Administrator Guide

• Change the storage profile to a more space-efficient profile. Available profiles might include Low Priority (Tier 3) and Maximize

Efficiency.

• Configure a threshold definition to create an alert when space starts to get low.

• Migrate volumes from a pagepool with a full tier to a different pagepool with more free space.

• Delete unnecessary volumes.

• If Data Reduction is licensed, enable Compression or Deduplication with Compression on some volumes.

Storage Profiles

Storage profiles control how Storage Center manages volume data. For a given volume, the selected storage profile dictates which disk

tier accepts initial writes, as well as how data progression moves data between tiers to balance performance and cost. Predefined storage

profiles are the most effective way to manage data in Storage Center. The storage profiles available are determined by the storage type.

Storage Profiles for Standard Storage Types

The table below summarizes the storage profiles available for standard storage types. Each profile is described in more detail following the

table.

Name Initial Write Tier Tier (T) and RAID Levels Progression

Recommended (All Tiers) 1 Writes: T1 RAID 10 Snapshots:

RAID 5/RAID 6

Yes - to all Tiers

High Priority (Tier 1) 1 Writes: T1 RAID 10 Snapshots: T1

RAID 5/RAID 6

Medium Priority (Tier 2) 2 Writes: T2 RAID 10 Snapshots:

T2 RAID 5/RAID 6

Low Priority (Tier 3) 3 Writes: T3 RAID 10 Snapshots:

T3 RAID 5/RAID 6

NOTE: The Recommended, High Priority, and Medium Priority profiles are not available for the Flash Optimized storage

type.

Recommended (All Tiers)

The Recommended storage profile is available only when data progression is licensed. Cost and performance are optimized when all

volumes use the Recommended storage profile. The Recommended profile allows automatic data progression between and across all

storage tiers based on data type and usage.

When a volume uses the Recommended profile, all new data is written to Tier 1 RAID level 10 storage. Data progression moves less active

data to Tier 1 RAID 5/ RAID 6 or a slower tier based on how frequently the data is accessed. In this way, the most active blocks of data

remain on high-performance drives, while less active blocks automatically move to lower-cost, high-capacity SAS drives.

Because SSDs are automatically assigned to Storage Tier 1, profiles that include Storage Tier 1 allow volumes to use SSD storage. If you

have volumes that contain data that is not accessed frequently, and do not require the performance of Tier 1 SSDs, use a Medium or Low

Priority profile or create and apply a new profile that does not include Storage Tier 1.

High Priority (Tier 1)

The High Priority storage profile provides the highest performance by storing data on Tier 1. It is efficient in terms of using RAID 5 or 6,

but it uses more expensive media to store the data. A volume created using the High Priority profile stores written data on Tier 1 RAID 10.

Snapshot data is stored on Tier 1 RAID 5/RAID 6. Storage Center does not migrate data to lower storage tiers unless Tier 1 storage

becomes full.

If data progression is not licensed, the default storage profile is High Priority. Without data progression, you must configure volumes to use

a specific tier of storage, because data will not migrate between tiers.

Medium Priority (Tier 2)

The Medium Priority storage profile provides a balance between performance and cost efficiency. A volume created using the Medium

Priority profile stores written data on Tier 2 RAID 10. Snapshot data is stored on Tier 2 RAID 5/RAID 6. Storage Center does not migrate

data to other storage tiers unless Tier 2 storage becomes full.

Storage Center Overview