HP P9000 Provisioning for Mainframe Systems User Guide (AV400-96369, October 2011)

1 Introduction to provisioning
Provisioning a storage system requires balancing the costs of the solution with the benefits that the
solution provides. The following is an overview of provisioning strategies that you can implement
on the P9500 that will support your business.
About provisioning
Provisioning is a method of managing storage system devices or volumes. Some provisioning
methods are host-based, while others use existing storage system capabilities such as concatenated
array groups. Some provisioning methods are hardware-based, and others are software-based.
Each technique has its particular use and benefit, for example, capacity, reliability, performance,
or cost considerations, in a given storage environment. Used in the wrong scenario, each also can
be expensive, awkward, and time consuming to configure and maintain, and can be potentially
error prone. Your support representatives are available to help you configure the highest quality
solution for your storage environment.
Provisioning strategies falls into two fundamental categories:
• (page 8) (or traditional provisioning).
• (page 10) (or virtual provisioning)
Basic provisioning
Several basic provisioning techniques traditionally are used to manage storage volumes. These
strategies are useful in specific scenarios based on user needs, such as whether you use open or
mainframe storage systems, or you prefer manual or automated control of your storage resources.
Basic provisioning relies on carving up physical storage into smaller units. Custom sizing is possible,
and requires using Virtual LVI software.
Basic provisioning includes:
• Page 8
• Page 9
Fixed-sized provisioning
Fixed-sized provisioning is the logical choice for mainframe systems that need to be compatible
with IBM systems. It is easy to define the storage system, and then get on with your business. Later,
you can attach additional storage as the initial volumes fill up.
Fixed-sized provisioning is a good choice for mainframe systems.
Disadvantages
Some disadvantages to using fixed-sized provisioning are:
• If you use only part of the entire capacity specified by an emulation type, the rest of the
capacity is wasted.
• You cannot use the capacity efficiently. The size of the drive is fixed. When you create a
fixed-sized volume, a small amount of capacity remains permanently inaccessible.
• In a fixed-sized environment, manual intervention can become a costly and tedious exercise
as workloads grow over time or as new ones are added to the mix. The problem becomes
more complex as new servers are added to the scenario.
8 Introduction to provisioning