Using Layered volumes VxVM

[SM_3]

Hello

Using VxVM has anyone used layered volumes?

It looks like a volume within a volume.

You may have seen my other thread with reagrds to raid HW and software.
We will be creating volumes within a storage array and I would like to know a bit more about layered volumes.

Have had a look on the internet and a few poeple have wrote about these layered volumes and I'd just like to ask you guys about your experience.

Thanks.

[Ninad_1]

Hi,

If you do not have hardware raid - then you may think of using layered volumes in VxVM which will effectively do - what has been suggested in response to your earlier thread - mirror and stripe.
Oracle always prefers to have SAME - stripped and mirrored something something - The best configuration would be disks being mirrored and then striped vols created in these mirrors - so you have redundancy and performance.

regards,
Ninad

[Jov]

Hi,

If you dont have HW Mirroring, then you can configure RAID 0+1 with VxVM to give you SAME (strip and mirror everything).

Just keep in mind of not hitting the same spindle and balance the thru put over the set of disks.


Jov

[Mridul Shrivastava]

This can be done in Vxvm and the below mentioned doc will be very helpful for you:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B7961-90018/ch01s08.html

Cheers

[Mridul Shrivastava]

This can be done in Vxvm and the below mentioned doc will be very helpful for you:

http://docs.hp.com/en/B7961-90018

Cheers

[jitesh purohit]

Refer to the VERITAS Volume Manager 3.1 Administrator's Guide for more
information on layered volumes. The manual is available on the HP-UX 11i
Instant Information CD or at the following web location:

http://www.docs.hp.com

Thanks & Regards,
JP

[SM_3]

Thanks and sorry for the delay.

[Alzhy · Accepted solution]

Layered Volumes was introduced in VxVM as another way of exacting the most out of your storage infrastructure and ensuring data integrity.

With it, you can design your storage volumes so it enables / engages as many "spindles" (physical or virtual) for higher performance. For instance, you can have a mirror of stripes, a stripe of RAID5 volumes or even a stripe of stripes.

One would ask - my storage array already does that for me - why bother? Sure it does but not really to the degree that Layered volumes can possibly do. Take for instance - XP/HDS or EMC based arrays -- with layered volumes - you can further enhance your storage volumes structure beyond the traditional "striping" of presented LUNS and actually do layered volumes so it touches/engages more "spindles" inside your array.

For JBOD arrays (which is incresingly becoming cost-effective and popular) - Layered Volumes not only allow you to build higher performing storage volumes but it also allows you to build highly redundant ones - able to withstand multiple physical disk failures.


Hope this helps.