The HPE 3PAR StoreServ storage system provides the University with its Type 1 "performance" storage. This system is a revolutionary form of SAN storage with a number of innovative features found only on high-end enterprise arrays. Thin provisioning Most servers clients use a low proportion of the total storage they are allocated. Thin provisioning allows the array to allocate storage only when it is used. This means that the storage can be "over-allocated", making the array seem much bigger than it is. A space saving in excess of 50% is quite common. The rest of the storage does not need to be installed until it is going to be used; on some systems the space is never completely used, and the extra storage never needs to be purchased at all. Because of this, thin provisioning gives organizations the ability to support their storage needs with much fewer disk drives. This in turn can cut energy consumption and the production of greenhouse gasses while saving on capacity and energy costs.

HPE 3PAR StoreServ 9000 Storage array

Migration “fat to thin”

Using thin provisioning, existing volumes can be migrated onto the storage array, automatically reclaiming the empty space that has not yet been used. Also, when existing data is erased correctly, space can be reclaimed and will be reused in preference to requesting additional storage space.

Storage allocated from all disks evenly

This gives very fast response, as data is less frequently requested from the same disk at the same time. No disk is overworked in comparison to another, so no maintenance “hot spots”.

Excellent random I/O performance

Due to the way storage comes from all across the array, there is much less waiting for a piece of data to be available and so the access times for random disk I/O are much better than for traditional storage arrays. This is particularly good for virtualised server infrastructures such as VMWare.

 

Testing phase 

Phase 1 - Internal production roll-out

Phase 2 - External production

Further information

 Warwick Domain Admin Guide
Quick reference guide for 3PAR Virtual Domain Administrators

 3PAR Concepts Guide
Some information on the functions and capabilities of the 3PAR InServ storage

  Management Console Guide
Detailed information on using the 3PAR Management GUI

  CLI Administrator Guide
Detailed information on using the 3PAR Management Command Line Interface

 HP Storage SPOCK
Detailed compatible configuration information for Hosts attaching to 3PAR storage

  ESX Implementation Guide
Detailed configuration guide for VMware ESX Hosts attaching to 3PAR storage

  Solaris Implementation Guide
Detailed configuration guide for Oracle Solaris Hosts attaching to 3PAR storage

  Redhat Implementation Guide
Detailed configuration guide for Redhat Enterprise Linux Hosts attaching to 3PAR storage

  Win 2008/2012 Implementation Guide
Detailed configuration guide for Windows 2008/2012 Hosts attaching to 3PAR storage