This IBM® Redpaper™ publication describes the IBM DS8880 High-Performance Enclosure (HPFE) Gen2 architecture and configuration, as of DS8900 Release 9.1. The IBM® DS8000® High-Performance Flash Enclosure Gen2 (HPFE Gen2) is a 2U storage enclosure that is installed in pairs in DS8900F and DS8880 models. The flash enclosure and Flash RAID adapters are installed in pairs. Each storage enclosure pair can support 16, 32, or 48 encryption-capable flash drives (2.5-inch, 63.5 mm form factor).

This IBM® Redbooks® publication describes the concepts, architecture, and implementation of the IBM DS8900F family. This book provides reference information to assist readers who need to plan for, install, and configure the DS8900F systems. This edition applies to DS8900F systems running microcode Release 9.0 (Bundle 89.0 / Licensed Machine Code (LMC) 7.9.0.xxx). The DS8900F family offers two new classes: IBM DS8910F: Flexibility Class all-flash: The Flexibility Class is designed to reduce complexity while addressing various workloads at the lowest DS8900F family entry cost. IBM DS8950F: Agility Class all-flash: The Agility Class is designed to consolidate all your mission-critical workloads for IBM Z®, IBM LinuxONE, IBM Power Systems, and distributed environments under a single all-flash storage solution. The DS8900F architecture relies on powerful IBM POWER9™ processor-based servers that manage the cache to streamline disk input/output (I/O), which maximizes performance and throughput. These capabilities are further enhanced by High-Performance Flash Enclosures (HPFE) Gen2. Like its predecessors, the DS8900F supports advanced disaster recovery (DR) solutions, business continuity solutions, and thin provisioning. The IBM DS8910F Rack-Mounted model 993 is described in a separate publication, IIBM DS8910F Model 993 Rack-Mounted Storage System, REDP-5566.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides information for attaching the IBM FlashSystem® A9000, IBM FlashSystem A9000R, and IBM XIV® Storage System to various host operating system platforms, such as IBM AIX® and Microsoft Windows. This publication was last updated in May 2019 to cover the VLAN tagging and port trunking support available with software version 12.3.2 (see in particular section 2.4, "VLAN tagging" on page 67. The goal is to give an overview of the versatility and compatibility of the IBM Spectrum™ Accelerate family of storage systems with various platforms and environments. The information that is presented here is not meant as a replacement or substitute for the IBM Storage Host Attachment Kit publications or other product publications. It is meant as a complement and to provide usage guidance and practical illustrations. This publication does not address attachments to a secondary system used for Remote Mirroring or data migration. These topics are covered in IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R Business Continuity Solutions, REDP-5401.

Today's global organizations depend on the ability to unlock business insights from massive volumes of data. Now, with IBM® FlashSystem 900 Model AE3, they can make faster decisions based on real-time insights. Thus, they unleash the power of demanding applications, including these: Online transaction processing (OLTP) and analytical databases Virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs) Technical computing applications Cloud environments Easy to deploy and manage, IBM FlashSystem® 900 Model AE3 is designed to accelerate the applications that drive your business. Powered by IBM FlashCore® Technology, IBM FlashSystem Model AE3 provides the following characteristics: Accelerate business-critical workloads, real-time analytics, and cognitive applications with the consistent microsecond latency and extreme reliability of IBM FlashCore technology Improve performance and help lower cost with new inline data compression Help reduce capital and operational expenses with IBM enhanced 3D triple-level cell (3D TLC) flash Protect critical data assets with patented IBM Variable Stripe RAID™ Power faster insights with IBM FlashCore including hardware-accelerated nonvolatile memory (NVM) architecture, purpose-engineered IBM MicroLatency® modules and advanced flash management FlashSystem 900 Model AE3 can be configured in capacity points as low as 14.4 TB to 180 TB usable and up to 360 TB effective capacity after RAID 5 protection and compression. You can couple this product with either 16 Gbps, 8 Gbps Fibre Channel, 16 Gbps NVMe over Fibre Channel, or 40 Gbps InfiniBand connectivity. Thus, the IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3 provides extreme performance to existing and next generation infrastructure.

Today's global organizations depend on being able to unlock business insights from massive volumes of data. Now, with IBM® FlashSystem 900 Model AE3 that is powered by IBM FlashCore® technology, they can make faster decisions that are based on real-time insights. They also can unleash the power of the most demanding applications, including online transaction processing (OLTP) and analytics databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the IBM FlashSystem® 900 Model AE3. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, implementation, and hints and tips. Also presented are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred-read. Examples of the benefits that are gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments also are described. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and anyone who wants to understand how to implement this new and exciting technology.

This IBM Redbooks® Product Guide describes IBM FlashSystem® V9000, which is a comprehensive all-flash enterprise storage solution that delivers the full capabilities of IBM FlashCore® technology. In addition, it provides a rich set of software-defined storage features, including IBM Real-time Compression™, data reductions, dynamic tiering, thin provisioning, snapshots, cloning, replication, data copy services, and IBM HyperSwap® for high availability. Scale out scale up configurations can now add a hot spare node to further enhance availability. With the release of FlashSystem V9000 Software V8.1, extra functions and features are available, including support for new and more powerful FlashSystem V9000 storage enclosure Model AE3. Software features added include GUI enhancements, a new dashboard, support assistance, and data deduplication. AE3 capacities include Small (3.6 TB), Medium (8.5 TB), and Large (18 TB) IBM MicroLatency® modules for between 14.4 TB and 180 TB usable capacity (TBu), with inline hardware compression increasing the capacity up to 219 TB effective capacity (TBe). New SAS-based small form factor (SFF) and large form factor (LFF) expansion enclosures that provide a mixture of nearline hard disk drives (HDDs) and flash MDisks in a pool that can be used for IBM Easy Tier®. The new IBM FlashSystem V9000 SFF expansion enclosure Model92F offers new tiering options with low-cost solid-state drive (SSD flash drives) and nearline HDDs. Up to 784 drives per node pair of serial-attached SCSI (SAS) expansions are supported per FlashSystem V9000 controller pair, providing up to 480 drives with expansion Model 24F and up to 240 drives with expansion Model 12F. FlashSystem V9000 Software version 8.1 replaces version 7.8, and is available to all IBM FlashSystem V9000 customers with current warranty or software maintenance agreements.

Abstract The success or failure of businesses often depends on how well organizations use their data assets for competitive advantage. Deeper insights from data require better information technology. As organizations modernize their IT infrastructure to boost innovation rather than limit it, they need a data storage system that can keep pace with several areas that affect your business: Highly virtualized environments Cloud computing Mobile and social systems of engagement In-depth, real-time analytics Making the correct decision on storage investment is critical. Organizations must have enough storage performance and agility to innovate when they need to implement cloud-based IT services, deploy virtual desktop infrastructure, enhance fraud detection, and use new analytics capabilities. At the same time, future storage investments must lower IT infrastructure costs while helping organizations to derive the greatest possible value from their data assets. The IBM® FlashSystem V9000 is the premier, fully integrated, Tier 1, all-flash offering from IBM. It has changed the economics of today's data center by eliminating storage bottlenecks. Its software-defined storage features simplify data management, improve data security, and preserve your investments in storage. The IBM FlashSystem® V9000 SAS expansion enclosures provide new tiering options with read-intensive SSDs or nearline SAS HDDs. IBM FlashSystem V9000 includes IBM FlashCore® technology and advanced software-defined storage available in one solution in a compact 6U form factor. IBM FlashSystem V9000 improves business application availability. It delivers greater resource utilization so you can get the most from your storage resources, and achieve a simpler, more scalable, and cost-efficient IT Infrastructure. This IBM Redbooks® publication provides information about IBM FlashSystem V9000 Software V8.1. It describes the core product architecture, software, hardware, and implementation, and provides hints and tips. The underlying basic hardware and software architecture and features of the IBM FlashSystem V9000 AC3 control enclosure and on IBM Spectrum Virtualize 8.1 software are described in these publications: Implementing IBM FlashSystem 900 Model AE3, SG24-8414 Implementing the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller V7.4, SG24-7933 Using IBM FlashSystem V9000 software functions, management tools, and interoperability combines the performance of IBM FlashSystem architecture with the advanced functions of software-defined storage to deliver performance, efficiency, and functions that meet the needs of enterprise workloads that demand IBM MicroLatency® response time. This book offers IBM FlashSystem V9000 scalability concepts and guidelines for planning, installing, and configuring, which can help environments scale up and out to add more flash capacity and expand virtualized systems. Port utilization methodologies are provided to help you maximize the full potential of IBM FlashSystem V9000 performance and low latency in your scalable environment. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals, storage administrators, and anyone who wants to understand how to implement this exciting technology.

This IBM® Redbooks® publication presents the architecture, design, concepts, and technology that are used in IBM FlashSystem® A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R deliver the microsecond latency and high availability of IBM FlashCore® technology with grid architecture, simple scalability, and industry-leading IBM software that is designed to drive your business into the cognitive era. Comprehensive data reduction capabilities, including inline deduplication and a new compression engine, help lower total cost of ownership, and a highly intuitive user interface simplifies management. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R transform technology infrastructure into business innovation. From a functional standpoint, FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R take advantage of most of the software-defined storage features that are offered by the IBM Spectrum™ Accelerate software, including multi-tenancy and business continuity functions. This publication is intended for those individuals who need to plan, install, tailor, and configure FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R. For detailed information about configuration, management, and replication functions and their usage, refer to the following publications: , SG24-8376 IBM Spectrum Accelerate Family Storage Configuration and Usage for IBM FlashSystem A9000, IBM Flashsystem A9000R and IBM XIV Gen3 , REDP-5401 IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R Replication Solutions , SG24-8368 IBM FlashSystem A9000, IBM FlashSystem A9000R and IBM XIV Storage System Host Attachment and Interoperability This IBM® Redbooks® publication presents the architecture, design, concepts, and technology that are used in IBM FlashSystem® A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R deliver the microsecond latency and high availability of IBM FlashCore® technology with grid architecture, simple scalability, and industry-leading IBM software that is designed to drive your business into the cognitive era. Comprehensive data reduction capabilities, including inline deduplication and a new compression engine, help lower total cost of ownership, and a highly intuitive user interface simplifies management. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R transform technology infrastructure into business innovation. From a functional standpoint, FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R take advantage of most of the software-defined storage features that are offered by the IBM Spectrum™ Accelerate software, including multi-tenancy and business continuity functions. This publication is intended for those individuals who need to plan, install, tailor, and configure FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R. For detailed information about configuration, management, and replication functions and their usage, see the following publications: IBM Spectrum Accelerate Family Storage Configuration and Usage for IBM FlashSystem A9000, IBM Flashsystem A9000R and IBM XIV Gen3, SG24-8376 IBM FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R Replication Solutions, REDP-5401 IBM FlashSystem A9000, IBM FlashSystem A9000R and IBM XIV Storage System Host Attachment and Interoperability, SG24-8368

This IBM® Redbooks® publication provides information for attaching the IBM FlashSystem® A9000, IBM FlashSystem A9000R, and IBM XIV® Storage System to various host operating system platforms, such as IBM AIX® and Microsoft Windows. The goal is to give an overview of the versatility and compatibility of the IBM Spectrum™ Accelerate family of storage systems with various platforms and environments. The information that is presented here is not meant as a replacement or substitute for the Host Attachment Kit publications. It is meant as a complement and to provide usage guidance and practical illustrations.

The success or failure of businesses often depends on how well organizations use their data assets for competitive advantage. Deeper insights from data require better information technology. As organizations modernize their IT infrastructure to boost innovation rather than limit it, they need a data storage system that can keep pace with highly virtualized environments, cloud computing, mobile and social systems of engagement, and in-depth, real-time analytics. Making the correct decision on storage investment is critical. Organizations must have enough storage performance and agility to innovate as they need to implement cloud-based IT services, deploy virtual desktop infrastructure, enhance fraud detection, and use new analytics capabilities. At the same time, future storage investments must lower IT infrastructure costs while helping organizations to derive the greatest possible value from their data assets. The IBM® FlashSystem V9000 is the premier, fully integrated, Tier 1, all-flash offering from IBM. It has changed the economics of today’s data center by eliminating storage bottlenecks. Its software-defined storage features simplify data management, improve data security, and preserve your investments in storage. The IBM FlashSystem® V9000 SAS expansion enclosures provide new tiering options with read-intensive SSDs or nearline SAS HDDs. IBM FlashSystem V9000 includes IBM FlashCore® technology and advanced software-defined storage available in one solution in a compact 6U form factor. IBM FlashSystem V9000 improves business application availability. It delivers greater resource utilization so you can get the most from your storage resources, and achieve a simpler, more scalable, and cost-efficient IT Infrastructure. This IBM Redbooks® publication provides information about IBM FlashSystem V9000 Software V7.7 and introduces the recently announced V7.8. It describes the product architecture, software, hardware, and implementation, and provides hints and tips. It illustrates use cases and independent software vendor (ISV) scenarios that demonstrate real-world solutions, and also provides examples of the benefits gained by integrating the IBM FlashSystem storage into business environments. This book offers IBM FlashSystem V9000 scalability concepts and guidelines for planning, installing, and configuring, which can help environments scale up and out to add more flash capacity and expand virtualized systems. Port utilization methodologies are provided to help you maximize the full potential of IBM FlashSystem V9000 performance and low latency in your scalable environment. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals, storage administrators, and anyone who wants to understand how to implement this exciting technology.

Today’s global organizations depend on being able to unlock business insights from massive volumes of data. Now, with IBM® FlashSystem 900, powered by IBM FlashCore™ technology, they can make faster decisions based on real-time insights and unleash the power of the most demanding applications, including online transaction processing (OLTP) and analytics databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the IBM FlashSystem® 900. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred-read, and also examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand how to implement this new and exciting technology. This book describes the following offerings of the IBM Spectrum™ Storage family: IBM Spectrum Storage™ IBM Spectrum Control™ IBM Spectrum Virtualize™ IBM Spectrum Scale™ IBM Spectrum Accelerate™

This IBM® Redbooks® publication presents the architecture, design, concepts, and technology that are used in IBM FlashSystem® A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R deliver the microsecond latency and high availability of IBM FlashCore™ technology with grid architecture, simple scalability, and industry-leading IBM software that is designed to drive your business into the cognitive era. Comprehensive data reduction capabilities, including inline deduplication and a new compression engine, help lower total cost of ownership, while a new, highly intuitive user interface simplifies management. FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R transform technology infrastructure into business innovation. From a functional standpoint, FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R take advantage of most of the software-defined storage features that are offered by the IBM Spectrum™ Accelerate software, including multi-tenancy and business continuity functions. This book contains numerous illustrations about how to manage and configure the storage system, by using the new user interface. This publication is intended for those individuals who need to plan, install, tailor, and configure FlashSystem A9000 and FlashSystem A9000R.

Storage capacity and performance requirements are growing faster than ever before, and the costs of managing this growth are depleting more of the information technology (IT) budget. The IBM® FlashSystem™ V9000 is the premier, fully integrated, Tier 1, all-flash offering from IBM. It has changed the economics of today's data center by eliminating storage bottlenecks. Its software-defined storage features simplify data management, improve data security, and preserve your investments in storage. IBM FlashSystem® V9000 includes IBM FlashCore™ technology and advanced software-defined storage available in one solution in a compact 6U form factor. FlashSystem V9000 improves business application availability. It delivers greater resource utilization so you can get the most from your storage resources, and achieve a simpler, more scalable, and cost-efficient IT Infrastructure. This IBM Redbooks® publication provides information about IBM FlashSystem V9000 Software V7.5 and its new functionality. It describes the product architecture, software, hardware, and implementation, and provides hints and tips. It illustrates use cases and independent software vendor (ISV) scenarios that demonstrate real-world solutions, and also provides examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments. Using IBM FlashSystem V9000 software version 7.5 functions, management tools, and interoperability combines the performance of FlashSystem architecture with the advanced functions of software-defined storage to deliver performance, efficiency, and functions that meet the needs of enterprise workloads that demand IBM MicroLatency® response time. This book offers FlashSystem V9000 scalability concepts and guidelines for planning, installing, and configuring, which can help environments scale up and out to add more flash capacity and expand virtualized systems. Port utilization methodologies are provided to help you maximize the full potential of IBM FlashSystem V9000 performance and low latency in your scalable environment. In addition, all of the functions that FlashSystem V9000 software version 7.5 brings are explained, including IBM HyperSwap® capability, increased IBM FlashCopy® bitmap space, Microsoft Windows offloaded data transfer (ODX), and direct 16 gigabits per second (Gbps) Fibre Channel host attach support. This book also describes support for VMware 6, which enhances and improves scalability in a VMware environment. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals, storage administrators, and anyone who wants to understand how to implement this exciting technology.

Almost all technological components in the data center are getting faster: central processing units, networks, storage area networks (SANs), and memory. All of them have improved their speed by a minimum of 10X; some of them by 100X, for example, data networks. However, spinning disk performance has only increased by 1.2 times. IBM® FlashSystem™ 840 version 1.3 closes this gap. The FlashSystem 840 is optimized for the data center to enable organizations of all sizes to strategically harness the value of stored data. It provides flexible capacity and extreme performance for the most demanding applications, including virtualized or bare-metal online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. The system accelerates response times with IBM MicroLatency® access times as low as 90 µs write latency and 135 µs read latency to enable faster decision making. The introduction of a low capacity 1 TB flash module allows the FlashSystem 840 to be configured in capacity points as low as 2 TB in protected RAID 5 mode. Coupled with 10 GB iSCSI, the FlashSystem is positioned to bring extreme performance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and growth markets. Implementing the IBM FlashSystem® 840 provides value that goes beyond those benefits that are seen on disk-based arrays. These benefits include better user experience, server and application consolidation, development cycle reduction, application scalability, data center footprint savings, and improved price performance economics. This IBM Redbooks® publication discusses IBM FlashSystem 840 version 1.3. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, its implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred read, as well as examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments. Also described are product integration scenarios running the IBM FlashSystem 840 with the IBM SAN Volume Controller, and the IBM Storwize® family of products such V7000, V5000, and the V3700, as well as considerations when integrating with the IBM FlashSystem 840. The preferred practice guidance is provided for your FlashSystem environment with IBM 16 Gbps b-type products and features, focusing on Fibre Channel design. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to implement this exciting technology.

IBM FlashSystem® V9000 is a comprehensive all-flash enterprise storage solution that delivers the full capabilities of IBM FlashCore™ technology plus a rich set of software-defined storage features. FlashSystem V9000 is available as one solution in a compact 6U form factor to achieve a simpler, more scalable, and cost efficient IT Infrastructure. FlashSystem V9000 improves business application availability and delivers greater resource utilization so you can get the most from your storage resources. Built with IBM Spectrum Virtualize™ functions, management tools, and interoperability, this product combines the performance of FlashSystem architecture with the advanced functions of software-defined storage, including: IBM Real-time Compression™, dynamic tiering, thin provisioning, snapshots, cloning, replication, data copy services and high-availability configurations. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the IBM FlashSystem V9000. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, implementation, guidelines for scalability, and hints and tips. It illustrates use cases and ISV scenarios that demonstrate real-world solutions, as well as examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments.Port utilization methodologies are provided in order to maximize the full potential of performance and the low latency of IBM FlashSystem V9000 in your scaled environment. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to implement this exciting technology.

Today's global organizations depend on being able to unlock business insights from massive volumes of data. Now, with IBM® FlashSystem™ 900, powered by IBM FlashCore™ technology, they can make faster decisions based on real-time insights and unleash the power of the most demanding applications, including online transaction processing (OLTP) and analytics databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDIs), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the IBM FlashSystem® 900. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred-read, and also examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand how to implement this new and exciting technology. This book describes the following offerings of the IBM Spectrum™ Storage family: IBM Spectrum Storage™ IBM Spectrum Control IBM Spectrum Virtualize IBM Spectrum Scale IBM Spectrum Accelerate

Almost all technological components in the data center are getting faster; central processing units, network, storage area networks (SAN), and memory. All of them have improved their speed by a minimum of 10X; some of them by 100X, for example, data networks. However, spinning disk performance has only increased by 1.2 times. The IBM FlashSystem™ 840 closes this gap. The FlashSystem 840 is optimized for the data center to enable organizations of all sizes to strategically harness the value of stored data. It provides flexible capacity and extreme performance for the most demanding applications, including virtualized or bare-metal online transaction processing (OLTP) and online analytical processing (OLAP) databases, virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), technical computing applications, and cloud environments. The system accelerates response times with IBM® MicroLatency™ access times as low as 90 µs write latency and 135 µs read latency to enable faster decision making. The introduction of a low capacity 1 TB flash module allows FlashSystem 840 to be configured in capacity points as low as 2 TB in protected RAID 5 mode. Coupled with 10 GB iSCSI, FlashSystem is positioned to bring extreme performance to small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) and growth markets. Implementing the IBM FlashSystem 840 provides value that goes beyond those benefits that are seen on disk-based arrays. These benefits include better user experience, server and application consolidation, development cycle reduction, application scalability, data center footprint savings, and improved price performance economics. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the IBM FlashSystem. It provides in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, its implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred read, as well as examples of the benefits gained by integrating FlashSystem storage into business environments. Also described are product integration scenarios running the IBM FlashSystem 840 with the IBM SAN Volume Controller, the IBM PureFlex® System, and the IBM Storwize® V7000, as well as considerations when integrating with the IBM FlashSystem 840. The preferred practice guidance is provided for your FlashSystem environment with IBM 16 Gbps b-type products and features, focusing on Fibre Channel design. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to implement this new and exciting technology.

Almost all technological components in the data center are getting faster; central processing units, network, storage area networks (SAN), and memory. All of them have improved their speed by a minimum of 10X; some of them by 100X, for example, data networks. However, spinning disk performance has only increased by 1.2 times. Fortunately, flash storage has come along and closed the gap between the other improvements in server technology and storage. Using the IBM® FlashSystem™ 840 provides value that goes beyond those benefits that are seen on disk-based arrays. These benefits include better user experience, server and application consolidation, development cycle reduction, application scalability, data center footprint savings, and improved price performance economics. This IBM Redbooks® publication introduces clients to the newest member of the IBM FlashSystem™ products: the IBM FlashSystem 840. It will provide in-depth knowledge of the product architecture, software and hardware, its implementation, and hints and tips. Also illustrated are use cases that show real-world solutions for tiering, flash-only, and preferred read, as well as examples of the benefits gained by integrating the FlashSystem storage into business environments. This book is intended for pre-sales and post-sales technical support professionals and storage administrators, and for anyone who wants to understand and learn how to implement this new and exciting technology.