5639-VC4 IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software V4.2
IBM United States Sales Manual
Revised: October 20, 2009.
| Program Number | VRM |
Announced |
Available |
Marketing Withdrawn |
Service Discontinued |
| 5639-VC4 | 4.03.0 | 2008/05/13 | 2008/07/11 |
2010/01/22 | - |
| 5639-VC4 | 4.02.1 | 2007/10/23 | 2007/11/16 |
2010/01/22 | - |
| 5639-VC4 | 4.02.0 | 2007/05/22 | 2007/06/08 |
2010/01/22 | 2010/09/30 |
| 5639-VC4 | 4.01.0 | 2006/05/23 | 2006/06/23 |
2010/01/22 | 2009/09/30 |
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IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software in Version 4.3.0
further extends its dynamic and high availability storage management
capabilities with the introduction of space-efficient VDisks and VDisk
mirroring functions.
Space efficient VDisks add the capability to define virtual disk
capacity that is separate from the physical disk capacity, and use only
the physical disk capacity required to store the data.
VDisk mirroring offers a significant improvement for high availability
SAN Volume Controller (SVC) configurations by providing the capability to
have a VDisk supported by two sets of physical managed disks (MDisks) in
different managed disk groups on different storage controllers.
SVC copy services are further enhanced by allowing FlashCopy to be
used with the new space-efficient VDisks to yield a space-efficient
FlashCopy capability, which combines with the support for up to 256
FlashCopy targets to enable more frequent FlashCopy while improving
physical disk usage.
This release of SAN Volume Controller software also provides enhanced
network security by offering Internet Protocol V6 (IPv6) support, further
demonstrating IBM's focus on industry standards.
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IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller V4.3 is designed to help
address the complexities and costs of managing SAN-based storage. It is
designed so that it can be added to existing SANs and deliver its
benefits to an increasingly broad customer environment. Global mirroring
can increase customer value by expanding the disaster recovery
capabilities of the SAN Volume Controller. The copy services
enhancements included in Version 4.2 further increase customer value by
providing more
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- SAN Volume Controller space efficient VDisks
- VDisk mirroring
- Space Efficient FlashCopy
- Extended scalability
- Added interoperability
- New Console package
- Enhancements to CLI
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SAN Volume Controller space efficient VDisks
IBM's release V4.3 for SAN Volume Controller software offers space
efficient VDisks. (This is also known as thin provisioning or
over allocation.) You can create VDisks that have virtual capacities,
visible to the host system larger than the physical capacity available,
with the ability to change both capacities dynamically. Monitoring and
controlling the virtual capacity apart from the physical capacity gives
greater flexibility to host applications by providing the administrator
the capability to allocate virtual space for application future needs,
while also allocating physical capacity based only on today's
requirement.
VDisk mirroring
VDisk mirroring provides a significant enhancement for highly
available SVC storage configurations. It allows users to create a VDisk
supported by two different managed disk groups (MDGs) on different
storage controllers. This helps keep the VDisk available to applications
in the event that either one of the MDGs goes offline.
Space-Efficient FlashCopy
Space-efficient FlashCopy is now available by using space-efficient
VDisks in the FlashCopy relationship. There is great flexibility with
Space-Efficient FlashCopy: Space-efficient VDisks can be intermixed with
fully allocated vdisks as sources and targets, and Cascaded FlashCopy and
Multiple Target FlashCopy also support space efficient VDisks.
The benefit of Space-efficient VDisks can be further exploited as IBM
now notably expands the SVC FlashCopy usability with the increase of the
number of targets to 256. These FlashCopy targets can be standard or
space-efficient vdisks, and the FlashCopy operations can be set up as
incremental or full copy operations.
Extended scalability
Scalability is improved with an increase to 2,048 VDisks per I/O
group. This doubles the number of VDisks previously allowed and opens up
greater flexibility to configure more LUNs across more hosts in the SAN.
Added interoperability
IBM SAN Volume Controller now supports many more customer
heterogeneous data center environments with the addition of
interoperability support for:
- Microsoft Windows 2008, including Enterprise x64 Edition, SAN Boot,
32-bit support, and clustering
- Microsoft Windows 2008, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems,
including SAN Boot
- Hewlett Packard HP-UX 11i V3 for PARISC (and Itanium) systems,
clustering with HP ServiceGuard
- Apple Mac OS X Server 10.5.x with ATTO Celerity 4Gb HBA
- Pillar Axiom models 300 and 500
New Console package
The SAN Volume Controller Console will be replaced in this release by
the IBM 2805-MC2 System Storage Productivity Center, on which the SAN
Volume Controller Console software will reside.
Existing SAN Volume Controller installations with established consoles
that have sufficient capacity may upgrade these via download from the SVC
Support Web site to support current clusters that are migrated to V4.3.
Enhancements to CLI
The command-line interface (CLI) introduces some new functions for
retrieving license information for the SAN Volume Controller as follows:
- The chlicense command -flash parameter has been updated to allow
users to specify the licensed FlashCopy capacity for the cluster, in
terabytes.
- The chlicense command -remote parameter has been updated to allow
users to specify the licensed RemoteCopy capacity for the cluster, in
terabytes.
- The chlicense command -virtualization parameter replaces the -size
parameter and allows users to specify the licensed Managed Disk capacity
for the cluster, in terabytes.
- The lslicense command has been updated to list the capacities used
for the FlashCopy, RemoteCopy, and Virtual Disk features, in terabytes.
When any of the managed capacity utilizations reach 90% capacity,
attempts to create or extend virtual disks, relationships, or mappings
return a warning that the feature use is approaching 100% capacity.
While users who exceed the currently licensed capacities are not
prevented from performing any functions, a warning message is logged
asking users to upgrade the license in accordance with actual use and the
user agreement.
Accessibility by people with disabilities
A U.S. Section 508 Voluntary Product Accessibility Template (VPAT)
containing details on accessibility compliance can be requested at:
http://www.ibm.com/able/product_accessibility/index.html
Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act
IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software V4 is capable, as of
June 23, 2006, when used in accordance with IBM's associated
documentation, of satisfying the applicable requirements of Section 508
of the Rehabilitation Act provided that any assistive technology used
with the product properly interoperates with it.
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This program requires at least one pair of IBM System Storage SAN
Volume Controller 2145-8G4, 2145-8F4, IBM TotalStorage 2145-8F2, or
2145-4F2 storage engines with dual uninterruptible power supplies, and a
System Storage Productivity Center or SAN Volume Controller Console, for
installation.
Current support summaries, including specific software, hardware, and
firmware levels supported, are maintained at the SVC Support Web site:
http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/2145
System Storage Productivity Center replaces the earlier form of master
console for SAN Volume Controller.
All new SAN Volume Controller installations require the System Storage
Productivity Center.
For existing SAN Volume Controller configurations being upgraded to
SVC V4.3, the System Storage Productivity Center should be installed, if
an existing SAN Volume Controller Console or System Storage Productivity
Center is not able to support the SVC V4.3 configuration.
If the currently installed SAN Volume Controller Console is able to
support the SVC 4.3 upgrade, console upgrade software to support SVC V4.3
is available for download on the SVC Support Web site.
Either the System Storage Productivity Center or a SAN Volume
Controller Console server with Windows 2003 SP2 and the current upgrade
for SAN Volume Controller Software V4.3 is required to support IPv6.
No other new software support requirements are introduced by SAN
Volume Controller Software V4.3.
Refer to the Description section for new storage system and
host environment support added by this announcement.
For all current storage systems and host environments supported, refer
to the support Web site:
http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/2145
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Planning considerations for the required IBM System Storage SAN Volume
Controller Storage Engines apply. Refer to the "IBM System Storage SAN
Volume Controller: Planning Guide", (GA32-0551).
Also, attaching IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server, IBM
TotalStorage or System Storage DS6000, or IBM TotalStorage or System
Storage DS8000 series storage systems in conjunction with the SVC
Solution requires consideration of individual establishment needs. This
configuration can create a Logical Unit that is larger than a single RAID
rank and also allows pooling of unused space into Logical Units within
the SAN made visible through SAN Volume Controller Software. These are
very positive potential advantages for storage efficiency and
consolidated management; however, this configuration would also require
that advanced copy services be performed through the SAN Volume
Controller Software. In some cases, this may not be advantageous over
performing these services at the ESS, DS6000, or DS8000 disk array level.
Relative merits and trade-offs of attaching ESS, DS6000, or DS8000 under
the SAN Volume Controller should be discussed with your IBM Consulting
Services representative or Storage Services representative.
Clusters with SAN Volume Controller Storage Software V3 can be
converted to IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software V4 via a
concurrent codeload operation.
Customers running SAN Volume Controller V1 and V2 clusters must first
acquire and install the SAN Volume Controller V3 code to enable
installation of V4.
For further information regarding currently supported environments and
operating guidelines, visit the SAN Volume Controller Support Web site
at:
http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/2145
Customer Responsibilities
Not available.
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The following hardcopy publications ship with new IBM System Storage
SAN Volume Controller product orders.
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Hardware Installation Guide
(GC27-2132)
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Service Guide (GC26-7901)
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software Installation and
Configuration Guide (SC23-6628)
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Read First file (GC26-7951)
The following publications can be ordered separately in hardcopy by
using media feature 6146:
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Hardware Installation Guide
(GC27-2132)
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Service Guide (GC26-7901)
- IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller Software Installation and
Configuration Guide (SC23-6628)
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The IBM SAN Volume Controller Software V4 user interface uses the
security features of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server Edition, or Microsoft
Windows 2003, in conjunction with Web Secure Shell (SSH) and Secure
Socket Layer (SSL) protocols and WebSphere.
Use of supplementary antivirus software is recommended, but not
required.
Trademarks
(R), (TM), * Trademark or registered trademark of
International Business Machines Corporation.
** Company, product, or service name may be a trademark
or service mark of others.
Windows is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation.
© IBM Corporation 2009.
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