HP AutoRAID 12H Section, Virtualization, simplification, Storage, Array virtualization defined

section 1						hp storage white paper
virtualization, simplification						These are not trivial benefits. Data centers are
and storage						already complex, and with the continued explosion
						in storage capacity they will only become more so.
In 2001, HP announced two new disk arrays—						HP’s Array Virtualization		is	evolutionary,1not
						revolutionary. It	is a logical	progression in		array
the HP Surestore Virtual Array 7400 and the HP
						technology. It is	proven. It is		necessary. It	is the
Surestore Virtual Array 7100. This paper will focus
						perfect storage	area network		(SAN) technology.
entirely on the virtualization technology that makes
						And it is offered only by Hewlett-Packard!
these the easiest arrays to manage and the most
intelligently simple arrays on the market. This paper						array virtualization defined
answers	the	question,	“What	is	the value
of HP’s Array Virtualization?”						The purpose of virtualization in any technology
For those familiar with data center environments,						is to hide complexity from the user, or in the case
						of disk arrays, to hide complexity from the storage
virtualization is not a new concept. Virtualization
						administrator and provide a standard environment
already exists to some extent at every point in the
						for application	development and increased
solution stack. For example, servers, operating
						price/performance.
systems, databases, file systems, volume managers,
drivers, switches, and storage devices all require						Disk arrays are complex devices designed for
virtualization to achieve their purposes.
						complex tasks. A disk array with 50 disk drives
At the array level, HP’s Virtual Architecture simply						is more complex to manage than a disk array
						with one drive. Armed with virtualization, an
expands on already familiar ground, and it						array could potentially allow the 50 drives to be
cleanly	fulfills	the promise of		virtualization—		perceived and managed as one big drive or as
it hides complexity from the administrator and						one big pool of storage. The power of virtualization
can have a dramatic and positive effect on real-						is the power of simplification.
world performance.						Now for the definition: Virtualization in arrays is
This reduction in complexity greatly simplifies and						about creating and managing virtual storage
streamlines the data center environment.						devices. It is about taking blocks of storage on
						the disk drives and presenting them as LUNs
hp’s array virtualization:						(logical units of storage). What system administrators
						see, then, are not the actual physical disk drives
• reduces the time spent managing individual
						but rather a created, simplified “virtual” view of
arrays
						the actual physical storage, i.e., the LUNs.
• allows storage administrators					to manage
more storage with less effort						HP’s Virtual Array works with LUNs just as traditional
• reduces the opportunities for human error
						arrays do. However, the virtual array doesn’t
• frees up precious IT resources to work on						stop there. The virtual array actually manages
revenue-generating projects						the disks down to the level of the smallest available
• self-manages the			RAID configuration for			“cluster” or “chunk.” Further, while traditional

optimum performance	arrays utilize static address-translation algorithms
	for managing the chunks, the virtual array uses
	a dynamic mapping system.

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