Lenovo Storage V series overview

Each Lenovo Storage V series system is a virtualizing RAID storage system. Lenovo Storage V3700 V2, Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 XP, and Lenovo Storage V5030 systems are Lenovo Storage V series systems.

Lenovo Storage V series software

Lenovo Storage V series is built with Spectrum Virtualize™ software, which is part of the Spectrum Storage™ family.

The system also provides these functions:
  • Large scalable cache
  • Copy Services
    • FlashCopy® (point-in-time copy) function, including thin-provisioned FlashCopy® to make multiple targets affordable
    • HyperSwap® (active-active copy) function (for Lenovo Storage V5030 systems only)
    • Metro Mirror (synchronous copy)
    • Global Mirror (asynchronous copy)
    • Data migration
  • Space management
    • Easy Tier® function to migrate the most frequently used data to higher-performance storage
    • Metering of service quality when combined with Spectrum Control Base. For more information, refer to the Spectrum Control Base documentation.
    • Thin-provisioned logical volumes
    • Compressed volumes to consolidate storage

Lenovo Storage V series hardware

The Lenovo Storage V series storage system consists of a set of drive enclosures. The control enclosure contains disk drives and two node canisters. Expansion enclosures contain disk drives and two expansion canisters.

Table 1 summarizes the machine types and models of the Lenovo Storage V series control enclosures.
Table 1. Lenovo Storage V series control enclosures
Lenovo Storage V series Model Machine type / model Part Number Warranty Description
Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 6535-HC1 6535C1D 3 years 12-slot control enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6535-HC4 6535C2D 3 years 24-slot control enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 XP 6535-HC2 6535C3D 3 years 12-slot control enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6535-HC5 6535C4D 3 years 24-slot control enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
Lenovo Storage V5030 6536-HC3 6536C12 3 years 12-slot control enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6536-HC6 6536C22 3 years 24-slot control enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
6536-HC3 6536C32 5 years* 12-slot control enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6536-HC6 6536C42 5 years* 24-slot control enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
Lenovo Storage V5030F 6536-HC6 6536B1F 3 years 24-slot control enclosure for 2.5-inch flash drives
6536-HC6 6536B2F 5 years* 24-slot control enclosure for 2.5-inch flash drives
Note: * means the warranty year is optional and requires extra pay.
All Lenovo Storage V series systems support the expansion enclosures that are listed in Table 2.
Table 2. Lenovo Storage V series expansion enclosures
Lenovo Storage V series Model Machine type / model Part Number Warranty Description
Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 and Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 XP 6535-HC7 6535N1F 3 years 12-slot expansion enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6535-HC8 6535N2F 3 years 24-slot expansion enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
Lenovo Storage V5030 6536-HC7 6536N13 3 years 12-slot expansion enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6536-HC8 6536N23 3 years 24-slot expansion enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
6536-HC7 6536N33 5 years* 12-slot expansion enclosure for 3.5-inch drives
6536-HC8 6536N43 5 years* 24-slot expansion enclosure for 2.5-inch drives
Lenovo Storage V5030F 6536-HC8 6536B3F 3 years 24-slot expansion enclosure for 2.5-inch flash drives
6536-HC8 6536B4F 5 years* 24-slot expansion enclosure for 2.5-inch flash drives
Note: * means the warranty year is optional and requires extra pay.

Figure 1 shows a Lenovo Storage V series system as a traditional RAID storage system. The internal drives are configured into arrays. Volumes are created from those arrays.

Figure 1. Lenovo Storage V series system as a RAID storage system
This figure shows an overview of a RAID storage system.

The two node canisters are known as an I/O group. The node canisters are responsible for serving I/O on the volumes. Because a volume is served by both node canisters, there is no loss of availability if one node canister fails or is taken offline. The Asymmetric Logical Unit Access (ALUA) features of SCSI are used to disable the I/O for a node before it is taken offline or when a volume can not be accessed via that node.

Volumes types

You can create the following types of volumes on the system.
  • Basic volumes, where a single copy of the volume is cached in one I/O group. Basic volumes can be established in any system topology; however, Figure 2 shows a standard system topology.
    Figure 2. Example of a basic volume
    This figure shows an example of a basic volume in a standard system configuration
  • Mirrored volumes, where copies of the volume can either be in the same storage pool or in different storage pools. The volume is cached in a single I/O group. Typically, mirrored volumes are established in a standard system topology.
    Figure 3. Example of mirrored volumes
    This figure shows an example of a mirrored volumes in a standard system configuration
  • HyperSwap volumes, where copies of a single volume are in different storage pools that are on different sites. The volume is cached in two I/O groups that are on different sites. These volumes can only be created on Lenovo Storage V5030 and systems when the system topology is HyperSwap.
    Figure 4. Example of HyperSwap volumes
    This figure shows an example of HyperSwap volumes in a HyperSwap system configuration.

System topology

The node canisters can be arranged in different topologies.
Note: You cannot mix I/O groups of different topologies in the same system.
  • Standard topology, where all node canisters in the system are at the same site.
    Figure 5. Example of a standard system topology
    This figure shows an example of a standard system topology
  • HyperSwap topology, where the system consists of at least two I/O groups. Each I/O group is at a different site. Both nodes of an I/O group are at the same site. A volume can be active on two I/O groups so that it can immediately be accessed by the other site when a site is not available. The HyperSwap topology is supported on Lenovo Storage V5030 systems.
    Figure 6. Example of a HyperSwap system topology
    This figure shows an example of a HyperSwap system topology

System management

The Lenovo Storage V series nodes operate as a single system and present a single point of control for system management and service. System management and error reporting are provided through an Ethernet interface to one of the nodes in the system, which is called the configuration node. The configuration node runs a web server and provides a command-line interface (CLI). The configuration node is a role that either node can take. If the current configuration node fails, the other node becomes the configuration node. Each node also provides a command-line interface and web interface for performing hardware service actions.

Fabric types

I/O operations between hosts and Lenovo Storage V series nodes and between Lenovo Storage V series nodes and RAID storage systems are performed by using the SCSI standard. The Lenovo Storage V series nodes communicate with each other by using private SCSI commands.

Fibre Channel and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE) connectivity is supported on Lenovo Storage V series with the optional FCoE feature installed.

Table 3 shows the fabric types that can be used for communicating between hosts, nodes, and RAID storage systems. All installed fabric types can be used at the same time.

Table 3. Lenovo Storage V series communications types
Communications type Host to Lenovo Storage V series Lenovo Storage V series to storage system
iSCSI (1 Gbps Ethernet) Yes No
iSCSI (10 Gbps Ethernet) Yes
Note: Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 and Lenovo Storage V3700 V2 XP systems must have the optional 10 Gbps Ethernet host interface adapter to use Ethernet for host attachment. Lenovo Storage V5030 systems have a 10 Gbps Ethernet port that is preinstalled on the system for host attachment.
 No
Fibre Channel over Ethernet Yes, with 10 Gbps Ethernet host interface adapter Yes, with 10 Gbps Ethernet host interface adapter
Parent topic: Technical overview