HP AutoRAID 12H manual Virtual value in hp’s va7000 series, HP’s VA7000 Series Characteristics

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	“hp extends virtualization to the array”
	—by D.H. Brown Associates, Inc.
virtual value in hp’s va7000 series

Virtualization is a key to solving complexities associated with storage configurations. As Information Technology continues its non-stop evolution, tools and devices that improve manageability while increasing business efficiency will command a premium in the marketplace. HP has taken a significant step forward in delivering its Virtual Array (VA) 7000 series with a full complement of virtualization functions. Enterprises that value a return on investment in areas such as data-sharing, optimized self-tuning performance, and data-access flexibility must evaluate HP’s Virtual Array offerings.

SAN virtualization is in effect the aggregation of multiple storage devices in a centralized configuration, a storage pool. This simplifies the storage administrator’s role by enabling all resources to be seen as a single entity. SAN virtualization by itself, however, offers little assistance in efficiently managing requirements of single applications. It pays scant attention to the capacity and performance dynamics of individual, heterogeneous devices within the storage pool. HP, in its Federated Storage Area Management (FSAM) strategy, acknowledges the importance of SAN virtualization. In its VA7000 Series, HP extends these concepts and benefits to the device-array level. Together, they demonstrate the full advantage of interdependencies between managing SAN virtual storage pools and managing virtual storage at the device level.

HP’s VA7000 Series Characteristics

Feature	VA7100	VA7400
Capacity	1 TB (raw) in 3U enclosure;	7.6 TB (raw) using the Disk System (DS)
	14 TB in 2M rack	2400 (up to six DS2400s chained);
		14 TB in a 2M rack of 73 GB disks
LUNs (max)	128	1,024
Disk Drives Supported	15 per 3U enclosure;	Up to 105 drives with DS2400; 18 GB 15 K rpm;
	same disk support as 7400	36 GB 10 K and 15 K rpm and 73 GB 10 K rpm
I/O ports	1 Gb/sec. FC host and disk ports	Two 2 Gb/sec. FC host ports;
		two 1 Gb/sec. FC disk ports
Cache	256/512/1024/ MB mirrored	512/1024 MB mirrored per controller
Transfer Rate	90 MB/sec. 12,000 I/Os per sec. from	160 MB/sec.; 28,000 I/Os per sec. from cache;
	cache; 3000 I/Os per sec. back-end	7500 I/Os per sec. back-end

In the HP Surestore VA7000 family, “virtual array” refers to treating the disks within the array as a pool of storage blocks rather than as physical disks. With this technology, the VA7000 family emerges as a second tier of storage virtualization. Extending virtualization to the device level, the SAN’s view of storage becomes independent of physical disk attributes. This characteristic reduces the cost associated with SAN virtualization by simplifying storage management, enabling more efficient use of available device capacity, and decreasing the amount of required data movement at the device level.

D.H. Brown Associates, Inc. http://www.dhbrown.com

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