Primary Issues That Affect Planning; Ibm Capacity Magic; Ibm Disk Magic; Performance And Throughput - IBM N Series Hardware Manual

14.1 Primary issues that affect planning

You need to determine the following questions during the planning process:
Which model IBM System Storage N series to use
What amount of storage would be required on the IBM System Storage N series
Which optional features are wanted
What your future expansion requirements are
To begin the planning process, use the following IBM solution planning tools:

IBM Capacity Magic

IBM Disk Magic

14.1.1 IBM Capacity Magic
This tool is used to calculate physical and effective storage capacity. It supports the IBM
DS6000™, DS8000, IBM V7000, and N series models.
IBM staff
https://w3-03.sso.ibm.com/sales/support/ShowDoc.wss?docid=E272838K75735I92
IBM Business Partners
TBA
14.1.2 IBM Disk Magic
This tool is used to estimate disk subsystem performance. It supports the IBM XIV, DS8000,
DS6000, DS5000, DS4000®, SAN Volume Controller, V7000, V7000U, and SAN-attached N
Series.
IBM staff
https://w3-03.sso.ibm.com/sales/support/ShowDoc.wss?docid=Q947558L63209Z65
IBM Business Partners
TBA
Restriction: The Disk Magic and Capacity Magic tools are licensed for use by IBM staff
and IBM Business Partners only.

14.2 Performance and throughput

The performance required from the storage subsystem is driven by the number of client
systems that rely on the IBM System Storage N series, and the applications running on those
systems. Keep in mind that performance involves a balance of all of the following factors:
Performance of a particular IBM System Storage N series model
Number of disks used for a particular workload
Type of disks used
How close to capacity the disks being run are
Number of network interfaces in use
Protocols used for storage access
Workload mix (reads versus writes versus lookups)
– Protocol choice
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IBM System Storage N series Hardware Guide