HP vPars and Integrity Virtual Machines V6.1 Administrator Guide

9 Creating virtual storage devices
This chapter describes what vPars and Integrity VM V6.1 storage is, how to configure it, and how
to use it. The topics included in this chapter are:
• Introduction to vPar/VM storage
• Configuring vPar/VM storage
• Using vPar/VM storage
NOTE: The information in this chapter also applies to vPars, as well as VMs.
9.1 Introduction to vParVM storage
The way you configure and manage vPar/VM storage affects the way virtual machines perform.
To get the most benefit from using virtual machines and virtual partitions, learn how vPars and
Integrity VM V6.1 makes storage devices available to virtual machines and virtual partitions. The
following sections describe:
• Storage goals
• Storage architectures
• Storage implementations
9.1.1 Storage goals
To successfully configure and manage virtual storage, it is helpful to understand the basic goals
of the vPars and Integrity VM V6.1 storage subsystem, including:
• Storage utilization
• Storage availability
• Storage performance
• Storage security
• Storage configurability
9.1.1.1 Storage utilization
The main purpose of vPars and Integrity VM V6.1 is to increase system resource utilization on
Integrity servers. The vPar/VM storage subsystem meets this goal by permitting multiple vPars/VMs
to share a variety of physical storage adapters and devices that are available on an Integrity
server. Furthermore, the vPars/VM storage subsystem allows for a single storage LUN on the VSP
to be carved up into smaller entities that can be used as separate individual disks or DVDs on the
virtual platform.
9.1.1.2 Storage availability
Like HP Integrity servers, it is expected that virtual machines and virtual partitions will have several
different storage device types available for use. The vPar/VM storage subsystem provides for disks,
DVDs, tapes and media changers to be used by a guest OS. Additionally, the way that virtualization
abstracts the physical hardware provides a common supportable interface with which a guest OS
can interact. Because a guest OS accesses only vPars and Integrity VM virtual hardware, the guest
OS can use physical hardware that it does not support on an Integrity server.
9.1.1.3 Storage performance
Each release of the vPar/VM storage subsystem strives to improve performance. Performance is
improved in each release by lowering costs of virtualization, exploiting new features in the VSP,
9.1 Introduction to vParVM storage 107