HP StorageWorks HP-UX Kit V3.0B for Enterprise Virtual Array Installation and Configuration Guide (AA-RUHKB-TE, October 2003)

Understanding the Enterprise Virtual Array
14 HP-UX Kit V3.0B for Enterprise Virtual Array Installation and Configuration Guide
About Virtualization
Virtualization is used to simplify the creation, presentation, and administration of
storage to multivendor host servers in a Storage Area Network (SAN).
Virtualization changes the way the storage administrator interacts with
storage—streamlining the work required to manage and implement the storage
environment. This section describes how virtualization affects storage
configuration.
You do not need to make decisions about planning, creating, and configuring
stripesets, mirrorsets, and RAIDsets. The software now automates these decisions.
The decisions are simplified to basic choices on virtual disk capacity and
redundancy levels. All of this work is done from a central location—Command
View EVA. See the Command View EVA online help for more information.
Three levels of virtualization are possible within a SAN—server, fabric, and
storage system.
■ Server level—useful for small systems—StorageWorks Virtual Replicator
implements small scale virtualization of storage in a Windows NT, Windows
2000, and Windows Server 2003 environment.
■ Fabric level—SAN-wide virtualization with increased efficiency.
■ Storage system level—provides large volumes of pooled storage in virtual
disks and simplifies management tasks.
The Enterprise Virtual Array implements storage system level virtualization.
Virtualization technology, at the storage system level, creates virtual disks. These
virtual disks are created using all the available physical disk drives, not individual
or grouped sets of disks. The host recognizes and uses these virtual disks like any
other disk device.