External storage
An external storage system, or storage controller, is a device that coordinates and controls the operation of one or more disk drives.
A storage system synchronizes the operation of the drives with the operation of the system as a whole. IBM Storage Virtualize for Public Cloud software only supports cloud storage as external storage. Cloud storage is logical disks at the storage system level. Cloud-based storage is purchased and configured from a supported cloud-based provider.
The system can manage a combination of internal and external storage and represents all the detected storage as MDisks. The management GUI can be used to configure both internally and externally attached storage. Data that is stored on external storage can also be migrated to internal storage, simplifying data and storage management. The system supports Fibre Channel and iSCSI-attached storage systems. Fibre Channel attached storage is automatically detected through the SAN fabric, but iSCSI storage must be manually added to the system for virtualization.
External storage systems reside on the SAN fabric and are addressable by one or more worldwide port names (WWPNs). An external storage system might contain one or more logical units (LUs), each identified by a different logical unit number (LUN). External storage systems that are managed by the system typically contain multiple LUs.
Select in the management GUI to view all MDisks detected by the system. The MDisks are organized by the external storage system that presents them.
For the latest support information about external storage systems, see the IBM support website.