HP XP P9500 Storage - Manual (Page 22)

Smart Tiers
After using Thin Provisioning software to virtualize LUs and pool storage into a thin provisioning
strategy, the array now has all the elements in place to offer automatic self-optimizing storage tiers
provided by (Smart). Using , you can configure a storage system with multiple storage tiers using
different kinds of data drives, including SSD, SAS, SATA, and external volumes. This helps improve
the speed and cost of performance. Smart Tiers extends and improves the functionality and value
of Thin Provisioning. Both use pools of physical storage against which virtual disk capacity, or
V-VOLs, is defined. Each thin provisioning pool can be configured to operate either as a THP pool
or a pool.
Automated tiering of physical storage is the logical next step for thin provisioned enterprise arrays.
Automated tiering is the ability of the array to dynamically monitor and relocate data on the
optimum tier of storage. It focuses on data segments rather than whole LUs. The functionality is
entirely within the array without any mandated host level involvement. adds another layer to the
thin provisioned environment.
Using Smart Tiers you can:
•
Configure physical storage into tiers consisting of multiple kinds of data drives, including SSD,
SAS, and SATA. Although host volumes are conventionally configured from a common pool,
the pool is efficiently configured using multiple kinds of data drives. This configuration delivers
high performance for data that needs it, while reducing storage costs by storing infrequently
accessed data on lower cost physical storage.
•
Automatically migrate small portions of host volumes to the most suitable data drive according
to access frequency. Frequently accessed data is migrated to higher speed hard disk drives
(for example SSD), and infrequently accessed data is migrated to lower cost and lower speed
hard disk drives (for example, SATA) to use the storage efficiently.
22 Introduction to provisioning