About parity groups and volumes

Configuring volumes in a parity group

For RAID 5 (7D+1P), RAID 6 (6D+2P), or RAID 6 (14D+2P) a maximum of 2,048 fixed-size volumes (FVs) and a certain
amount of free space are available in one parity group. For other RAID levels, a maximum of 1,024 FVs and a certain
amount of free space are available in one parity group. Each parity group has the same configuration, and is assigned
the same FVs of the same size and RAID level.

The Delete LDEV and Create LDEV functions are performed on each parity group. Parity groups are also separated
from each other by boundary limitations. Therefore, you cannot define a volume across two or more parity groups
beyond these boundaries.

As the result of creating and deleting LDEVs, a parity group contains CVs and free spaces that are delimited in logical
cylinders. Sequential free spaces are combined into a single free space.

Configuration of interleaved parity groups

If RAID configurations are RAID1 (2D+2D) or RAID5 (7D+1P), the interleaved parity group can be created by
concatenating multiple of parity groups. The following table lists the RAID configurations and the number of parity
groups that can be concatenated.

RAID configuration 2 concatenating 4 concatenating

RAID1 (2D+2D) Available Not Available

RAID5 (7D+1P) Available Available

When concatenating parity groups, data in LDEVs is allocated between the interleaved parity groups. Therefore, loads
are dispersed because of the parity group concatenation, and the LDEV performance is improved.

The capacity of the created LDEV is managed by each of the parity groups that are in the interleaved parity group. The
maximum capacity of an LDEV is the same as the capacity of the interleaved parity group.
NoteEven if the parity groups are concatenated, they cannot be regarded as a large single parity group.

See the following example:

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 • Creating the interleaved parity group by concatenating parity groups PG1-1 and PG1-2.
• Creating LDEVs in each parity group that are in the interleaved parity group.
◦ LDEV 1 in PG1-1
◦ LDEV 2 in PG1-2

RAID level support for CVs and pool-VOLs

The following table specifies the RAID level support for custom volumes (CVs) and pool volumes (pool-VOLs).

RAID configuration that can be applied to

RAID level RAID configuration that can be applied to CV
pool volume

• 2D+2D • 2D+2D

RAID 1 • 4D+4D (concatenated 2 parity groups • 4D+4D (concatenated 2 parity groups

with 2D+2D) with 2D+2D)

• 2D+1P
• 3D+1P
• 3D+1P
• 4D+1P
• 4D+1P
• 5D+1P
• 6D+1P
RAID 5 • 6D+1P
• 7D+1P, or two concatenated 7D+1P
• 7D+1P, or two concatenated 7D+1P parity groups, or four concatenated
parity groups, or four concatenated 7D+1P parity groups
7D+1P parity groups
• 8D+1P

• 4D+2P • 6D+2P
RAID 6

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 RAID configuration that can be applied to
RAID level RAID configuration that can be applied to CV
pool volume

• 6D+2P
• 8D+2P
• 12D+2P
• 10D+2P
• 14D+2P
• 12D+2P
• 14D+2P

CV capacity
The following table defines the minimum capacity and maximum capacity for an OPEN-V volume (internal and external).

Number of control
Emulation type* Minimum CV capacity Maximum CV capacity
cylinders

• Internal volume*:
3,221,159,680 KB
(2.99 TB,
6,442,319,360 blocks)
OPEN-V 48,000 KB (96,000 blocks) • External volume: None
4,294,967,296 KB (4
TB, 8,589,934,592
blocks)

*If the parity group is 2D+1P or 4D+2P, the maximum CV capacity is 2 TB, which is 4,294,967,296 blocks.

Next steps
Create normal (thick) volumes

https://knowledge.hitachivantara.com/Documents/Management_Software/SVOS/8.3/Volume_Management_-_VSP_G1x00%2…
Updated: Thu, 23 Jun 2022 03:45:49 GMT
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