About tiered storage
In a tiered storage environment, storage tiers can be configured to accommodate different categories of data. A tier is a group of storage media (pool volumes) in a HDP pool. Tiers are determined by a single storage media type. A storage tier can be one type of data drive, including SSD, SAS, or external volumes. Media of high-speed performance make up the upper tiers. Media of low-speed response become the lower tiers. Up to a maximum of three tiers can coexist in each Dynamic Tiering pool.
Categories of data may be based on levels of protection needed, performance requirements, frequency of use, and other considerations. Using different types of storage tiers helps reduce storage costs and improve performance.
Because assigning data to particular media may be an ongoing and complex activity, Dynamic Tiering software automatically manages the process based on user-defined policies.
As an example of the additional implementation of tiered storage, tier 1 data (such as mission-critical or recently accessed data) might be stored on expensive and high-quality media such as double-parity RAIDs (redundant arrays of independent disks). Tier 2 data (such as financial or seldom-used data) might be stored on less expensive storage media.