Automated Storage Tiering (ETERNUS DX/AF)

The "Automated Storage Tiering (AST)" function permits the high-power use of storage pools offering different performances within the storage system.
Data is automatically migrated to storage pools based on different drive technologies with different access times, sizes and costs according to its access frequency.

Access frequency	Storage medium
High-tier class	High-performance disks
Mid-tier class	Mid-tier class disks
Low-tier class	Favorably priced large disks

Automated Storage Tiering is based on the "thin provisioning" functionality of the ETERNUS DX/AF storage systems. The ETERNUS SF management software is required for configuration and administration.

Automated Storage Tiering requires a set of storage disks offering different performance and size, which are configured in the flexible tier pool with its flexible tier subpools. The Automated Storage Tiering storage disks are also called flexible tier volumes.

Data migration is controlled by definable migration rules, which are known as tiering policies.

The comparable function FAST runs automatically on VMAX3 storage systems, and transparently for BS2000, see section "Virtual provisioning (VMAX3)".

Commands for Automated Storage Tiering

Command	Function
SHOW-STORAGE-CONFIGURATION	Displays the configuration of the flex pools
SHOW-STORAGE-DEVICE-CONFIG	Displays the device information of the flex volumes