Book description
This IBM® Redbooks® publication captures several of the preferred practices and describes the performance gains that can be achieved by implementing the IBM FlashSystem products. These practices are based on field experience.
This book highlights configuration guidelines and preferred practices for the storage area network (SAN) topology, clustered system, back-end storage, storage pools and managed disks, volumes, remote copy services, and hosts.
It explains how you can optimize disk performance with the IBM System Storage® Easy Tier® function. It also provides preferred practices for monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting.
This book is intended for experienced storage, SAN, IBM FlashSystem, SAN Volume Controller (SVC), and IBM Storwize® administrators and technicians. Understanding this book requires advanced knowledge of these environments.
Table of contents
- Front cover
- Figures
- Tables
- Examples
- Notices
- Preface
- Chapter 1. IBM FlashSystem introduction
- Chapter 2. Storage area network
-
Chapter 3. Storage backend
- 3.1 Internal storage types
- 3.2 Arrays
- 3.3 General external storage considerations
-
3.4 Controller-specific considerations
- 3.4.1 Considerations for DS8000 series
- 3.4.2 Considerations for IBM XIV Storage System
- 3.4.3 Considerations for IBM FlashSystem A9000/A9000R
- 3.4.4 Considerations for FlashSystem 5000, 5100, 7200, 9100, and 9200
- 3.4.5 Considerations for IBM FlashSystem 900
- 3.4.6 Path considerations for third-party storage with EMC VMAX and Hitachi Data Systems
- 3.5 Quorum disks
-
Chapter 4. Storage pools
- 4.1 Introduction to pools
- 4.2 Storage pool planning considerations
-
4.3 Data reduction pools best practices
- 4.3.1 Data reduction pools with IBM FlashSystem NVMe attached drives
- 4.3.2 DRP and external storage considerations
- 4.3.3 Data reduction pools and VMware vVols
- 4.3.4 Data reduction pool configuration limits
- 4.3.5 DRP provisioning considerations
- 4.3.6 Standard and DRP pools coexistence
- 4.3.7 Data migration with DRP
- 4.4 Operations with storage pools
- 4.5 Considerations when using encryption
-
4.6 Easy Tier, tiered and balanced storage pools
- 4.6.1 Easy Tier concepts
- 4.6.2 Easy Tier definitions
- 4.6.3 Easy Tier operating modes
- 4.6.4 MDisk tier types
- 4.6.5 Changing the tier type of an MDisk
- 4.6.6 Easy Tier overload protection
- 4.6.7 Removing an MDisk from an Easy Tier pool
- 4.6.8 Easy Tier implementation considerations
- 4.6.9 Easy Tier settings
- 4.6.10 Monitoring Easy Tier using the GUI
-
Chapter 5. Volumes
- 5.1 Overview of volumes
- 5.2 Guidance for creating volumes
- 5.3 Thin-provisioned volumes
- 5.4 Mirrored volumes
- 5.5 HyperSwap volumes
- 5.6 VMware virtual volumes
- 5.7 Cloud volumes
- 5.8 Volume migration
- 5.9 Preferred paths to a volume
- 5.10 Moving a volume between I/O groups and nodes
- 5.11 Volume throttling
- 5.12 Volume cache mode
- 5.13 Additional considerations
- Chapter 6. Copy services
- Chapter 7. Business continuity
-
Chapter 8. Hosts
-
8.1 General configuration guidelines
- 8.1.1 Number of paths
- 8.1.2 Host ports
- 8.1.3 Port masking
- 8.1.4 N-port ID virtualization (NPIV)
- 8.1.5 Host to I/O group mapping
- 8.1.6 Volume size as opposed to quantity
- 8.1.7 Host volume mapping
- 8.1.8 Server adapter layout
- 8.1.9 Host status improvements
- 8.1.10 Considerations for NVMe over Fibre Channel host attachments
- 8.1.11 Considerations for iSER host attachments
- 8.2 Host pathing
- 8.3 I/O queues
- 8.4 Host clusters
- 8.5 AIX hosts
- 8.6 Virtual I/O server hosts
- 8.7 Windows hosts
- 8.8 Linux hosts
- 8.9 Oracle Solaris hosts
- 8.10 VMware ESXi server hosts
-
8.1 General configuration guidelines
-
Chapter 9. Monitoring
- 9.1 Generic monitoring
- 9.2 Performance monitoring
- 9.3 Capacity metrics for block storage systems
- 9.4 Creating alerts for IBM Spectrum Control and IBM Storage Insights
- 9.5 Error condition example with IBM Spectrum Control: FC port
- 9.6 Important metrics
- 9.7 Performance support package
- 9.8 Metro and Global Mirror monitoring with IBM Copy Services Manager and scripts
- 9.9 Monitoring Tier1 SSD
-
Chapter 10. Maintenance
- 10.1 User interfaces
- 10.2 Users and groups
- 10.3 Volumes
- 10.4 Hosts
- 10.5 Software updates
- 10.6 Drive firmware updates
- 10.7 SAN modifications
- 10.8 Server HBA replacement
- 10.9 Hardware upgrades
-
10.10 I/O Throttling
- 10.10.1 General information on I/O throttling
- 10.10.2 I/O throttling on front-end I/O control
- 10.10.3 I/O Throttling on back-end I/O control
- 10.10.4 Overall benefits of using I/O throttling
- 10.10.5 Considerations for I/O throttling
- 10.10.6 Configuring I/O throttling using the CLI
- 10.10.7 Configuring I/O throttling using the GUI
- 10.10.8 Creating a volume throttle
- 10.10.9 Creating a host throttle
- 10.10.10 Creating a host cluster throttle
- 10.10.11 Creating a storage pool throttle
- 10.10.12 Creating an offload throttle
- 10.11 Automation
- 10.12 Documenting IBM FlashSystem and SAN environment
-
Chapter 11. Troubleshooting and diagnostics
- 11.1 Starting troubleshooting
- 11.2 Diagnostic data collection
-
11.3 Common problems and isolation techniques
- 11.3.1 Host problems
- 11.3.2 SAN problems
- 11.3.3 Storage subsystem problems
- 11.3.4 Native IP replication problems
- 11.3.5 Remote Direct Memory Access based clustering
- 11.3.6 Advanced Copy services problems
- 11.3.7 Health status during upgrade
- 11.3.8 Managing physical capacity of over provisioned storage controllers
- 11.3.9 Replacing a failed flash drive
- 11.3.10 Recovering from common events
- 11.4 Remote Support Assistance
- 11.5 Call Home Connect Cloud and Health Checker feature
- 11.6 IBM Storage Insights
-
Appendix A. IBM i considerations
- IBM i Storage management
- Single-level storage
- IBM i response time
- Planning for IBM i storage capacity
- Storage connection to IBM i
- Setting of attributes in VIOS
- Disk drives for IBM i
- Defining LUNs for IBM i
- Data layout
- Fibre Channel adapters in IBM i and VIOS
- Zoning SAN switches
- IBM i Multipath
- Boot from SAN
- IBM i mirroring
- Copy services considerations
- Db2 mirroring for IBM i
- Related publications
- Back cover
Product information
- Title: IBM FlashSystem Best Practices and Performance Guidelines
- Author(s):
- Release date: October 2021
- Publisher(s): IBM Redbooks
- ISBN: 9780738459707
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