System requirements for provisioning

Software licenses

The following software licenses are required for creating and managing mainframe volumes:

• Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe
• Virtual LVI
• Compatible High Performance Connectivity for FICON^®
• Volume Retention Manager

For details about managing software licenses, see the System Administrator Guide.

License capacity

For Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe, the same license capacity as the V-VOLs is required.

If Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe DP-VOLs are used as primary volumes and secondary volumes of ShadowImage for Mainframe, IBM^® FlashCopy^®, TrueCopy for Mainframe, Universal Replicator for Mainframe, or Volume Migration, you need those software licenses for the total pool capacity in use.

The license capacity of Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe is the total value of pool capacities.

If details about license capacity, see the System Administrator Guide.

parity groups

The parity groups must be configured and ready for use. The VSP One Block storage systems support RAID 5 and RAID 6 parity groups.

Shared memory

Additional shared memory is required when Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe is used and the total capacity of Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe and Thin Image Advanced pools is 3.9 PB or more.

Use the pool capacity or the V-VOL capacity within the capacity supported on the storage system. If the supported capacity is exceeded, install the shared memory function.

When Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe and Thin Image Advanced are used, the pool capacity and the V-VOL capacity that can be created depends on the shared memory expansion status.

The Shared memory requirements table below shows the pool capacity and the V-VOL capacity that can be created when Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe, and Thin Image are used.

The V-VOL management area is automatically created when shared memory is added. This area is used to store information for associating pool-VOLs and DP-VOLs.

Cache capacity

The required cache capacity for the storage system is determined by conditions such as the number of MP units installed, the RAID level, the number of drives installed, and the total capacity of internal volumes and external volumes. For details, see the Cache capacity requirements table below.

Command Control Interface (CCI)

You can use the CCI software to perform the following mainframe provisioning operations:

• Dynamic Provisioning for Mainframe
• Mainframe parity group management
• Mainframe volume management
• Volume Retention Manager

For details, see the Command Control Interface Command Reference.

You can execute CCI commands from the command console in VSP One Block Administrator or by using the CCI software installed on an open-systems host:

• The command console in VSP One Block Administrator provides access to the CCI raidcom commands. For details, see the VSP One Block Administrator User Guide for VSP One Block 85.
• If you plan to execute CCI commands from an open-systems host, you must set at least one logical device (LDEV) on the storage system as a CCI command device. For details, see the Command Control Interface Installation and Configuration Guide.

Cache management devices

Cache management devices manage the cache associated with LDEVs. Each volume requires at least one cache management device.

The entire storage system can manage up to 65,280 cache management devices.

Mainframe system functions

The mainframe system functions must be enabled before beginning operations.

The mainframe system functions include the following:

• SuperPAV function
• DB2^® Cast Out Accelerator function
• TCMF multi-target function

The mainframe system functions are enabled on the storage system by the service representative.

System option modes (SOMs)

To provide greater flexibility, the VSP One Block storage systems have additional operational parameters called system option modes (SOMs) that allow you to tailor the storage system to your unique operating requirements.

The applicable SOMs must be enabled on the storage system before you begin operations. For details about SOMs, see the System Administrator Guide or contact customer support.