HP StorageWorks SAN Virtualization Services Platform Best Practices Guide (5697-0935, May 2011)

3. Partition the 2-TB virtual disk into 8 equal 250 GB host partitions .
4. Present the first partition to your file system virtual disk group.
5. Let the application use it for the first 6 months.
6. The server administrator can add more partitions or utilize scripting to perform the LVM
expansion as required.
Benefits
• This file system can never allocate more than 250 GB from the ThP pool unless permitted.
• The storage pool consumption can be predicted over time resulting in better ThP management.
• The storage administrator is not so involved in the virtual disk's growth but is still notified in
time to manage the physical storage pool growth better.
• Scripting can be used to automate the virtual disk expansion based on preset policies.
• This results in a less fragmented file system.
Please keep in mind that the example above outlines a hypothetical scenario and you are not
limited to the values proposed in this implementation.
Host file system considerations
• The following table shows utilization efficiency by file system type for each OS. (File systems
are created with the parameter set to the default.) Operating systems and file systems should
be carefully selected when using thin provisioning.
• For other operating or file systems than those listed in the table, notify users in advance that
the space utilization efficiency is not guaranteed.
NOTE: The inappropriate applications of ThP are industry-wide and are not specific to HP
products.
Is ThP recommended?File system or applicationOperating system
YesJFS (VxFS)HP-UX
No
1
HFS
YesXFSLinux
YesVxFS
Yes
2
Ext2
Ext3
Yes
3
VMFSVMware
No
1
UFSSolaris
YesVxFS
Yes
4
ZFS
YesNTFSWindows Server
NoFAT32
No
1
JFSAIX
YesJFS2
YesVxFS
YesVMSOpenVMS
No
5
OracleAll
Host file system considerations 75