This IBM® Redpaper™ publication describes the concepts and functions of IBM System Storage® Easy Tier and explains its practical usage with the DS8700.

The IBM System Storage Easy Tier feature and its accompanying Storage Tier Advisor Tool are available for the IBM System Storage DS8700 with Licensed Machine Code (LMC) level 6.5.1.xx.

IBM System Storage Easy Tier is designed to help automate data placement throughout the DS8700 disks pool. This includes the ability for the system, automatically and without disruption to applications, to relocate data (at the extent level) across drive tiers (hard disk drives and solid state drives). The process is fully automated.

Easy Tier supports a Manual Mode that enables the user to relocate full volumes. The Manual Mode also offers the ability to merge extent pools and to restripe volumes within an extent pool.

The paper is aimed at those who want to get an understanding of the Easy Tier concept and its underlying design. The paper also provides guidance and practical illustrations for users who want to exploit the Easy Tier Manual Mode capabilities.