IBM Storage Networking Redbooks

Highly Efficient Data Access with RoCE on IBM Elastic Storage Systems and IBM Spectrum Scale
Storage Networking

Redpaper, published 7 Feb 2022, last updated 18 Feb 2022

With Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA), you can make a subset of a host’s memory directly available to a remote host. RDMA is available on standard Ethernet-based networks by using the RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE) interface. The RoCE network protocol is an industry-standard initiative by the InfiniBand Trade Association. This IBM® Redpaper publication describes how to set up RoCE to use within an IBM Spectrum® Scale cluster and IBM Elastic Storage® Systems (ESSs). This book is targeted at technical professionals (consultants, technical support staff, IT Architects, and IT ... [more]

IBM Storage Networking c-type FICON Implementation Guide
Storage Networking

Redbooks, published 11 Jan 2022

The next-generation IBM® c-type Directors and switches for IBM Storage Networking provides high-speed Fibre Channel (FC) and IBM Fibre Connection (IBM FICON®) connectivity from the IBM Z® platform to the storage area network (SAN) core. It enables enterprises to rapidly deploy high-density virtualized servers with the dual benefit of higher bandwidth and consolidation. This IBM Redpaper Redbooks publication helps administrators understand how to implement or migrate to an IBM c-type SAN environment. It provides an overview of the key hardware and software products, and it explains how to ... [more]

SAN and Fabric Resiliency Best Practices for IBM b-type Products
Storage Networking

Redpaper, published 5 Jan 2022

This IBM® Redpaper® publication describes best practices for deploying and using advanced Broadcom Fabric Operating System (FOS) features to identify, monitor, and protect Fibre Channel (FC) SANs from problematic devices and media behavior. Note that this paper primarily focuses on the FOS command options and features that are available since version 8.2 with some coverage of new features that were introduced in 9.0. This paper covers the following recent changes:
- SANnav
- Fabric Performance Impact Notification ... [more]

IBM Cloud Object Storage Concepts and Architecture
Storage Networking

Redpaper, published 27 Oct 2021

Object Storage is the primary storage solution that is used in the cloud and on-premises solutions as a central storage platform for unstructured data. Object Storage is growing more popular for the following reasons:
- It is designed for exabyte scale.
- It is easy to manage and yet meets the growing demands of enterprises for a broad set of applications and workloads.
- It allows users to balance storage cost, location, and compliance control requirements across data sets and essential applications.
IBM® Cloud Object Storage (IBM COS) system provides ... [more]

Fabric Resiliency and Best Practices for IBM c-type Products
Storage Networking

Redpaper, published 1 Oct 2021

This IBM Redpaper publication describes best practices for deploying and using advanced Cisco NX-OS features to identify, monitor, and protect Fibre Channel (FC) Storage Area Networks (SANs) from problematic devices and media behavior. The paper focuses on the IBM c-type SAN switches with firmware Cisco MDS NX-OS Release 8.4(2a).

Implementing the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller with IBM Spectrum Virtualize Version 8.4
Flash storage

Redbooks, published 28 Jan 2021, last updated 6 Aug 2021

  (based on 1 review)

Continuing its commitment to developing and delivering industry-leading storage technologies, IBM® introduces the IBM FlashSystem® solution that is powered by IBM Spectrum® Virtualize V8.4. This innovative storage offering delivers essential storage efficiency technologies and exceptional ease of use and performance, all integrated into a compact, modular design that is offered at a competitive, midrange price. The solution incorporates some of the top IBM technologies that are typically found only in enterprise-class storage systems, which raises the standard for storage efficiency in ... [more]

IBM FlashSystem 9200 and 9100 Best Practices and Performance Guidelines
Flash storage

Redbooks, published 11 Feb 2020, last updated 19 Jul 2021

  (based on 1 review)

This IBM® Redbooks® publication captures several of the preferred practices and describes the performance gains that can be achieved by implementing the IBM FlashSystem® 9100. These practices are based on field experience. This book highlights configuration guidelines and preferred practices for the storage area network (SAN) topology, clustered system, back-end storage, storage pools and managed disks, volumes, remote copy services, and hosts. It explains how you can optimize disk performance with the IBM System Storage® Easy Tier® function. It also provides preferred practices for ... [more]

Best Practices Guide for Databases on IBM FlashSystem
Flash storage

Redpaper, published 15 Jul 2021

The purpose of this IBM® Redpaper® document is to provide best practice guidelines to design and implement IBM FlashSystem® storage for database workloads. The recommended settings and values are based on lab testing, proof of concept (PoC) and experience drawn from customer implementations. Suggestions that are presented in this document are applicable to most production database environments to increase performance of I/O and availability. However, more considerations might be required while designing, configuring, and implementing storage for extreme transactional, analytical, and ... [more]

IBM FlashSystem 9100 Architecture, Performance, and Implementation
Flash storage

Redbooks, published 28 Feb 2019, last updated 2 Dec 2020

  (based on 2 reviews)

IBM® FlashSystem 9100 combines the performance of flash and Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) with the reliability and innovation of IBM FlashCore® technology and the rich features of IBM Spectrum™ Virtualize — all in a powerful 2U storage system. Providing intensive data driven multi-cloud storage capacity, FlashSystem 9100 is deeply integrated with the software-defined capabilities of IBM Spectrum Storage™, which allows you to easily add the multi-cloud solutions that best support your business. In this IBM Redbooks® publication, we discuss the product’s features and planning steps, ... [more]

IBM FlashSystem 9100 Product Guide
Flash storage

Product Guide, published 28 Jan 2019, last updated 20 May 2020

This IBM® Redbooks® Product Guide publication describes IBM FlashSystem® 9100 solution, which is a comprehensive, all-flash, and NVMe-enabled enterprise storage solution that delivers the full capabilities of IBM FlashCore® technology. In addition, it provides a rich set of software-defined storage (SDS) features, including data reduction and de-duplication, dynamic tiering, thin-provisioning, snapshots, cloning, replication, data copy services, and IBM HyperSwap® for high availability (HA). Scale-out and scale-up configurations further enhance capacity and throughput for better ... [more]