3PAR takes autonomic storage tiering to the next level

3PAR, a global provider of utility storage, has introduced 3PAR Policy Advisor for Dynamic Optimisation, new software that adds further autonomic policy management and automation capabilities to 3PAR Dynamic Optimisation for 3PAR InServ Utility Storage Servers.

Policy Advisor works by analysing how the InServs virtual volumes use physical disk space. The software then automatically makes intelligent, non-disruptive adjustments to ensure optimal volume distribution and storage tiering across storage server resources.

Dynamic Optimisation has been an essential tool for giving us autonomic storage tiering and the ability to react quickly to changing application and infrastructure requirements, said Sanford E. Coker III, Unix Clinical Team Lead & Senior Unix Administrator for Weill Cornell Medical College. Policy Advisor adds additional policy management and automation to what was already a very simple task for us."

Introduced in 2005, 3PAR Dynamic Optimisation made it easier for 3PAR customers to align application and business requirements with data service levels flexibly, precisely, and on demand. Dynamic Optimisation also made it possible for InServ users to non-disruptively alter volume parameters with a single click. These parameters include underlying RAID level, subsystem failure protection level, drive type, stripe width, and/or radial placement to achieve optimised data service levels at a lower cost than is possible with traditional storage. Dynamic Optimisation has subsequently become one of the most popular tools among 3PAR Utility Storage customers.

Policy Advisor augments these autonomic management capabilities by adding intelligent analysis and additional automation features designed to further eliminate storage administration time associated with managing quality of service levels. This autonomic management capability is particularly useful for large-scale performance optimisations such as redistributing volumes after capacity is added to an InServ or following the move of a large number of virtual volumes between storage tiers within the array.

Automated tiering is already a strategic method to improving storage cost/performance ratios, said Mark Peters, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. With the new Policy Advisorand the underlying flexibility of dynamic optimisation technology3PAR increases its autonomic management and takes its storage tiering to a new level.

3PAR has been a leader in non-disruptive tier mobility and optimisation since the introduction of 3PAR Dynamic Optimisationthe industrys first software product to offer single-click, online service level optimisation within a massively scalable tiered storage array, said David Scott, 3PAR President and CEO. We believe that Policy Advisor is the next stage in the natural evolution of autonomic storage management, adding policy management and significant scale to further simplify service level optimisation.

3PAR Policy Advisor is optional software available today at no charge with 3PAR Dynamic Optimisation.