Configuration Guidance; Best Practices; Configuration Summary Created When The First Management Group Is Configured - HP StorageWorks P4000 User Manual

Figure 53 Configuration Summary created when the first management group is configured
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Configuration guidance

As the Configuration Summary reports the numbers of the storage items, it provides warnings about
the safe limits for each category, based on performance and scalability. These warnings first alert
you that the category is nearing the limits by turning the category orange. When an individual category
turns orange, the Configuration Summary category in the navigation window turns orange as well.
When an individual category reaches the maximum recommended configuration it turns red. When
the number in that category is reduced, the color changes immediately to reflect the new state. For
example, if you have a large number of volumes that have numerous schedules that are creating and
deleting snapshots, the snapshots may increase to a number that changes the summary bar from green
to orange. As soon as enough snapshots from the schedules are deleted, reducing the overall total,
the summary bar returns to green.

Best practices

The optimal and recommended number of storage items in a management group depend largely on
the network environment, the configuration of the SAN, the applications accessing the volumes, and
what you are using snapshots for. However, we can provide some broad guidelines that help you
manage your SAN to obtain the best and safest performance and scalability for your circumstances.
These guidelines are in line with our tested limits for common SAN configurations and uses. Exceeding
these guidelines does not necessarily cause any problems. However, your performance may not be
optimal, or in some failover and recovery situations may cause issues with volume availability.
Volumes and snapshots
The optimum number of combined volumes and snapshots ranges up to 1,000. If the management
group contains 1,001 to 1,500 volumes and snapshots, the Configuration Summary appears orange
for that line of the management group. Exceeding 1,500 volumes and snapshots triggers a warning
by turning that line red. As soon as the total number reduces below the boundary, the summary bar
returns to the previous indicator, either orange or green.
iSCSI sessions
The optimum number of iSCSI sessions connected to volumes in a management group ranges up to
4,000. If the management group contains 4,001 to 5,000 iSCSI sessions, the Configuration Summary
appears orange for that line of the management group. Exceeding 5,001 iSCSI sessions triggers a
152 Working with management groups