablement team by emailing globaled@[Link].
Course template version: January 2015

Prerequisites
Although there are no prerequisite courses for this course, you should have a
fundamental understanding of storage area networks, Ethernet networking and storage
management concepts and problem determination and troubleshooting skills.

Objectives
After completing this course, you will be able to do the following:
1. Identify the key advantages of storage virtualization.
2. Describe block level storage.
3. Identify the IBM storage products that use SVC based software.
4. Define storage virtualization terms including node, system, I/O groups, MDisk,
and volume.
5. Describe the SAN zoning required for implementing a SVC, SVC-based or
Storwize cluster.
6. Identify key differences between striped, sequential, and image mode volumes.
7. Identify the difference between standard and thin provisioned volumes.
8. Define the terms Metro Mirroring and Global Mirroring.

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Preface

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 S A N VO L U M E C O N T R O L L E R C O N C E P T S
Storage virtualization

SAN Volume Controller

concepts
...................................
1

.....
IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) is a storage virtualization system that enables a
single point of control for storage resources to help support improved business
application availability and greater resource utilization. The objective is to manage
storage resources quickly, efficiently and in real time, while avoiding increases in
administrative costs.
The SAN Volume Controller software is utilized by other IBM storage solutions, including
the IBM Storwize and FlashSystem products. This course provides an overview of the
software features that are common to the SVC and these solutions.

Storage virtualization
Storage virtualization allows an organization to implement pools of storage across
physically separate disk systems (which might be from different vendors). Storage can
then be deployed from these pools and can be migrated between pools without any
outage of the attached host systems. Storage virtualization provides a single set of tools
for advanced functions, such as instant copy and remote mirroring solutions, which
means that deploying storage can be performed by using a single tool regardless of the
underlying storage hardware.

Figure 1-1 Storage virtualization

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Block level virtualization

In traditional SANs, each server is connected through the SAN to specific disks.
Changes in configuration can have a significant impact on application availability.
Additionally, in a traditional SAN, each storage subsystem must be managed separately,
increasing the burden on the IT staff as the need to scale arises.

Figure 1-2 Storage in a traditional SAN

Block virtualization provides a logical layer between the application servers and the
underlying physical storage. By providing this insulation layer, application servers now
can be configured to use “virtual” disks while the physical disks are hidden from the
application servers. This allows the storage administrator to change the physical disk
configuration without changing the configuration of the application servers. Application
downtime is reduced by providing non-disruptive operations with the physical storage.
Additionally, this virtualization layer provides a central point for management of the block
storage devices in the storage network. It also provides a platform for advanced
functions, including disaster recovery, copy services, quality of service, and security.

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Figure 1-3 Virtualized storage

As illustrated in Figure 1-3, the hosts are connected to the virtualization appliance (SVC,
Storwize, or other solution) to access storage (Volumes or VDisks). Depending upon the
solution, these virtual disks can be composed of internal or external storage systems.
The host does not know what the physical storage is composed of. In this example, the
host connections are via a SAN network. Zoning provides and controls access between
hosts and the appliance Fibre Channel ports. Depending on the appliance, other host
connections may be available (including iSCSI).
The storage pools or back end storage can be provided by an array of IBM and OEM
storage products. These back end devices are configured with LUNs connected to the
virtualization appliance via SAN connections.
Customers control the creation of Vdisks, host connectivity, and copy service functions
through the appliance’s interfaces (GUI or DSCLI). This provides a single point of control.

IBM Products using SVC software

Table 1-1 lists the products that use SAN Volume Controller software:

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Table 1-1 A “TableCaption” paragraph tag, that preceeds all tables
Machine type Models Product name
2071 02A, 10A Storwize V3500
2072 12C, 24C Storwize V3700
12E, 24E
2073 700 (withrawn) Storwize V7000 Unified
720
2076 112,124 Storwize V7000 Gen1
212,224
312,324
2076 524, 24F, 12F Storwize V7000 Gen2
2077 12C, 24C Storwize V5000
12E, 24E
2078 12C, 24C Storwize V5000
12E, 24E
2145 4F2 (withdrawn) SAN Volume Controller
8F2 (withdrawn)
8F4 (withdrawn)
8G4 (withdrawn)
CF8 (withdrawn)
CG8
DH8, 24F
9840/9843 AE1 FlashSystem 840
9840/9843 AE2 FlashSystem 900
9846/9848 AC1, AE1 FlashSystem V840
9846/9848 AC2, AE2 FlashSystem V9000

Nodes
Each SVC hardware unit is called a node. The node provides the virtualization for a set
of volumes, cache, and copy services functions. The SVC nodes are deployed in pairs
and multiple pairs make up a clustered system or system. A system can consist of 1 - 4
SVC node pairs.
Storwize products are composed of control and expansion enclosures. The control
enclosures contain pairs of node canisters. Figure 1-4 shows the front view of the 2145
DH8 SVC; a rear view (showing the node canisters) of a 2076 Storwize V7000 Gen2
control enclosure, and a FlashSystem V9000, as examples of node configurations.

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Figure 1-4 IBM Virtualization products

One of the nodes within the system is known as the configuration node. The
configuration node manages the configuration activity for the system. If this node fails,
the system chooses a new node to become the configuration node.
Because the nodes are installed in pairs, each node provides a failover function to its
partner node if a node fails.

I/O groups
Nodes are deployed in pairs to make up a cluster. In the San Volume Controller (SVC)
there are two physical servers. The Storwize V7000 control enclosure uses the two node
canisters. Each pair of nodes is known as an I/O group. Each node can be in only one I/O
group.
I/O traffic for a particular volume (Virtual disks or VDisks) is, at any one time, managed
exclusively by the nodes in a single I/O group. Although a cluster can have eight nodes
within it, the nodes manage I/O in independent pairs. An SVC clustered system can have
up to four I/O groups.
A specific volume is always presented to a host server by a single I/O group of the
system. When a host server performs I/O to one of its volumes, all the I/Os for a specific
volume are directed to one specific I/O group in the system. Data is written to cache in
both nodes for redundancy. Under normal conditions, the I/Os for a specific volume are
always processed by the same node within the I/O group. This node is referred to as the
preferred node for this specific volume.
Each node of an I/O group acts as the preferred node for their own specific subset of the
total number of volumes that the I/O group presents to the host servers. However, each
nodes also acts as failover nodes for their respective partner node within the I/O group.

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Therefore, a node can take over the I/O workload from its partner node, if required.
When a failover takes place the surviving node switches to write-through mode. There is
no redundancy until the node has been repaired.
Therefore, the I/O handling for a volume can switch between the two nodes of the I/O
group. For this reason, it is mandatory for servers that are connected through Fibre
Channel to use multipath drivers to handle these failover situations.
The SVC I/O groups are connected to the SAN so that all application servers that are
accessing volumes from this I/O group have access to this group.

IBM FlashSystem V9000 implementation

A V9000 solution consists of one to four building blocks and up to four additional storage
enclosures. Because the building blocks are united as a clustered system, the initial
setup, initialization and configuration tasks, as well as the subsequent configuration,
monitoring, and service tasks are performed at the system cluster level.
Note: The maximum configuration of up to four building blocks and four
additional storage enclosures is not supported at initial launch. For the current
support statement, consult your IBM Storage Sales Representative.

Each pair of control enclosures in a building block forms an I/O group. In a fixed
configuration, there will be one I/O group, while in a scaled solution of multiple building
blocks, there can be as many as four I/O groups (since up to four building blocks can be
included in a scaled solution). In the scaled solution the control enclosures are
connected through private (internal) SAN switches.

Clustered system
The system or clustered system consists of up to four I/O groups. All configuration,
monitoring, and service tasks are performed at the system level. Configuration settings
are replicated to all nodes in the system. To facilitate these tasks, one or two
management IP addresses are set for the system.
One node is designated as the configuration node and it is the only node that activates
the system IP address. If the configuration node fails, the system chooses a new
configuration node and the new configuration node takes over the system IP addresses.
A process is provided to back up the system configuration data onto disk so that it can be
restored if there is a disaster. This method does not back up application data. Only
system configuration information is backed up.

Stretched systems
A stretched system is an extended high availability (HA) method that enables I/O
operations to continue after the loss of half of the system. A stretched system is also
sometimes referred to as a split system because one-half of the system and I/O group is
usually in a geographically distant location from the other, often 10 kilometers (6.2 miles)
or more. The maximum distance is approximately 300 km (186.4 miles). It depends on

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the round-trip time, and must not be greater than 80 ms. With version 7.4, this round-trip
time is enhanced to 250 ms. A third site is required to host an FC storage system that
provides a quorum disk. This storage system can also be used for other purposes than to
act only as a quorum disk.

Enhanced stretched systems

SVC based systems support enhanced stretched system configuration. This
configuration can be used when the stretched system is configured with or without inter-
switch links (ISLs) between nodes.
Enhanced stretched systems provide the following primary benefits:
• In addition to the automatic failover that occurs when a site fails in a standard
stretched system configuration, an enhanced stretched system provides a manual
override that can be used to choose which of the two sites continues operation.
• Enhanced stretched systems intelligently route I/O traffic between nodes and
controllers to reduce the amount of I/O traffic between sites, and to minimize the
impact to host application I/O latency.
• Enhanced stretched systems include an implementation of additional policing rules to
ensure the correct configuration of a standard stretched system.

HyperSwap
HyperSwap is a new function that is included in SVC/Storwize software V7.5. HyperSwap
is similar to enhanced stretched cluster, but in this implementation we do not split the I/O
group between sites. Instead, the volumes are created on multiple I/O groups at different
sites. HyperSwap uses technology from Metro and Global Mirroring. Figure 1-8
illustrates a basic HyperSwap configuration.

Figure 1-5 HyperSwap example

In this example, we have a system composed of a single I/O groups at two separate
sites. The HyperSwap volumes are created using separate storage pools attached to

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their respective I/O groups. The hosts are zoned with host bus adapter ports configured
to both I/O groups. During the configuration process, the site location of the I/O groups
and hosts are defined. By identifying the site locations, the hosts are configured for
preferred pathing to the local site for improved performance but able to fail over to the
other copy (site). A host that does not define a specific site will rotate I/O operations
paths between both sites.

SAN zoning
The Fibre Channel ports in a virtualization appliance serve three distinct purposes. The
first purpose of the Fibre Channel port is to provide communication between the nodes in
the cluster. The second function is to provide host access to configured LUNs. The third
function is to connect SAN attached external storage to the cluster. These three distinct
functions need separate zoning to provide efficient operation.

Internode zones
Figure 1-6 shows an example of Internode zones. The internode zones ensure that the
nodes can communicate with each other. The recommendation is to have two SAN
fabrics, for redundancy, with the following configurations:
SAN Fabric A: all odd ports
SAN Fabric B: all even ports
These Internode communication ports should not cross Inter-Switch Links (ISLs).

Figure 1-6 Internode zones

If more than one I/O group is configured, the additional Fibre Channel ports on that I/O
group should be added to the fabrics. These Internode zones are used for
communication.

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Storage zones
If the cluster is being used with external storage, additional zoning is required. Zone a
minimum of two and a maximum of 16 Fibre Channel ports from the external storage
system with all Fibre Channel ports on the I/O groups that will manage this storage.
Figure 1-7 illustrates the storage zoning for a single storage system (with two
controllers) connecting to a system with one I/O group.

Figure 1-7 Storage zones

Connections between the cluster and its external storage require the best available
bandwidth. For optimal performance and reliability, ensure that paths between cluster
and storage systems do not cross ISLs. If you use ISLs on these paths, make sure that
sufficient bandwidth is available. SAN monitoring is required to identify faulty ISLs.
Each node in an I/O group must have a path to the same set of worldwide port names
(WWPNs) for each storage system.

Host zones
Follow basic zoning recommendations to ensure that each host has at least two network
adapters, that each adapter is on a separate network (or at minimum in a separate zone),
and is connected to both nodes in an I/O group. This setup assures a minimum of four
paths for failover and failback purposes. Zoning should be implemented using WWPNs.

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Figure 1-8 Host zones

Managed disks
The SVC software based system and its I/O groups view the storage that is presented to
the SAN by the back-end controllers as a number of disks or LUNs, which are known as
managed disks (MDisks). Because the SVC software does not attempt to provide
recovery from physical disk failures within the back-end controllers, an MDisk often is
provisioned from a RAID array. However, the application servers (hosts) do not see the
MDisks. Instead, they see a number of logical disks, which are known as virtual disks or
volumes, which are presented by the groups through the SAN (FC/FCoE) or LAN (iSCSI)
to the servers.
An MDisk is the unit of storage that SVC software based products virtualizes. This unit
could be a logical volume on an external storage array presented to the IBM Storwize
control unit or a RAID array consisting of internal drives. The software allocates these
MDisks into various storage pools.

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Figure 1-9 Managed disks

There are three MDisk modes:

• Unmanaged: Unmanaged MDisks are not being used by the system. This situation
might occur when an MDisk is first imported into the system.
• Managed: Managed MDisks are assigned to a storage pool and provide extents so
that volumes can use it.
• Image: Image MDisks are assigned directly to a volume with a one-to-one mapping of
extents between the MDisk and the volume. This situation is normally used when
importing logical volumes into the clustered system that already have data on them,
which ensures that the data is preserved as it is imported into the clustered system.

Quorum disk
A quorum disk is an MDisk that contains a reserved area for use exclusively by the
system. The system uses quorum disks to break a tie when exactly half the nodes in the
system remain after a SAN failure. Quorum functionality is not supported on flash drives
within SVC nodes, but is supported on the flash modules of FlashSystem products.
Three candidate quorum disks exist. However, only one quorum disk is active at any
time.

Storage pools
A storage pool is a collection of MDisks that are grouped together to provide capacity for
volumes. Storage pools were originally called MDisk groups. All MDisks in the pool are
split into extents with the same size. Volumes are then allocated out of the storage pool
and are mapped to a host system.

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Figure 1-10 Storage pools

MDisks can be added to a storage pool at any time to increase the capacity of the
storage pool. MDisks can belong in only one storage pool and only MDisks in
unmanaged mode can be added to the storage pool. When an MDisk is added to the
storage pool, the mode changes from unmanaged to managed and vice versa when you
remove it.
Each MDisk in the storage pool is divided into several extents. The size of the extent is
selected by the administrator at creation time of the storage pool and cannot be changed
later. The size of the extent ranges from 16 MB up to 8 GB.

Pool extent size and cluster capacity

The extent size has a direct impact on the maximum volume size and storage capacity of
the clustered system. A system can manage 4 million (4 x 1024 x 1024) extents. For
example, a system with a 16 MB extent size can manage up to 16 MB x 4 million= 64 TB
of storage.
The effect of extent size on the maximum volume size is shown in Table 1-2 that lists the
extent size and the corresponding maximum clustered system size.

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Table 1-2 Extent size to total storage capacity
Extent size (MB) Maximum MDisk size Cluster capacity
16 2 TB 64 TB
32 4 TB 128 TB
64 8 TB 256 TB
128 16 TB 512 TB
256 32 TB 1 PB
512 64 TB 2 PB
1,024 128 TB 4 PB
2,048 256 TB 8 PB
4,096 512 TB 16 PB
8,192 1,024 TB 32 PB

Volumes
A volume (initially referred to as a Virtual disk or VDisk) is a logical disk that is presented
to a host by the clustered system. In a virtualized environment, the host system has a
volume mapped to it by SVC based cluster. The cluster translates this volume into
several extents, which are allocated across MDisks. The advantage with storage
virtualization is that the host is “decoupled” from the underlying storage, so that the
virtualization appliance can move the extents without impacting the host system.
The host system cannot directly access the underlying MDisks in the same manner as it
can access RAID arrays in a traditional storage environment.
There are three types of volumes:
• Striped: A striped volume is allocated one extent in turn from each MDisk in the
storage pool. This process continues until the space required for the volume has
been satisfied.
• Sequential: In a sequential volume, the extents are allocated one after the other, from
one MDisk to the next MDisk. Figure 1-11 compares the creation of a sequential and
a striped volume.

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Figure 1-11 Sequential versus striped volume

• Image mode: Image mode volumes are special volumes that have a direct
relationship with one MDisk. They are used to migrate existing data into and out of
the clustered system.
When the image mode volume is created, a direct mapping is made between extents
that are on the MDisk and the extents that are on the volume. The logical block
address (LBA) x on the MDisk is the same as the LBA x on the volume, which
ensures that the data on the MDisk is preserved as it is brought into the clustered
system. Figure 1-12 shows how an image-mode volume is created.

Figure 1-12 Image-mode volume

Space efficient volumes and thin provision feature

When you create a volume (VDisk), you can designate it as space-efficient. A space-
efficient volume has a virtual capacity and a real capacity. The volume consumes
physical storage that is equivalent to the real capacity but appears to host systems to

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have a different capacity, which is the virtual capacity. Typically the virtual capacity is
significantly larger than the real capacity.
The cluster uses the real capacity to store data that is written to the space-efficient
volume, along with additional information that describes the parts of the virtual capacity
that have been written. As more information is written to the volume, more of the real
capacity is used. The cluster identifies reads to unwritten parts of the virtual capacity and
returns zeros to the server without using any of the real capacity.
The cluster must maintain extra metadata that describes the contents of space-efficient
volume. This means the I/O rates that are obtained from space-efficient volumes are
slower than those obtained from fully allocated volumes that are allocated on the same
MDisks.
Figure 1-12 provides an illustration of a 5 GB volume that is mapped to a host. In both
cases the host sees the full 5 GB capacity. The difference is that significantly less
physical capacity is being used by the thin provisioned volume. Therefore, the customer
can configure more capacity than he physically has in the cluster.

Figure 1-13 Fully allocated versus thin provisioned volumes

Mapping volumes to hosts

Volume-to-host mapping is the process of controlling which hosts have access to specific
volumes within the cluster. Volume-to-host mapping is similar in concept to logical unit
number (LUN) mapping or masking. LUN mapping is the process of controlling which
hosts have access to specific LUNs. LUN mapping is typically done at the disk controller
level. Volume-to-host mapping is done at the cluster level.

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Application servers can only access volumes that have been made accessible to them.
The cluster detects the Fibre Channel ports that are connected to the SAN. These
correspond to the host bus adapter (HBA) worldwide port names (WWPNs) that are
present in the application servers. The cluster enables you to create logical hosts that
group together WWPNs that belong to a single application server. Volumes can then be
mapped to a host. The act of mapping a volume to a host makes the volume accessible
to the WWPNs in that host and the application server itself.
iSCSI is an alternative means of attaching hosts. In the simplest terms, iSCSI allows the
transport of SCSI commands and data over a TCP/IP network, based on IP routers and
Ethernet switches. iSCSI is a block-level protocol that encapsulates SCSI commands
into TCP/IP packets and uses an existing IP network, instead of requiring expensive FC
HBAs and a SAN fabric infrastructure.
All communication with back-end storage subsystems (and with other SVC systems) is
still through Fibre Channel. For a SCSI over Ethernet connection, the IQN identifies the
iSCSI target (destination) adapter. Host objects can have IQNs and WWPNs.

Advanced features for storage efficiency

SVC software offers the following software functions for storage efficiency and security:
• Easy Tier
• Real-time Compression (RtC)
• Encryption
• Volume mirroring
• Native IP replication
• Advanced Copy Services

Easy Tier
In today’s storage market, SSDs and flash drives are proving to be attractive alternative
to hard disk drives (HDDs). Because of their low response times, high throughput, and
IOPS-energy-efficient characteristics, SSDs and flash drives have the potential to allow
your storage infrastructure to achieve significant savings in operational costs. However,
the current acquisition cost per GB for SSDs or flash drives is higher than for HDDs. SSD
and flash drives performance depends greatly on workload characteristics; therefore,
they should often be used with HDDs for optimal performance.
It is critical to choose the right mix of drives and the right data placement to achieve
optimal performance at low cost. Maximum value can be derived by placing “hot” data
with high I/O density and low response time requirements on SSDs or flash drives, while
targeting HDDs for “cooler” data that is accessed more sequentially and at lower rates.

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Easy Tier automates the placement of data among different storage tiers and it can be
enabled for internal and external storage. This SVC feature boosts your storage
infrastructure performance to achieve optimal performance through a software, server,
and storage solution.
The storage environments’ I/O is monitored at a volume level and the entire volume is
always placed inside one appropriate storage tier. Determining the amount of I/O,
moving part of the underlying volume to an appropriate storage tier, and reacting to
workload changes are too complex for manual operation. This area is where the Easy
Tier feature is used.
Figure 1-14 Illustrates the operation of Easy Tier. Customers can enable Easy Tier on a
volume basis. Easy Tier monitors the I/O activity and latency of the extents on all Easy
Tier enabled volumes over a 24-hour period. Based on the performance log, Easy Tier
creates an extent migration plan and dynamically moves high activity extents to a higher
disk tier within the same storage pool. Easy Tier also moves extents whose activity
dropped off from a higher disk tier MDisk back to a lower tier MDisk. When Easy Tier is
running in storage pool rebalance mode, it moves extents from busy MDisks to less busy
MDisks of the same type.

Figure 1-14 Easy Tier

Real-time Compression
At a high level, IBM patented Random Access Compression Engine (RACE) component
compresses data that is written into the storage system dynamically. This compression
occurs transparently, so Fibre Channel and iSCSI connected hosts are not aware of the
compression. RACE is an inline compression technology, which means that each host
write is compressed as it passes through the SVC-based software to the disks. This
technology has a clear benefit over other compression technologies that are post-

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processing based. Post-processing technologies do not provide immediate capacity
savings; therefore, they are not a good fit for primary storage workloads, such as
databases and active data set applications.
Real-time Compression (RtC) is based on the Lempel-Ziv lossless data compression
algorithm and operates in a real-time method. When a host sends a write request, the
request is acknowledged by the write cache of the system, and is then staged to the
storage pool. As part of its staging, the write request passes through the compression
engine and is then stored in compressed format onto the storage pool. Therefore, writes
are acknowledged immediately after they are received by the write cache with
compression occurring as part of the staging to internal or external physical storage.
Capacity is saved when the data is written by the host because the host writes are
smaller when they are written to the storage pool.

Encryption
The Storwize V7000 Gen2 provides optional encryption of data at rest functionality,
which protects against the potential exposure of sensitive user data and user metadata
that is stored on discarded, lost, or stolen storage devices. Encryption can only be
enabled and configured on enclosures that support encryption.
Encryption is not supported on the SVC but may be provided by the back-end storage
[Link] following are some key points about the encryption implementation:
• Uses secret keys to encode the data according to well known algorithms.
• Data at rest means the data is encrypted on the end device (drives).
• Compression is performed before encryption. Therefore both compression and
encryption can be utilized on the same data.
• Encryption is performed by the SAS hardware.
• Encryption is performed by the SAS hardware. Therefore, encryption only works on
internal drives.
• Encryption is at the array level. Data should be encrypted at the time of creation, and
it is not possible to change it once it has been created.
• A unique key is used for each array, created at array create time. Creation of multiple
keys is possible.
• There are two types of keys
 Master key (one per system) The Master key is created when encryption is
enabled. It is stored on USB devices when encryption is enabled and may be
copied or backed up as necessary
 Data encryption key (one per encrypted array)

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 Data encryption key is used to encrypt data and is created automatically when
an encrypted array/MDisk is created
 Stored in secure memory in the SAS controller hardware
 Stored encrypted with the master key
 No way to view data encryption key
 Cannot be changed
 Discarded when an array is deleted (secure erase)
The encryption setup process requires three USB flash drives to store the generated
keys. If your system is in a secure location, two USB flash drives can remain inserted in
two different node canisters. If the location is not secure, all USB flash drives with the
keys can be removed from the system and be stored securely.
Note: When you remove all USB keys, the system is not able to access the
encrypted data after a system reboot. At least one USB key with the actual
encryption key must be inserted in the system when rebooting. Before
rebooting a system, ensure that you have an encryption key available.

Additional copies of the keys must be created and stored securely to ensure access to
the system if the USB flash drives become damaged or stolen. You are required to insert
USB flash drives into the canisters to enable encryption and to rekey the system. During
these operations, you are responsible for ensuring the security of the system.
During power on we recommend inserting USB flash drives into the USB ports on two
supported canisters to guard against any unexpected failure of the node, node’s USB
port, or the USB flash drive during power on. Use these general guidelines when
enabling encryption and managing USB flash drives that contain encryption keys.
While the system is enabling encryption, you are prompted to insert the USB flash drives
into the system. The system copies the encryption keys to these drives systematically.
The system generates and copies the encryption keys to all available USB flash drives.
Note: Ensure that each copy of the encryption key is valid before writing any
user data to the system. The system validates any key material on a USB flash
drive when it is inserted into the canister. If the key material is not valid, the
system logs an error. If the USB flash drive is not usable or failed, the system
does not display it as output.

Securely store all copies of the encryption key. As an example, any USB flash drives
which are not left inserted into the system could be locked in a safe. Comparable
precautions should be taken to securely protect any other copies of the encryption key
stored to other forms of storage.

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Volume mirroring
The Volume Mirroring feature allows a volume to have two physical copies. Each volume
copy can belong to a different storage pool (MDisk group). Each copy has the same
virtual capacity. When a server writes to a mirrored volume, the cluster writes the data to
both copies. When a server reads from a mirrored volume, the cluster picks one of the
copies to read. If one of the mirrored volume copies is temporarily unavailable; for
example, because the RAID controller that provides the storage pool is unavailable, the
volume remains accessible to servers.
The cluster remembers which areas of the volume are written and resynchronizes these
areas when both copies are available. You can create a volume with one or two copies
and can convert a non-mirrored volume into a mirrored volume by adding a copy. When
a copy is added in this way, the cluster synchronizes the new copy so that it is the same
as the existing volume. Servers can access the volume during this synchronization
process. You can convert a mirrored volume into a non-mirrored volume by deleting one
copy or by splitting one copy to create a new non-mirrored volume.
The volume copy can be any type: image, striped, sequential, and thin provisioned. The
two copies can be of completely different types. Figure 1-15 illustrates the creation of a
volume copy.

Figure 1-15 Volume mirroring

Native IP replication
Remote Mirroring over IP communication is now supported on the IBM SVC and
Storwize Family systems by using Ethernet communication links. The SVC IP replication
uses innovative Bridgeworks SANSlide technology to optimize network bandwidth and
utilization. This new function enables the use of a lower-speed and lower-cost
networking infrastructure for data replication. Bridgeworks’ SANSlide technology, which
is integrated into the IBM SVC and Storwize Family Software, uses artificial intelligence
to help optimize network bandwidth utilization and adapt to changing workload and

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network conditions. This technology can improve remote mirroring network bandwidth
utilization up to three times, which can enable clients to deploy a less costly network
infrastructure or speed up remote replication cycles to enhance disaster recovery
effectiveness.
In a typical Ethernet network data flow, the data transfer slows down over time. This
condition occurs because of the latency that is caused by waiting for the
acknowledgment of each set of packets that are sent. The next packet set cannot be sent
until the previous packet is acknowledged.
By using the Bridgeworks SANSlide technology, this typical behavior can be eliminated
with enhanced parallelism of the data flow by using multiple virtual connections (VC) that
share IP links and addresses. The artificial intelligence engine can dynamically adjust the
number VCs, receive window size, and packet size as appropriate to maintain optimum
performance. While the engine is waiting for one VC’s acknowledgment, it sends more
packets across other VCs. If packets are lost from any VC, data is automatically
retransmitted, as shown in Figure 1-16..

Figure 1-16 Native IP replication

Advanced Copy Services

Advanced Copy Services is a class of functionality of storage arrays and storage devices
that allow various forms of block-level data duplication. By using Advanced Copy
Services, you can make mirror images of part or all of your data eventually between
distant sites. The SVC-software based products support the following copy services:
• Synchronous remote copy (Metro Mirror)
• Asynchronous remote copy (Global Mirror)
• Asynchronous remote copy with Change Volumes (Global Mirror)
• Point-in-Time copy (FlashCopy)
• Data migration (Image mode migration and volume mirroring migration.
Copy services functions are implemented within a system (FlashCopy and image mode
migration) or between systems (Metro Mirror and Global Mirror). To use Metro Mirror and
Global Mirror functions, you must have the remote copy license installed on each side.

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You can create partnerships with the systems to allow Metro Mirror and Global Mirror to
operate between the two systems. To create these partnerships, both clustered systems
must be at version 6.3.0 or later.

Metro and Global Mirror

• Metro Mirror: Referred to as synchronous replication, Metro Mirror provides a
consistent copy of a source virtual disk on a target virtual disk. Data is synchronously
written to the target virtual disk after it is written to the source virtual disk, so that the
copy is continuously updated.
• Global Mirror: Referred to as asynchronous replication, Global Mirror provides a
consistent copy of a source virtual disk on a target virtual disk. Data is
asynchronously written to the target virtual disk, so that the copy is continuously
updated, but the copy might not contain the last few updates in the event that a
disaster recovery operation is performed.

Figure 1-17 Metro and Global Mirror

FlashCopy
FlashCopy is the IBM branded name for Point-in-Time, which is sometimes called Time-
Zero, or T0 copy. This function makes a copy of the blocks on a source volume and can
duplicate them on 1 - 256 target volumes.
FlashCopy works by creating one or two (for incremental operations) bitmaps to track
changes to the data on the source volume. This bitmap is also used to present an image
of the source data at the point that the copy was taken to target hosts while the actual
data is being copied. This capability ensures that copies appear to be instantaneous.

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After the copy operation starts, the target volume appears to have the contents of the
source volume as it existed at the point that the copy was started. Although the physical
copy of the data takes an amount of time that varies based on system activity and
configuration, the resulting data at the target appears as though the copy was made
instantaneously.

Feature functions by machine type

Table 1-3 Supported functions by machine type
V V
V V 7 7 V V
3 3 0 0 5 9
S 5 7 0 0 0 0
V 0 0 0 0 0 0
Feature C 0 0 G1 G2 0 0
Thin Provisioning x x x x x x x
Easy Tier x x x x x x
Real-time Compression x x x x
Encryption x x x
Data Migration x x x x x x
Volume Mirroring x x x x x x x
Stretched Systems x
Enhanced Stretched x
Systems
HyperSwap x x x
Native IP Replication x x x x
FlashCopy x x x x x x x
Metro Mirroring x x x x x x
Global Mirroring x x x x x x

User interfaces
There are three user interfaces available in SVC software. The management GUI is a
tool that helps you to monitor, manage, and configure your system. The Service
Assistant is a GUI interface that allows you to do specific maintenance procedures. The
last interface is the command line interface (CLI) that the customer can use to configure,
monitor and manage their system.

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Management GUI
The SVC/Storwize products use a graphical user interface that simplifies storage
management and provide a fast and efficient management tool. The GUI is loosely
based on the IBM System Storage XIV® software and has a similar look and feel. It is
used by both the customer and the service representative to manage and repair issues.
To log in to the system, open a web browser and enter the cluster IP address. The
default user is superuser and the default password is passw0rd (with a zero). Figure 1-
18 shows the GUI interface after login, at V7.4 (note that the GUI for the FlashSystem
products differs slightly from example shown in Figure 1-18).
On the left side are the function icons.
Hovering your mouse over the icon or clicking on an icon opens a-sub menu for that
function. The center of the screen provides a virtual view of the subsystem. Clicking on a
component will provide details about that component.
Clicking the arrow at the bottom right of the system image switches the view between the
front and the rear of the system. The color of the arrow lets you know the status of the
system components.
The bottom part of the window is divided into three status areas to provide information
about your system.
• Health status indicator - The rightmost area of the control panel provides information
or alerts about internal and external connectivity.
If non-critical issues exist for your system nodes, external storage controllers, or
remote partnerships, a new status area opens next to the Health Status widget.
If a critical system connectivity error exists, the Health Status bar turns red and alerts
the system administrator for immediate action.
You can fix the error by clicking Status Alerts to direct you to the Events panel fix
procedures.
• Storage allocation indicator - The leftmost indicator shows information about the
overall physical capacity (the initial amount of storage that was allocated). This
indicator also shows the virtual capacity (thin-provisioned storage). The virtual
volume size is dynamically changed as data grows or shrinks, but you still see a fixed
capacity. Click the indicator to switch between physical and virtual capacity.

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• Running tasks indicator - The middle area provides information about the running
tasks.

Figure 1-18 SAN Volume Controller GUI System > Monitoring

From any page in the GUI, you can access the function icons and their sub menus. To
access tasks hover the mouse pointer over the various function icons and choose a page
that you want to display, as shown in Figure 1-19.
These function icons group common configuration and administration objects and
present individual administrative tasks.

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Figure 1-19 SAN Volume Controller system panel

Service Assistant
There may be times when the Remote Support Center (RSC) or engineering requests
that you connect directly to a node and use the Service Assistant to perform certain
maintenance procedures.
To access the Service Assistant GUI, start a browser session and enter the configured
service IP address for a specific node canister followed by /service.
As shown in Figure 1-20, we are connected to node1 (we accessed the Service
Assistant using the service IP address of node1). In the Change Node box, on the right
side of the display, the Relationship status for this node is local. The local node is the one
you are connected to. As shown in both the top left of the window and in the body of the
display, node2 has been selected to be worked on.

Figure 1-20 Service Assistant Tool

Clicking on any of the main navigation options, on the left side of the screen, allows you
to perform additional functions on the selected node.

Checkpoint:
Consider the following about the information covered in this section:

• List three advantages of the implementation of virtualized storage over traditional

storage.

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• True or False: An I/O group is composed of one to four nodes.
• List the three types of zones needed.
• What type of disks are used to create a storage pool?
• What is the difference between striped, sequential, and image mode MDisks?
• What is the function that allows VDisk creation with a higher storage capacity than
physically available?

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 HELPFUL LINKS

Helpful links
...................................
2

.....
The following links provide access to useful information (and, in some cases, more up-to-
date information) about the IBM product name.
Table 2-1 Helpful websites and links
Website Link
IBM SAN Volume Controller w3-
(2145-DH8) GLOSSE 4 Storage [Link]/wikis/home?lang=en-
machine reference page us#!/wiki/W556ec6774532_4635_b60b_582
a859bea11/page/MREF_SVC_2145DH8
SAN Volume Controller (2145) [Link]/support/knowledgec
IBM Knowledge Center page enter/STPVGU/landing/SVC_welcome.html
SAN Volume Controller (2145) www-
Support Portal [Link]/support/entry/portal/product/sy
stem_storage/storage_software/storage_virt
ualization/san_volume_controller_%282145
%29/2145?productContext=218612669
Storwize V7000 Gen2 GLOSSE w3-
4 Storage machine reference [Link]/wikis/home?lang=en-
page us#!/wiki/W556ec6774532_4635_b60b_582
a859bea11/page/MREF_2076%20Storwize
%20V7000Gen2
IBM Storwize V7000 IBM www-
Knowledge Center page [Link]/support/knowledgecenter/ST3F
R7/welcome
Fix Central [Link]/support/fixcentral/
Redbooks [Link]
Techdocs Technical Sales [Link]/support/techdocs/
Library
Talent@IBM [Link]/learning/lms/Saba/Web/Main

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 SUMMARY

Summary
...................................
3

.....
This course enabled you to:
1. Identify the key advantages of storage virtualization.
2. Describe block level storage.
3. Identify the IBM storage products that use SVC based software.
4. Define storage virtualization terms including node, system, I/O groups, MDisk, and
volume.
5. Describe the SAN zoning required for implementing a SVC, SVC-based or
Storwize cluster.
6. Identify key differences between striped, sequential, and image mode volumes.
7. Identify the difference between standard and thin provisioned volumes.
8. Define the terms Metro Mirroring and Global Mirroring.

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 ASSESSMENT

Assessment
...................................
4

.....
To receive credit for taking this course, you must complete and pass (with a score of 80%
or higher) an exam.
To access this test, take the following steps:
1. Go to the Talent@IBM website.
2. Select the My Learning & Expertise tab and then select the In-Progress
Learning Activities tab
3. Find the assessment for this course and click the Launch button to open the
assessment.
4. Answer all of the test questions. When you are finished, click Submit.

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