HP 3PAR OS 3.1.3 CLI Administrator's Manual

3PAR OS automatically reclaims unused snapshot space from TPVVs and fully provisioned virtual
volumes and returns the space to the LDs.
For greater administrative flexibility, you can provision the virtual volume’s user space and snapshot
space from the same or different CPGs. If the virtual volume’s user space and snapshot space are
on different CPGs, the user space remains available to the host if the CPG containing the snapshot
space becomes full. To save time by not repeating tasks, you can create many identical virtual
volumes at one time. For planning information about virtual volumes and copies of volumes, see
the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage Concepts Guide.
Fully Provisioned Virtual Volumes
A fully provisioned virtual volume is a volume that uses LDs that belong to a CPG. Fully provisioned
virtual volumes are the default system volume and do not require any additional licenses. Unlike
TPVVs, fully provisioned virtual volumes have a set amount of user space allocated in the system
for user data. They require the system to reserve the entire amount of space required by the fully
provisioned virtual volume, whether or not the space is actually used. The fully provisioned virtual
volume size is fixed, and the size limit is 16 TB. You can set snapshot space allocation limits and
usage warnings to help manage the growth of snapshot space. For detailed information about
fully provisioned virtual volumes, see the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage Concepts Guide.
NOTE: Some fully provisioned virtual volumes may be designated as a CPVV in the HP 3PAR
CLI.
Thinly Provisioned Virtual Volumes
With an HP 3PAR Thin Provisioning Software license, you can also create TPVVs. A TPVV uses LDs
that belong to a CPG. TPVVs associated with the same CPG draw user space from that pool as
needed, allocating space on demand in small increments, 256 MB or 1 GB per controller node
depending on the storage system model. As the volumes that draw space from the CPG require
additional storage, the system automatically creates additional LDs and adds them to the pool until
the CPG reaches the user-defined growth limit that restricts the CPG’s maximum size. The TPVV
volume size limit is 16 TB. For detailed information about TPVV growth warnings and growth limits,
see the HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage Concepts Guide.
Virtual Volume CLI Commands
Use the following CLI commands to manage FPVVs and TPVVs :
• showvv—display virtual volumes in the system.
• createvv—create virtual volumes.
• setvv—modify existing volumes.
• growvv—increase the size of existing virtual volumes.
• freespace—free snapshot space from a virtual volume.
• removevv —remove virtual volumes from the system.
• showvvset—show information about a virtual volume set.
• createvvset—create a virtual volume set, or add virtual volumes to an existing set.
• setvvset—modify a virtual volume set.
• removevvset—remove a virtual volume set, or virtual volumes from an existing set.
• checkvv—validate and repair virtual volumes.
Virtual Volume CLI Commands 89