11 Provisioning Storage; Understanding How The Capacity Of The San Is Used - HP StorageWorks P4000 User Manual

11 Provisioning storage

The SAN/iQ software uses volumes, including SmartClone volumes, and snapshots to provision
storage to application servers and to back up data for recovery or other uses. Before you create
volumes or configure schedules to snapshot a volume, plan the configuration you want for the volumes
and snapshots.
Planning your storage configuration requires understanding how the capacity of the SAN is affected
by the RAID level of the storage systems and the features of the SAN/iQ software. You also want to
plan the level of data protection that is right for your configuration and storage requirements.
For example, if you are provisioning storage for MS Exchange, you will be planning the number and
size of volumes you need for the databases and the log files. The capacity of the cluster that contains
the volumes and snapshots is determined by the number of storage systems and the RAID level on
them. The level of data protection takes into account the needs for data availability and data
redundancy in your environment.

Understanding how the capacity of the SAN is used

The capacity of the SAN is a combination of factors.
• The first factor is the clustered capacity of the storage systems which is determined by the disk
capacity and the RAID level.
See "Planning the RAID
• The second factor is the effect of the data protection of the volumes and snapshots.
See "Planning data
• The third factor is the snapshot configuration, including schedules and retention policies.
See "Managing capacity using volume size and
• The fourth capacity factor is the impact of using Remote Copy as part of your backup and recovery
strategy. Copying data to a remote cluster using remote snapshots, and then deleting that data
from the application storage cluster, allows you to free up space on the application storage cluster
more rapidly.
See the chapter "Understanding and Planning Remote Copy" in the Remote Copy User Manual.
Provisioning storage
Provisioning storage with the SAN/iQ software entails first deciding on the size of the volume presented
to the operating system and to the applications. Next, decide on the configuration of snapshots,
including schedules and retention policies.
configuration" on page 56.
protection" on page 190.
snapshots" on page 197.
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