Sun Microsystems V490 manual About Volume Management Software, For More Information

■Multiplexed I/O (MPxIO) is a new architecture fully integrated within the Solaris OS (beginning with Solaris 8) that enables I/O devices to be accessed through multiple host controller interfaces from a single instance of the I/O device.

For More Information

For information about setting up redundant hardware interfaces for storage devices or networks, see “About Redundant Network Interfaces” on page 48.

For instructions on how to configure and administer Solaris IP Network Multipathing, consult the IP Network Multipathing Administration Guide provided with your specific Solaris release.

For more information about Sun StorEdge Traffic Manager, see the Sun Fire V490 Server Product Notes.

For information about MPxIO, see “Multiplexed I/O (MPxIO)” on page 66 and refer to your Solaris OS documentation.

About Volume Management Software

Sun Microsystems offers two different volume management applications for use on Sun Fire V490 systems:

■Sun StorEdge™ Traffic Manager

■Solstice DiskSuite™ software

Volume management software lets you create disk volumes. Volumes are logical disk devices comprising one or more physical disks or partitions from several different disks. Once you create a volume, the operating system uses and maintains the volume as if it were a single disk. By providing this logical volume management layer, the software overcomes the restrictions imposed by physical disk devices.

Sun’s volume management products also provide RAID data redundancy and performance features. RAID, which stands for redundant array of independent disks, is a technology that helps protect against disk and hardware failures. Through RAID technology, volume management software is able to provide high data availability, excellent I/O performance, and simplified administration.

Sun’s volume management applications offer the following features:

■Support for several types of RAID configurations, which provide varying degrees of availability, capacity, and performance

■Hot-spare facilities, which provide for automatic data recovery when disks fail

Chapter 5 System Administration Software 65