Hu's Blog

Today, Hitachi Data Systems announced a new service offering called Storage Reclamation Services to help users reclaim allocated but unused space. This service uses a feature of our Dynamic Provisioning product called, Zero Page Reclaim. Zero Page Reclaim is used after a migration or restore of a normal volume into a Dynamic Provisioning pool where the volume is mapped into 42 MB page stripes. The microcode examines the pages, and when pages are found to be full of formatting zeros, that page is released back into the pool, leaving behind the pages in the volume that actually contain data. While the original allocation request has not changed, the allocated but unused space is freed up for other users who share the same Dynamic Provisioning pool of storage.

The Storage Reclamation Service starts with a free assessment of the customers allocated but unused space and the types of volumes that can benefit from Dynamic Provisioning. This assessment is done with Hitachi Data Systems tools by HDS or HDS Partners. Once the assessment is done, HDS and the customer will agree on the percentage of storage space that can be reclaimed and the cost of the services to plan, design, implement, and integrate Dynamic Provisioning and Zero Page Reclaim. After the service is complete, and if the expected percentage of storage is not reclaimed; the service charges will be waived.

Of course this requires that you have a USP V or VM that has the Dynamic Provisioning license and that you have the Basic Operating Software V if you want to Dynamic Provision external storage behind the USP V/VM.

Currently there is a “Switch It On” promotion for virtualization of 3rd party storage systems behind the USP V which runs till the end of the year. With this promotion the Basic Operating System V, which enables virtualization of external storage, Tiered Storage Manager for policy based movement of storage across internal and external tiers of storage, and In-System Replication across internal and external storage systems, are free of charge for 3rd party storage capacity that is attached to the USP V by the end of this year. In addition there is a free “Dynamic Provisioning” license for 10TB on the USP V which can be used for internal and external storage systems.

This combination of free assessment, free capacity licenses for 3rd party external storage attachment, and risk free services for storage reclamation, is an easy way to upgrade your storage resources, show an immediate payback, and provide a return on your investment  for years to come. After the immediate payback of storage reclamation, customers will discover the operational benefits of Dynamic Provisioning in the ease of managing several pools of virtual storage capacity versus the traditional, labor intensive, management of hundreds of physical LUNs and RAID groups.