HP 3PAR StoreServ Storage Concepts Guide (OS 3.1.2 MU2) (QR482-96384, June 2013)

1 Overview
HP 3PAR Storage Concepts and Terminology
HP 3PAR storage systems include the hardware components that physically store your data and
the software applications that manage your data. For more information about hardware platforms,
see “HP 3PAR Storage System Hardware” (page 61). For more information about system software
applications and features, see “HP 3PAR Software” (page 9).
The HP 3PAR storage system is composed of the following logical data layers:
• “Physical Disks” (page 8)
• “Chunklets” (page 8)
• “Logical Disks” (page 8)
• “Common Provisioning Groups” (page 8)
• “Virtual Volumes” (page 8)
The relationship between HP 3PAR storage system data layers is illustrated in Figure 1 (page 7).
Each layer is created from elements of the layer above. Chunklets are drawn from physical disks,
logical disks are created from groups of chunklets, common provisioning groups (CPGs) are groups
of logical disks, and virtual volumes use storage space provided by CPGs. The virtual volumes are
exported to hosts and are the only data layer visible to hosts.
Figure 1 HP 3PAR Storage System Data Layers
HP 3PAR Storage Concepts and Terminology 7