44 Implementing the IBM Storwize V7000 with IBM Spectrum Virtualize V8.2.1
3.1  General planning rules
To maximize the benefit that is realized from the Storwize V7000, pre-installation planning 
must include several important steps. These steps ensure that the Storwize V7000 provides 
the best possible performance, reliability, and ease of management for your application 
needs. The correct configuration also helps minimize downtime by avoiding changes to the 
Storwize V7000 and the storage area network (SAN) environment to meet future growth 
needs.
This book is not intended to provide in-depth information about the described topics. For an 
enhanced analysis of advanced topics, see IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller and 
Storwize V7000 Best Practices and Performance Guidelines, SG24-7521.
3.1.1  Basic planning flow
The general rule of planning is to define your goals, and then, plan a solution that can be 
shown to meet these goals. Always remember to verify that each element of your 
configuration is supported.
Consider the following points when planning for the Storwize V7000:
/SM590000Collect and document the number of hosts (application servers) to attach to the Storwize 
V7000. Identify the traffic profile activity (read or write, sequential, or random), and the 
performance requirements (bandwidth and input/output [I/O] operations per second 
[IOPS]) for each host.
/SM590000Decide whether you are going to use Storwize V7000 to virtualize external storage. If you 
do, collect and document the following items:
– Information on the back-end storage that exists in the environment and is intended to 
be virtualized by the Storwize V7000.
– Whether you must configure image mode volumes. If you want to use image mode 
volumes, decide whether and how you plan to migrate them into managed mode 
volumes.
– Information about the planned new back-end storage to be virtualized by the Storwize 
V7000.
– The required virtual storage capacity for fully provisioned and space-efficient (SE) 
volumes.
– The required storage capacity for:
 Local mirror copy (volume mirroring)
 Point-in-time copy (IBM FlashCopy)
 Remote copy (Metro Mirror and Global Mirror)
 Compressed volumes
 Encrypted volumes
Important: At the time of this writing, the statements that are provided in this book are 
accurate but can change. Always verify any statements that are made in this book with the 
IBM Storwize V7000 supported hardware list, device driver, firmware, and recommended 
software levels information that are available at the following websites:
/SM590000Support Information for Storwize V7000 
/SM590000IBM System Storage Interoperation Center (SSIC)