Chapter 1. Introduction to IBM System Storage N series  9
For more information about N series software features, see IBM System Storage N series 
Software Guide, SG24-7129, which is available at this website:
http://www.redbooks.ibm.com/abstracts/sg247129.html?Open
All N series systems support the storage efficiency features, as shown in Figure 1-3.
Figure 1-3   Storage efficiency features
1.3  Software licensing structure
This section provides an overview of the software licensing structure.
1.3.1  Mid-range and high-end
The software structure for mid-range and high-end systems is assembled out of the following 
major options:
ň° Data ONTAP Essentials (including one protocol of choice)
ň° Protocols (CIFS, NFS, Fibre Channel, iSCSI)
ň° SnapRestore
ň° SnapMirror
ň° SnapVault
ň° FlexClone
ň° SnapLock
ň° SnapManager Suite
Storage Efficiency features
Snapshot
â˘
Copies
Point-in-time copies that write only 
changed blocks. No performance 
penalty.
Virtual Copies (FlexClone
ÂŽ
)
Near-zero space, instant âvirtualâ 
copies. Only subsequent changes in 
cloned dataset get stored.
Thin Provisioning 
(FlexVol
ÂŽ
)
Create flexible volumes that appear to 
be a certain size but are really a much 
smaller pool.
RAID-DP
ÂŽ
Protection 
(RAID-6)
Protects against double disk failure with 
no performance penalty.
Deduplication
Removes data redundancies in 
primary and secondary storage.
Save
up to
95%
Save
up to
46%
Save
up to
33%
Save
over
80%
Save
over
80%
Thin Replication 
(SnapVault
ÂŽ
and SnapMirror
ÂŽ
)
Make data copies for disaster recovery 
and backup using a minimal amount of 
space.
Save
up to
95%
Data Compression
Reduces footprint of primary 
and secondary storage.
Save
up to
87%