Storage systems and external paths, Volumes and mapping paths – HP XP P9500 Storage User Manual
Page 21
Storage systems and external paths
Before using External Storage, connect the Fibre Channel port of the local storage system to the
external storage system port with the fiber cable. The route between ports, which is connected with
the cable, is called the "external path".
The Fibre Channel port of the local storage system is set to connect to the host by default. The Fibre
Channel port can be connected to an external storage system if you change the attribute of the
Fibre Channel port so that it is an external port, which can be connected to an external storage
system. The external storage system port can be a target port, which can be connected to a host.
Two or more external storage systems, including the storage systems other than the HP products,
exist together and can be connected to one external port. You can add an external storage system
even when the external port is being used.
To manipulate External Storage, you need to install External Storage by using the license key. Use
your Remote Web Console computer to access the local storage system via SVP (web server) and
perform the External Storage operations.
NOTE:
Before detaching the channel adapter where external paths exist, you must delete all
external paths. If you do not, the operation will fail.
Volumes and mapping paths
Volumes in the external storage system (see C in
) are called "external volumes".
Mapping is necessary to manipulate an external volume from the local storage system. The system
administrator maps an external volume as an internal virtual volume (see B in
) in the local storage system. After the mapping, you can manipulate the
external volume from the local storage system in the same way as manipulating an internal virtual
volume.
NOTE:
When external volumes in external storage systems are mapped as internal virtual volumes
in your P9500 storage systems, the external volumes can be accessed and copied by hosts
connecting to your P9500 storage system, but not by hosts connecting to the external storage
systems.
This document sometimes uses the term "an external volume" or "a mapped external volume" to
mention an internal virtual volume where an external volume is mapped (see B in
), because this internal virtual volume is a virtual representation of an external volume.
When you perform mapping, a path is automatically created between an internal virtual volume
and an external volume. This path is called "a mapping path", which connects one volume with
another volume. An external path is a part of a mapping path.
To use the external volumes, which you mapped as an internal virtual volume (see B in
), from the host or other program products, the system administrator needs to
create LDEVs in the external volume (see A in
“External Storage components” (page 19)
). To create
LDEVs, use External Storage at the time of mapping, or use the Virtual LVI/Virtual LUN function to
an internal virtual volume where an external volume is mapped after mapping. The LDEVs created
by these methods are called “LDEVs in the external volume” in this document. These LDEVs are
usually called “external volumes” in other documents.
An external volume corresponds to a Virtual LVI/Virtual LUN VDEV (virtual device). An LDEV in the
external volume corresponds to a Virtual LVI/Virtual LUN LDEV. Therefore, you can use the Virtual
LVI/Virtual LUN function to create custom-sized volumes in an external volume after mapping, in
the same way as creating custom-sized volumes in the normal internal volumes. For details on
VDEVs and LDEVs, see the HP P9000 Provisioning for Open Systems User Guide and the HP P9000
Provisioning for Mainframe Systems User Guide.
Storage systems and external paths
21