## Glossary

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

## A

agent

A Storage Automated Diagnostic Environment program that runs on a management host, monitoring its storage elements and diagnosing any problems.

alarm

A warning of an existing or approaching alert. See also event.

alert

A subtype of an event that requires user intervention. The term actionable event often describes an alert. See also event.

array

A disk subsystem, made up of multiple disk drives, that functions as a single large device. A high-availability (HA) array configuration has multiple controller and expansion trays of disk drives.

array hot spare

A disk that serves as a hot spare within an array as part of the storage pool; a reserve disk that can be made available to all virtual disks within an array. See also hot spare and dedicated hot spare.

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## B

base cabinet

The system's main cabinet, which contains a Data Services Platform (DSP), trays, a Storage Service Processor, a service panel, power distribution units (PDUs), a USB flash disk, and an Ethernet hub and is pre-wired with Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and power cables. The base cabinet can be connected to one or two expansion cabinets.

block

The amount of data sent or received by the host per I/O operation; the size of a data unit.

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## C

CLI

Command-line interface. In Sun StorEdge 6920 systems, the command-line interface is available after you install the thin-scripting client on a management or application host.

concatenated volume

One of the logical devices that can be constructed through concatenation so that storage capacity is not limited to the actual physical size of an individual disk. You concatenate multiple virtual disks to form a volume. You use a concatenated volume to store a large file or file system that spans more than one disk.

concatenation

A storage allocation method in which sequential blocks on a disk are linked together as a logical device. This method combines the storage potential of several physical devices. See also striping.

controller tray

A tray with an installed RAID controller. In a Sun StorEdge 6920 system, a pair of controller trays is the smallest possible storage array configuration, the 2x2 array type.

controller unit

The card that manages RAID functions and failover characteristics for an array, tray, or group of trays.

control path

The route used for communication of system management information, usually an out-of-band connection.

customer LAN

See site LAN.

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## D

DAS

See direct access storage (DAS).

data host

Any host that uses the system for storage. A data host can be connected directly to the system (DAS) or can be connected to an external switch that supports multiple data hosts (SAN).

data path

The route taken by a data packet between a data host and the storage device.

Data Services Platform (DSP)

The controller component of the Sun StorEdge 6920 system, which consolidates and virtualizes storage so that all storage in the system can be managed like a single scalable entity.

dedicated hot spare

A disk that serves as the hot spare for one and only one virtual disk in a tray.

direct access storage (DAS)

A storage architecture in which the systems that store data are connected physically to storage elements.

disk

A physical drive component that stores data.

domain

See storage domain.

DSP

See Data Services Platform (DSP).

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## E

event

A notification of something that happened on a device. There are many types of events, and each type describes a separate occurrence. See also alarm and alert.

expansion cabinet

A cabinet, pre-wired with Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and power cables, connected to the base cabinet to increase storage capacity. A power management cable connects the service panels of each cabinet, and the Fibre Channel/Ethernet cable connects the I/O panels of each cabinet.

expansion tray

A tray that does not have a RAID controller, used to expand the capacity of an array. This type of tray must be attached to a controller tray to function.

extent

A set of contiguous blocks with consecutive logical addresses on a physical or virtual disk.

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## F

failover and recovery

The process of changing the data path automatically to an alternate path.

fault coverage

The percentage of faults detected against all possible faults or against all faults of a given type.

FC

See Fibre Channel (FC).

Fibre Channel (FC)

A gigabit serial data-transfer protocol, deployed across a wide range of storage hardware and commonly used for storage area network (SAN) configurations.

Fibre Channel switch

A networking device that can send packets directly to a port associated with a given network address in a Fibre Channel SAN. The Fibre Channel switches are used to expand the number of servers that can connect to a particular storage port. Each switch is managed by its own management software.

field-replaceable unit (FRU)

An assembly component that is designed to be replaced on site, without the system having to be returned to the manufacturer for repair.

flash card or disk

See USB flash card or disk.

FRU

See field-replaceable unit (FRU).

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## G

GUI

Graphical user interface. In this product, users get access to the GUI through a web browser.

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## H

HBA

See host bus adapter (HBA).

host bus adapter (HBA)

A controller board on the server that allows the server to attach to external storage. See also initiator.

host port

A port on that connects to the service panel. See also storage port.

hot spare

The drive used by a controller to replace a failed disk. See also dedicated hot spare and array hot spare.

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## I

in-band traffic

System management traffic that uses the data path between a host and a storage device. See also out-of-band traffic.

initiator

On a Fibre Channel network, a host that requests transactions with storage elements. Each connection represents a separate initiator, so if a host is connected to the system through two host bus adapaters (HBAs), the system identifies two different initiators. However, when using MPxIO in round-robin mode, multiple HBAs are grouped together and the system identifies the group of HBAs as one initiator.

I/O panel

See service panel.

IOPS

A measure of transaction speed, representing the number of input and output transactions per second.

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## L

LAN

Local area network.

logical unit (LUN)

The identifier for a volume as it is recognized by a particular host. The same volume can be represented by a different LUN to a different host.

LUN

See logical unit (LUN).

LUN mapping

Assigning volume permissions to an initiator.

LUN masking

Filtering the initiators that have access to a particular volume.

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## M

MAC Address

See media access control (MAC) address.

management host

A host with an out-of-band network connection to the system that is used to manage the system. A management host can have monitoring software installed, such as a remote CLI package, Sun StorEdge Enterprise Storage Manager or Sun Storage Automated Diagnostic Environment (Device Edition), or a third-party monitoring program. A management host can also be used to run management software on another machine through a network connection.

management interface card (MIC)

The card on which the management software resides. Each Data Services Platform has two MICs, which operate in a master/alternate master mode.

master / alternate master

A design for reliability that uses redundant configuration. Array configurations and the management interface cards (MICs) have master/alternate master configurations: each array configuration has two controller trays but only one IP address and name, and the MICs share one IP address and name. In each case, the master component uses the IP address and name. If the master fails, the alternate master assumes the IP address and name and takes over the master's functions.

media access control (MAC) address

The physical address identifying an Ethernet controller board. The MAC address, also called an Ethernet address, is set at the factory and must be mapped to the IP address of the device.

MIC

See management interface card (MIC).

multipathing

A design for redundancy that provides at least two physical paths to a target.

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## N

network domain

A LAN that is used for a special purpose such as internal communication. Each storage system can be part of up to three LANs; that is, it can be configured in one of three types of network domains.

NSCC

Network Storage Command Center, the destination for the data collected by the Sun Service Remote Response service about Sun systems. When this feature is enabled for a system, the system is monitored remotely.

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## O

out-of-band traffic

System management traffic outside of the primary data path that uses an Ethernet network. See also in-band traffic.

## P

PDU

See power distribution unit (PDU).

pool

See storage pool.

power distribution unit (PDU)

The assembly that provides power management for the system. The redundant design uses two PDUs in each system so that the system's data path continues to function if one of the PDUs fails.

profile

See storage profile.

provisioning

The process of assigning storage to hosts.

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## R

RAID

Redundant array of independent disks. A configuration in which several drives are combined into a single virtual drive to improve performance and reliability. Also called a RAID set or a RAID group.

RAS

Reliability, availability, and serviceability.

remote monitoring

Monitoring of the functions and performance of a hardware system from a location other than where the hardware resides.

remote support

Direct or indirect troubleshooting, diagnosis, and servicing of hardware from a location other than where the hardware resides.

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## S

SAN

See storage area network (SAN).

service panel

A set of interfaces used for input and output connections for both control path functions and data path functions. The service panel provides ports for host connections and connections for up to two expansion cabinets.

SFC

See switch fabric card (SFC).

SIO card

See storage I/O (SIO) card.

site LAN

The local area network at your site. When the system is connected to your LAN, the system can be managed through a browser from any host on the LAN.

snapshot

A copy of a volume's data at a specific point in time.

SRC

See storage resource card (SRC).

storage area network (SAN)

An architecture in which the storage elements are connected to each other and to a server that is the access point for all systems that use the SAN to store data.

storage domain

A logical domain with its own storage and its own management environment.

storage I/O (SIO) card

A board that provides the Fibre Channel ports for the Data Services Platform. This card is always paired with a storage resource card (SRC). See also storage resource card (SRC) set.

storage pool

A collection of disks, virtual disks, or storage extents with a common configuration, availability, and performance that can be divided into volumes. You assign a profile to a pool to define the attributes of the pool.

storage port

A port on the Data Services Platform that connects to the storage system. See also host port.

storage profile

A set of storage pool attributes that optimize the storage pool for a particular access pattern and level of data protection. You assign a profile to a pool to define the attributes of the pool.

storage resource card (SRC)

A board that provides the storage processors for the Data Services Platform. An SRC is always paired with an SIO card. See also storage resource card (SRC) set.

storage resource card (SRC) set

Two cards in the Data Services Platform that together provide the Fibre Channel interface: the storage resource card (SRC) and the storage I/O (SIO) card. Two to four SRC sets can be installed to provide the ports for connecting data hosts to the system.

Storage Service Processor

A device integrated into storage systems to provide unified management access to system components, as well as local and remote management and maintenance. The Storage Service Processor also supports automatic upgrades of patches, firmware, and software.

storage tray

An enclosure containing disks. A tray with a RAID controller is called a controller tray; a tray without a controller is called an expansion tray.

stripe size

The total amount of data in a stripe, representing the block size multiplied by the number of disks in the stripe. See also striping.

striping

A storage allocation method in which data is stored over a series of disks or virtual disks, improving performance. See also concatenation.

Sun StorEdge Remote Response service

A remote support solution for customizable Sun storage self-management and around-the-clock monitoring by Sun.

switch fabric card (SFC)

A board that provides the central switching function for the Data Services Platform.

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## T

target

The recipient of initiator commands, usually a volume.

thin-scripting client

A client that runs the system's command-line interface on any qualified host in the network. The client communicates with the system's Storage Service Processor through a secure out-of-band interface, HTTPS. The client must be installed on a host that has network access to the system. The available clients are for the Solaris, Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows 2003, Linux, HP-UX, and IBM AIX operating environments.

tray

See storage tray.

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## U

USB flash card or disk

The resident card on which configuration information is stored. Both the Storage Service processor and the Data Services Platform store their configurations on flash devices.

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## V

virtual disk

A collection of disks or extents that acts as one disk. The device that mounts the virtual disk handles the virtual disk as one disk.

virtualization

A design strategy in which storage services are combined with data services to create useful storage abstractions such as volumes and pools and to handle the complexity of storage administration. The Sun StorEdge 6920 system uses virtualization to create and manage storage pools.

volume

A fixed amount of storage, not limited by the physical device. A disk can have more than one volume, and a volume can span more than one disk. Applications that use volumes do not need to be aware of physical storage locations, because the management software maps the virtual address to the physical address.

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## W

WWN

Worldwide name. A unique 64-bit number assigned by a recognized naming authority such as the IEEE that identifies a connection (device) or a set of connections to the network. The WWN is constructed from the number that identifies the naming authority, the number that identifies the manufacturor, and a unique number for the specific connection.