Front cover IBM FlashSystem Best Practices and Performance Guidelines Anil K Nayak Vasfi Gucer Antonio Rainero Barry Whyte Chris Hoffmann Danilo Morelli Miyasiro David Green Duane Bolland Jackson Shea Jon Herd Jordan Fincher Marcelo Avalos Del Carpio Sergey Kubin Sidney Varoni Junior Thales Noivo Ferreira Redbooks IBM Redbooks IBM FlashSystem Best Practices and Performance Guidelines May 2021 SG24-8503-00 Note: Before using this information and the product it supports, read the information in “Notices” on page xxi. First Edition (May 2021) This edition applies to IBM Spectrum Virtualize Version 8.4. © Copyright International Business Machines Corporation 2021. All rights reserved. Note to U.S. Government Users Restricted Rights -- Use, duplication or disclosure restricted by GSA ADP Schedule Contract with IBM Corp. Contents Figures . xi Tables . xvii Examples . xix Notices . xxi Trademarks . xxii Preface . xxiii Authors. xxiii Now you can become a published author, too! . xxvii Comments welcome. xxvii Stay connected to IBM Redbooks . .xxviii Chapter 1. IBM FlashSystem introduction . 1 1.1 IBM FlashSystem supported product range . 2 1.1.1 What’s new in V8.4 . 2 1.1.2 Products supported. 3 1.2 IBM FlashSystem high-level features . 4 1.3 IBM Storwize and IBM FlashSystem product range . 6 1.3.1 Clustering rules and upgrades . 25 1.3.2 Mixed clustering rules and licensing . 26 1.3.3 IBM FlashSystem 9200R Rack Solution overview . 26 1.4 Advanced functions for data reduction . 28 1.4.1 FlashCore Modules (FCM) . 28 1.4.2 Data reduction pools (DRP) . 28 1.4.3 Deduplication . 29 1.4.4 Thin provisioning. 29 1.4.5 Thin-provisioned FlashCopy snapshots . 29 1.5 Advanced software features . 29 1.5.1 Data migration. 29 1.5.2 Copy services . 30 1.5.3 Easy Tier. 30 1.5.4 External virtualization . 31 1.5.5 IBM HyperSwap . 31 1.5.6 Licensing. 31 Chapter 2. Storage area network . 33 2.1 SAN topology general guidelines . 34 2.1.1 SAN performance and scalability . 34 2.1.2 ISL considerations . 35 2.2 SAN topology-specific guidelines . 36 2.2.1 Single switch SANs. 36 2.2.2 Basic core-edge topology . 37 2.2.3 Edge-core-edge topology . 38 2.2.4 Full MeSH topology. 39 2.2.5 IBM FlashSystem as a SAN bridge. 40 2.2.6 Device placement . 41 © Copyright IBM Corp. 2021. iii 2.2.7 SAN partitioning . 43 2.3 IBM FlashSystem 9200 controller ports . 44 2.3.1 Slots and ports identification . 44 2.3.2 Port naming and distribution . 45 2.4 Zoning . 47 2.4.1 Types of zoning. 47 2.4.2 Pre-zoning tips and shortcuts . 49 2.4.3 IBM FlashSystem 9200 internode communications zones . 50 2.4.4 IBM FlashSystem 9200 host zones. 51 2.5 Distance extension for Remote Copy services . 55 2.5.1 Optical multiplexors. 56 2.5.2 Long-distance SFPs or XFPs . 56 2.5.3 Fibre Channel over IP . 56 2.5.4 SAN extension with Business Continuity configurations. 57 2.5.5 Native IP replication . 59 2.6 Tape and disk traffic that share the SAN . 61 2.7 Switch interoperability . 61 Chapter 3. Storage backend. 63 3.1 Internal storage types . 64 3.1.1 NVMe storage . 64 3.1.2 SAS drives . 67 3.1.3 Internal storage considerations. 68 3.2 Arrays . 72 3.2.1 Supported RAID types . 72 3.2.2 Array considerations . 73 3.2.3 Compressed array monitoring. 76 3.3 General external storage considerations . ..