EMC SYMMETRIX VMAX FULLY AUTOMATED STORAGE TIERING (FAST) VIRTUAL POOLS (VP) FOR MAINFRAME COUNT KEY DATA (CKD) ESSENTIALS FAST automates the process of moving the right data to the right place at the right time, maximizing business investments in a tiered storage environment. FAST maximizes business investments in a tiered storage environment

EMC SYMMETRIX VMAX FULLY AUTOMATED STORAGE TIERING (FAST) VIRTUAL POOLS (VP) FOR MAINFRAME COUNT KEY DATA (CKD)   ESSENTIALS 

FAST automates the process of moving the right data to the right place at the right time, maximizing business investments in a tiered storage environment. FAST maximizes business investments in a tiered storage environment
The Challenge  EMC E-Lab™ performed numerous tests using an EMC® VMAX™ storage system running EMC Enginuity™ 5876, with Fully Automated Storage Tiering (FAST) Virtual Pools ™ (VP) for mainframe Count Key Data (CKD) to identify, automate, and relocate application data across different performance/capacity tiers within an array.  EMC Symmetrix VMAX Based on the Virtual Matrix™ Architecture and Enginuity capabilities, Symmetrix VMAX systems deliver scalable performance that meets the most demanding access, protection, and distribution requirements. VMAX delivers non-disruptive operations and greatly simplifies and automates the management and protection of information.  Full Automated Storage Tiering for Virtual Pools (FAST VP for CKD)  FAST VP for CKD is a feature that provides automatic storage tiering on the VMAX 20K and VMAX 40K models with Enginuity 5876. This feature is not available on the VMAX 10K.  For FAST VP for CKD to operate on a Symmetrix VMAX, there are three types of components that need to be configured: Storage Groups, FAST VP Policies, and Symmetrix Tiers.  The following figure shows two storage groups, ProductionApp_SG and Development_SG.  Each storage group is associated with one policy, Platinum and Bronze, respectively. These policies associate the storage groups with up to three Symmetrix tiers.

SAN Design Considerations !!!

Design Considerations When a new SAN design is under development, or an existing SAN is to be modified, a number of design considerations must be evaluated. Such considerations include: ■Geographic Layout ■Data Locality ■Connectivity ■Storage Capacity ■Heterogeneous Platforms and Operating Systems ■Scalability and Migration ■Backup and Restore ■Data Availability ■Disaster Tolerance ■Switch and Hop Counts ■Oversubscription ■Performance and Application Workloads ■Manageability ■Fabric Zoning ■Selective Storage Presentation ■SAN Security

Why SAN ?

Why a SAN? SANs provide unprecedented levels of flexibility in system management and configuration. Servers can be added and removed from a SAN while their data remains in the SAN. Multiple servers can access the same storage for more consistent and rapid processing. The storage itself can be easily increased, changed, or re-assigned. In a SAN, multiple compute servers and backup servers can access a common storage pool. The SAN offers configuration choices that emphasize connectivity, performance, resilience to outage, or all three. SANs bring enterprise-level availability to open systems servers. Properly designed SAN storage is always available. This allows many open servers to access a common storage pool with the same degree of availability previously reserved for mainframes. SANs improve staff efficiency by supporting a variety of operating systems, servers, and operational needs. A SAN is a robust storage infrastructure that can respond quickly to new business models, unexpected growth surges, and corporate mergers. SANs can reduce application response time, improve processing throughput, and support high-performance backup and rapid restores. SANs enable new functionality concepts such as zero backup time, they support remote data copies at nearly unlimited distances, and they support improved business continuance scenarios involving disaster recovery planning and disaster tolerant configurations. SANs also support the latest storage security measures, and they can be managed by Web-based tools from any location. In a well-designed SAN, these features are complementary and cumulative; that is, a SAN can incorporate all of these features, or you can start with a SAN designed for any one of them and add other features later. SANs enable economy of scale that was previously unavailable to open systems in the areas of backup, management, growth, and performance. Because of this flexibility, a SAN can grow and adapt to the changing computer storage system needs of the most challenging business environment.

Features of XP storage array !

Features :
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■User, device, and session administration: Controls access to the Command View management station and the disk arrays. ■Event management and history: Archives and distributes traps to configured storage area network (SAN) management stations. Trap messages are converted into readable error messages and are stored in log files for viewing. ■Disk array status monitoring: Monitors every aspect of disk array operation. ■Path Connectivity: Monitors and reports the connection paths between the disk array and hosts consuming disk space. Diagnoses the “health” of connections. Path Connectivity is included with the Command View application. ■LUN configuration: Provides LUN configuration and management. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks LUN Configuration Manager XP (XP48/XP256/XP512) or HP StorageWorks LUN Configuration and Security Manager XP - LUN Manager (XP128/XP1024). ■Disk array security at the disk array controller and LUN level: Used to manage disk array security at the disk array controller level and the port/LUN level. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks Secure Manager XP (XP48/XP256/XP512) or HP StorageWorks LUN Configuration and Security Manager XP - Volume Manager (XP128/XP1024). ■Advanced LUN management (XP128/XP1024 only): Protects data in your disk arrays from I/O operations performed on open system hosts. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks LUN Security XP Extension. ■Configuration File Loader (XP128/XP1024 only): Sets the disk arrays to have the same configuration by applying a configuration definition file that can be edited. Is available preloaded from the factory, and requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks LUN Configuration and Security Manager XP to manage LUN configuration files. ■Cache LUN configuration: Manages the placing of data from LUNs into cache memory to improve data access speeds. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks Cache LUN XP. ■Auto LUN configuration: Manages and optimizes the disk array’s storage by performing manual and automatic migration operations. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks Auto LUN XP
■Business Copy (XP128/XP1024 only): Maintains internal copies of user data on the disk array for purposes such as data backup or duplication. Business Copy is used for open system data. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks Business Copy XP. ■ShadowImage and ShadowImage - FlashCopy (XP128/XP1024 and mainframe systems only): ShadowImage is comparable to Business Copy, but is used for mainframe data. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks ShadowImage XP. ShadowImage - FlashCopy requires the purchase and installation of both ShadowImage XP and FlashCopy Extension. ■Continuous Access and Continuous Access Extension (XP128/XP1024 only): Creates and maintains duplicate copies of user data from a local disk array on a remote disk array. These copies are useful for data duplication, backup, and disaster recovery. Continuous Access is used for open system data. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks Continuous Access XP and XP Extension. ■TrueCopy and TrueCopy Asynchronous (XP128/XP1024 and mainframe systems only): TrueCopy is comparable to Continuous Access, but is used for mainframe data. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks TrueCopy XP and True Copy XP Asynchronous. ■HPAV (XP128/XP1024 and mainframe systems only): Allows a mainframe host system to issue multiple I/O requests in parallel to logical devices on the disk array. When HPAV is used, the mainframe host has substantially faster access to the data stored in the disk array. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks HPAV XP. ■LDEV Guard (XP128/XP1024 and mainframe systems only): Protects data in your disk arrays from I/O operations performed on mainframe hosts. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks LDEV Guard XP. ■SANtinel and SANtinel Port Security Option (XP128/XP1024 and mainframe systems only): Used to apply security to logical volumes to prevent specified mainframe hosts from reading and writing to the specified logical volumes. The Port Security Option provides port-level security. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks SANtinel. SANtinel Port Security Option requires the purchase and installation of both SANtinel and SANtinel Port Security Option. ■Direct Backup Engine (XP128/XP1024 only): Combined with a backup application installed on a host server, provides server-free backup between the disk array and the backup devices connected to the host server. Requires the purchase and installation of HP StorageWorks Direct Backup Engine XP