Dell Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin Version 5.1 Administrator’s Guide

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Introduction to Dell Storage

An administrator can use the Dell Storage vSphere Web Client Plugin to manage Dell storage on a Storage Center.

A configures and uses storage based on the following settings.


Storage Term	Description
Storage Tier physical media classes	Storage tiers represent the classification of all physical storage media in the . automatically populates storage tiers with the available media in the Assigned disk folder. Tier 1: Contains the fastest media appropriate for frequently used, mission-critical data. Tier 1 media is typically the most expensive media. Tier 2: Contains medium-quality media appropriate for medium-priority data. Tier 3: Contains slower, inexpensive media appropriate for backup copies, Replays, and low-priority, rarely used data.
Storage Type RAID level and page size	Within each tier, the following storage types are available. Non-redundant: RAID 0 with 2-MB page size Redundant: RAID 10, RAID 5–5, RAID 5–9 with 512 KB, 2 MB, or 4 MB page size Dual redundant: RAID 10 with 2 MB page size The default and recommended setting for storage type is redundant using both RAID 10 and RAID 5–9 with a 2 MB page size.
Volume a logical unit of storage	A volume is a logical unit of storage on the . When you add a datastore within the vSphere Client, you create and map a new Dell volume as a datastore, or map an existing Dell volume as a datastore. When mapping an existing Dell volume as a datastore, the volume must have been a previously formatted VMFS volume that was used as a datastore and unmapped.
Live Volume keeps applications online and data accessible during planned or unplanned downtime	A Live Volume is a replicating volume that can be mapped and active on a source and destination at the same time.
Data Type writeable or Replay	Volume data can be either of the following types: Writeable: Data written to storage dynamically : Point-in-time copy data
Storage Profiles applied to a volume to determine how data is migrated on the Storage Center	Storage Profiles determine how volume data is stored and migrated on the . The following Storage Profiles are defined by the system: Recommended: Available only on with Licensed Data Progression. Use the Recommended profile to optimize Data Progression and performance on the . The Recommended profile allows the system to automatically progress data between storage types and across all storage tiers based on data type and usage. High Priority: Use the High Priority profile only for volumes that contain data you want to keep in tier 1 storage. That is, applying the High Priority profile to a volume prevents the volume data from migrating to another tier. Medium Priority: Use the Medium Priority profile only for volumes that contain data you want to keep in tier 2 storage. That is, applying the Medium Priority profile to a volume prevents the volume data from migrating to another tier. Low Priority: Use the Low Priority profile only for volumes that contain data you want to keep in tier 3 storage. That is, applying the Low Priority profile to a volume prevents the volume data from migrating to another tier. You can create and modify Storage Profiles within a , if you have licensed Data Progression software.
Snapshotsand Snapshot Profiles applied to a volume to determine how often snapshots are taken	A snapshot is a point-in-time copy of data. As such, a snapshot can be exposed and mapped to allow recovery of a datastore or virtual machine. Snapshot Profiles determine a schedule for volume snapshots. System-defined Snapshot Profiles include commonly used schedules for daily and weekly snapshots. Custom Snapshot profiles can be created to schedule snapshots appropriate to the data that you want to back up.
View Volume an Exposed (mapped) snapshot	An exposed (mapped) snapshot used to recover data from a point-in-time copy of data (snapshot).
Data Progression automatically migrating volume data based on the Storage Profile settings	Based on the Storage Profile applied to the volume and the Data Progression licensing, volume data automatically progresses on the . On with licensed Data Progression, data can automatically migrate to different Storage Types within a storage tier, and also across storage tiers.