HP StorageWorks SAN Virtualization Services Platform administrator guide (5697-8056, March 2009)

Best practices
The key to a successful SVSP implementation is planning ahead in terms of how the existing storage
array is used to build the needed SVSP storage pools. For example, while it is possible to build one
large pool and carve it up into many small LUNs, such an implementation might negatively impact
system performance. To reduce the potential for performance issues, you need to build the pool and
back-end LUs to an appropriate size.
The following is a quick overview of the best deployment practices for SVSP.
If a front-end virtual disk consumes most of the bandwidth of an array port, build a back-end LU that
is 1 GB larger than the front-end virtual disk, and use it for a single member pool.
If several front-end virtual disks still do not consume the performance capabilities of a single array
port, it is possible to use multiple back-end LUs to build the storage pool that is used for creating the
new front-end virtual disks.
Additional best practices guidelines are:
• Manually distribute the preferred controller that is assigned when a back-end LU is created.
• Monitor both storage array and switch throughput performance to find potential bottlenecks.
• Use fabric zoning to limit the number of paths between the servers and the DPMs, and between
the DPMs and the storage arrays.
Supported configurations
All components for a single site must be within multi-mode fiber distances of each other, are typically
co-located within the same computer room, and attached to a dual no-single-point-of-failure (NSPOF)
fabric SAN (as defined in the HP StorageWorks SAN design reference guide). Starting with SVSP
version 2.1, a stretched domain is also supported (see Figure 25). When configuring a stretched
domain, only the interswitch links may use approved single-mode fiber. All other connections, such
as VSM-to-switch or DPM-to-switch, must use approved multi-mode fiber. See the HP StorageWorks
SAN design reference guide for Fibre Channel specifications.
SAN Virtualization Services Platform overview18