HP StorageWorks XP Provisioning Manager Installation and Configuration Guide (December 2005)
1 Reviewing Components and Requirements for
Provisioning Manager
This chapter describes the features and components of Provisioning Manager, prerequisite and related
products for Provisioning Manager, examples of system configurations (including the minimum configuration),
and requirements for storage subsystems:
• Provisioning Manager Features (see section
1-1 )
• Provisioning Manager Components (see section
1-2 )
• System Requirements (see section
1-3 )
• Required Programs (see section
1-4 )
• Related Program Products (see section 1-5 )
1-1 Provisioning Manager Features
Every year, the storage subsystems that support corporate systems and storage service providers (SSPs)
increase enormously in size and capability. Additionally, the capacities and numbers of units required by users
continue to increase. Consequently, there is a stronger demand to reduce the costs associated with storage
management.
In answer to these requirements, Provisioning Manager has been designed to handle a variety of storage
subsystems while simplifying storage operation management and reducing associated costs. The features of
Provisioning Manager’s storage operation management are explained in the following sections.
1-1-1 Managing Various Storage Subsystems as a Storage Pool
Provisioning Manager provides the functionality to integrate and manage various models and types of storage
subsystems as a single, logical
storage pool. In Provisioning Manager, a storage pool refers to a managed data
storage area that resides on a set of storage subsystems. A storage pool is a collection of volumes (LUs). You
can use Device Manager's All Storage (My Storage) functionality to place the storage pools into hierarchies
and manage a storage pool for each user group.
Provisioning Manager presents the volumes associated with each user group as a single, logical volume, which
enables these volumes to be managed without having to be aware where the volumes actually reside. This
reduces the user workload required to understand the usage conditions for each volume, and to maintain the
various volumes. For details about All Storage (My Storage) functionality and user groups, see the
HP
StorageWorks Command View XP Advanced Edition Device Manager Web Client User Guide.
Figure 1-1 Example of a Storage Pool
Reviewing Components and Requirements for Provisioning Manager 9