3PAR InForm® OS 2.3.1 Concepts Guide (320-200112 Rev B, February 2010)

10.2
Virtual Volume Types
3PAR InForm OS Concepts Guide InForm OS Version 2.3.1
visible to hosts. You can create physical copies or virtual copy snapshots of virtual volumes for
use if the original base volume becomes unavailable. Before creating virtual volumes, you must
first create CPGs to allocate space to the virtual volumes.
Volumes can be grouped into autonomic groups that can be managed as one volume. If you
have a group of volumes that require the same administrative procedures, it is easier to group
those volumes into an autonomic group and mange them together.
Creating virtual volumes can be performed with both the 3PAR InForm Command Line
Interface (CLI) and the 3PAR InForm Management Console. Refer to the 3PAR InForm OS CLI
Administrator’s Manual and the 3PAR InForm Management Console Online Help for
instructions on how to perform these tasks.
For information about CPGs, see Chapter 9, Common Provisioning Groups.
10.2 Virtual Volume Types
There are three types of virtual volumes:
■ Fully-provisioned virtual volumes
■ Thinly-Provisioned Virtual Volumes (TPVVs)
■ Administrative Volumes
Administrative volumes are created by the system and are for system usage only.
Fully-provisioned virtual volumes and TPVVs have three separate data components:
■ User space is the area of the volume that corresponds to the logical disk regions in the CPG
available to the host. The user space contains the user data and is exported as a LUN to the
host.
■ Snapshot space, also known as copy space, is the area of the volume that corresponds to
logical disk regions in the CPG containing copies of user data that changed since the
previous snapshot of the volume was created. The snapshot space contains the copy data.
NOTE: Creating Thinly-Provisioned Virtual Volumes (TPVVs) requires the 3PAR
Thin Provisioning license. Creating virtual copies requires the 3PAR Virtual Copy
license. For more information, see 3PAR InForm Software on page 2.7.