IBM DS8000 manual Benefits of virtualization, Optimal placement of data

Host LVM volume

Server0

DA pair 1

DA pair 2

Loop 1 Loop 2

Extent Pool FB-0a

Extent Pool FB-0b

Extent Pool FB-0c

Extent Pool FB-0d

LSS 00 LSS 01

	Loop 2 Loop 1
Extent Pool FB-1a
	pair 1
Extent Pool FB-1b	DA

Extent Pool FB-1c
	pair 2
Extent Pool FB-1d	DA

Server1

Figure 5-13 Optimal placement of data

5.4 Benefits of virtualization

The DS8000 physical and logical architecture defines new standards for enterprise storage virtualization. The main benefits of the virtualization layers are:

￿Flexible LSS definition allows maximization/optimization of the number of devices per LSS.

￿No strict relationship between RAID ranks and LSSs.

￿No connection of LSS performance to underlying storage.

￿Number of LSSs can be defined based upon device number requirements:

–With larger devices significantly fewer LSSs might be used.

–Volumes for a particular application can be kept in a single LSS.

–Smaller LSSs can be defined if required (for systems/applications requiring less storage).

–Test systems can have their own LSSs with fewer volumes than production systems.

￿Increased number of logical volumes:

–Up to 65280 (CKD)

–Up to 65280 (FB)

–65280 total for CKD + FB

100DS8000 Series: Concepts and Architecture