This IBM® Redbooks® publication is a detailed technical guide to the IBM System Storage® SAN Volume Controller (SVC), which is powered by IBM SpectrumTM Virtualize V8.2.1. IBM SAN Volume Controller is a virtualization appliance solution that maps virtualized volumes that are visible to hosts and applications to physical volumes on storage devices. Each server within the storage area network (SAN) has its own set of virtual storage addresses that are mapped to physical addresses. If the physical addresses change, the server continues running by using the same virtual addresses that it had before. Therefore, volumes or storage can be added or moved while the server is still running. The IBM virtualization technology improves the management of information at the block level in a network, which enables applications and servers to share storage devices on a network.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication is a detailed technical guide to the IBM System StorageTM SAN Volume Controller, which is powered by IBM Spectrum® Virtualize V8.3.1. IBM SAN Volume Controller is a virtualization appliance solution that maps virtualized volumes that are visible to hosts and applications to physical volumes on storage devices. Each server within the storage area network (SAN) has its own set of virtual storage addresses that are mapped to physical addresses. If the physical addresses change, the server continues running by using the same virtual addresses that it had before. Therefore, volumes or storage can be added or moved while the server is still running. The IBM virtualization technology improves the management of information at the block level in a network, which enables applications and servers to share storage devices on a network.

Abstract This IBM® Redbooks publication is a detailed technical guide to the IBM System Storage® SAN Volume Controller, which is powered by IBM Spectrum Virtualize V8.1. IBM SAN Volume Controller is a virtualization appliance solution that maps virtualized volumes that are visible to hosts and applications to physical volumes on storage devices. Each server within the storage area network (SAN) has its own set of virtual storage addresses that are mapped to physical addresses. If the physical addresses change, the server continues running by using the same virtual addresses that it had before. Therefore, volumes or storage can be added or moved while the server is still running. The IBM virtualization technology improves the management of information at the "block" level in a network, which enables applications and servers to share storage devices on a network.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication captures several of the preferred practices and describes the performance gains that can be achieved by implementing the IBM System Storage® SAN Volume Controller and IBM Storwize® V7000 powered by IBM Spectrum VirtualizeTM V8.2.1. These practices are based on field experience. This book highlights configuration guidelines and preferred practices for the storage area network (SAN) topology, clustered system, back-end storage, storage pools and managed disks, volumes, remote copy services, and hosts. Then it provides performance guidelines for SAN Volume Controller, back-end storage, and applications. It explains how you can optimize disk performance with the IBM System Storage Easy Tier® function. It also provides preferred practices for monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000. This book is intended for experienced storage, SAN, and SAN Volume Controller administrators and technicians. Understanding his book requires advanced knowledge of the SAN Volume Controller and Storwize V7000 and SAN environments. Important: On 11th February 2020 IBM announced the arrival of SAN Volume Controller SA2 and SV2, and IBM FlashSystem® 7200 to the family. This book was written specifically for prior versions of SVC and Storwize V7000; however, most of the general principles will apply. If you are in any doubt as to their applicability then you should work with your local IBM representative. This book will be updated to comprehensively include SAN Volume Controller SA2 and SV2 and FlashSystem 7200 in due course.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes several of the preferred practices and describes the performance gains that can be achieved by implementing the IBM SAN Volume Controller powered by IBM Spectrum® Virtualize V8.4. These practices are based on field experience. This book highlights configuration guidelines and preferred practices for the storage area network (SAN) topology, clustered system, back-end storage, storage pools, and managed disks, volumes, Remote Copy services, and hosts. Then, it provides performance guidelines for IBM SAN Volume Controller, back-end storage, and applications. It explains how you can optimize disk performance with the IBM System Storage Easy Tier® function. It also provides preferred practices for monitoring, maintaining, and troubleshooting IBM SAN Volume Controller. This book is intended for experienced storage, SAN, and IBM SAN Volume Controller administrators and technicians. Understanding this book requires advanced knowledge of the IBM SAN Volume Controller, IBM FlashSystem, and SAN environments.