Virtual disks and virtualization, Virtual disks – HP P6000 SmartStart Storage Software User Manual
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Thin provisioning is licensed per HP P6000 storage system. The license allows you to create an
unlimited number of thin provisioned virtual disk, of any maximum capacity, on the licensed storage
system.
Virtual disks and virtualization
HP P6000 storage systems use a form of virtualization called virtual disks, or Vdisks, to store data.
Although they are external to your application servers, virtual disks are used in the same way as
a server's built-in hard drives.
Newly installed HP P6000 storage systems are not pre-configured with virtual disks. Once you
initialize the storage system, you can use HP P6000 management software to create virtual disks
in the sizes and
that you need. The storage system automatically determines where
data is actually stored on the physical disks. You do not need to have knowledge of individual
physical disks in the storage system.
During the initialization of a storage system, its physical disks are logically organized into one or
more disk groups. When you create a virtual disk, you select the disk group in which the disk will
be a member. When an application server writes data to the virtual disk, the storage system writes
the data across all of the physical disks in the disk group.
In the illustration, all of the physical disks in the storage system are organized into one disk group,
and five virtual disks have been created for use with two application servers. When an application
server writes to the respective virtual disk, the data is actually written across all of the physical
disks in the disk group.
Example
Assume you need storage volumes for two application servers.
•
Server 1, an e-mail server, requires 80 and 60 GB disks at drive letters H and N.
•
Server 2, a file server, requires 130, 30, and 150 GB disks at drive letters G, H, and R.
Using HP P6000 SmartStart on Server 1, you would:
•
Create an 80 GB virtual disk and mount it as drive H.
•
Create a 60 GB virtual disk and mount it as drive N.
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HP P6000 SmartStart concepts