Workload categorization

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Workload categorization provides a method of classifying data activity that Easy Tier® manages. This categorization includes a redefinition and comparison of heat data across storage tiers in a way that can be more easily interpreted.

A workload categorization provides the following benefits:
  • Presents data activity changes consistently, long term, as standards of different heat usage become more stable.
  • Displays comparable data activity across tiers and pools.
  • Helps avoid situations in which very little data is available for a high-skew workload.
  • Enables data to be more easily interpreted, such as displaying active data that Easy Tier identifies and promotes to flash drive.
  • Provides a collaborative view of the workload distribution because future skew curve covers the relative comparison within a pool.

You can download the workload categorization report by using the Export Easy Tier Summary option available from the Export icon on the System page.

Table 1 lists the workload categorizations and their definitions.
Table 1. Workload categorization definitions
Workload categorization Definition Comments
Unallocated Capacity that is not allocated. To display free space, unallocated data displays heat usage at the pool or rank level.
Active Data that meets I/O cost-benefit promote decision points 0.1 Gbps I/Os based on smaller I/Os only. From a performance perspective, data with 0.1 Gbps I/Os or smaller I/O activity is active enough to be placed on an flash-drive tier.
Low activity Data that does not meet the I/O cost-benefit promote decision point based on total I/Os. The benefit of moving low-activity data to an upper storage tier is insufficient.
Inactive Data that has not received I/O activity. Inactive data should be placed on a lower tier.
Active large Data that is not previously classified and might exist on any storage tier. Generally, this data is accessed more for large I/Os rather than small I/Os. Active, large data includes more of the sequential I/O that is not suitable to a flash-drive storage tier.