HP 3PAR InForm OS 3.1.1 Concepts Guide

2 Overview
3PAR Storage Concepts and Terminology
HP 3PAR Storage Systems include both the hardware components that physically store your data,
and the software applications that manage your data. For more information about hardware
platforms, see “HP 3PAR Storage System Hardware” (page 58). For more information about system
software applications and features, see “HP 3PAR InForm OS Software” (page 15).
The HP 3PAR Storage System is comprised of the following logical data layers:
• “Physical Disks” (page 13)
• “Chunklets” (page 13)
• “Logical Disks” (page 13)
• “Common Provisioning Groups” (page 14)
• “Virtual Volumes” (page 14)
The relationship between HP 3PAR Storage System data layers is illustrated in Figure 1 (page 13).
Each layer is created from elements of the layer above. Chunklets are drawn from physical disks,
logical disks are created from groups of chunklets, Common Provisioning Groups (CPGs) are
groups of logical disks, and virtual volumes use storage space provided by CPGs. The virtual
volumes are exported to hosts and are the only data layer visible to hosts.
12 Overview