IBM System Storage DS8000 Easy Tier

This IBM® Redpaper™ publication describes the concepts and functions of IBM System Storage® Easy Tier® and explains its practical use with the IBM System Storage DS8700 and the IBM System Storage DS8800 systems.

The IBM System Storage DS8000® Easy Tier feature and the accompanying Storage Tier Advisor Tool (STAT), as described in this paper, are available for the DS8700 with Licensed Machine Code (LMC) level 6.6.2x.xxx or higher and the DS8800 with Licensed Machine Code (LMC) level 7.6.2x.xxx or higher.

IBM System Storage DS8000 Easy Tier is designed to automate data placement throughout the storage system disks pool. It enables the system, automatically and without disruption to applications, to relocate data (at the extent level) across up to three drive tiers. The process is fully automated. Easy Tier also automatically rebalances extents among ranks within the same tier, removing workload skew between ranks, even within homogeneous and single-tier extent pools.

Easy Tier supports a Manual Mode that enables the user to relocate full volumes. Manual Mode also offers the ability to merge extent pools and to restripe volumes within an extent pool. A rank depopulation function is also offered. Easy Tier now fully supports thin provisioned fixed-block volumes (ESE) in Manual Mode and Automatic Mode.

This paper is aimed at those professionals who want to understand the Easy Tier concept and its underlying design. It also provides guidance and practical illustrations for users who want to use the Easy Tier Manual Mode capabilities.

• DS8000 I/O Priority Manager, REDP-4760-01
• Choosing eXFlash Storage on IBM eX5 Servers, REDP-4807-00
• IBM PowerVM Getting Started Guide, REDP-4815-00

Publish Date
18 January 2012

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Author(s)

• Gero Schmidt
• Bertrand Dufrasne
• Jana Jamsek
• Peter Kimmel
• Hiroaki Matsuno
• Flavio Morais
• Lindsay Oxenham
• Antonio Rainero
• Denis Senin

IBM Form Number
REDP-4667-02

Number of pages
184