Dynamic Provisioning requires the use of pools. A pool consists of more than one pool-VOL. Pages in the pool are assigned to store user data and control information. Four pages on a DP-VOL are required for the control information.

A storage system supports up to 128 pools, each of which can contain up to 1024 pool-VOLs and 63,232 DP-VOLs per pool. The pool for Dynamic Provisioning cannot be used in conjunction with other pools.

The 128-pool maximum per storage system applies to the total number of Dynamic Provisioning pools and Dynamic Tiering pools. The pool for Dynamic Provisioning or Dynamic Tiering cannot be used in conjunction with other pools.

A pool number must be assigned to a pool. Multiple DP-VOLs can be related to one pool.

The total pool capacity combines the capacity of all the registered Dynamic Provisioning pool-VOLs assigned to the pool. Pool capacity is calculated using the following formulas:

• capacity of the pool (MB) = total number of pages * 42 - 4200

  4200 in the formula is the management area size of the pool-VOL with System Area.

• total number of pages = Σ(floor(floor(pool-VOL number of blocks ÷ 512) ÷ 168)) for each pool-VOL

where

• floor( ) means to truncate the part of the formula within the parentheses after the decimal point.