138 IBM Midrange System Storage Hardware Guide
4.4.9 Virtualization
With the growth and popularity of storage area networks, storage environments are getting
more and more complex. Storage virtualization reduces the complexity and costs of
managing storage environments and optimizes storage utilization in a heterogeneous
environment.
The IBM Storage Area Network Volume Controller (SVC) and IBM TotalStorage Productivity
Center products address some of these needs.
IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller overview
The IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller is a scalable hardware and software
solution to allow aggregation of storage from different disk servers. It provides storage
virtualization and a consistent view of storage across a Storage Area Network (SAN).
The SAN Volume Controller provides in-band storage virtualization by creating a pool of
managed disks from attached back-end disk storage systems. These managed disks are then
mapped to a set of virtual disks for use by various host systems.
In conjunction with the DS5000 storage subsystem family, the SAN Volume Controller (SVC)
can increase the storage copy services functionality and also the flexibility of SAN-based
storage. The SVC is very flexible in its use. It can manage all host storage requirements or
just part of them. A DS5000 storage system can still be used to allocate storage to hosts or
use the SVC. This is dependant upon various needs and requirements.
The SVC also offers an alternative to FlashCopy, VolumeCopy, and Enhanced Remote
Mirroring for disaster recovery, high availability, and maintenance. If you plan to use SVC with
a DS5000 storage subsystem, then these premium features will not be required.
The SVC might also reduce the requirement for additional partitions. The SVC only consumes
one storage partition. If you plan to use the SVC for all of your hosts, then a storage partition
upgrade might not be required.
SVC is licensed by the capacity that is being managed. This capacity also includes the
capacity used by the copy services.
For detailed information about SVC implementation, see Implementing the IBM System
Storage SAN Volume Controller V4.3, SG24-6423.
For more information about Storage Virtualization, see the IBM TotalStorage Virtualization
Web site at the following address:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/storage/software/virtualization/index.html
For more information about SAN Volume Controller, see its home page at the following
address:
http://www.ibm.com/servers/storage/software/virtualization/svc/index.html
4.4.10 Auto Logical Drive Transfer (ADT) feature
In a DS5000 storage subsystem, you can provide redundant I/O paths with the host systems.
There are two different components that provide this redundancy:
A multipath driver
Auto Logical Drive Transfer (ADT)
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