3Par Extends Thin Provisioning for Oracle Databases

3PAR, Inc. announced that 3PAR and Oracle are the first to offer customers the ability to improve storage efficiency in Oracle Database 11g and 10g environments by reclaiming unused space with 3PAR Thin Persistence and Oracle’s new Automatic Storage Management (ASM) Storage Reclamation utility.

           3PAR Thin Persistence

3PAR Thin Persistence software uses the built-in, zero-detection capabilities of the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC within all 3PAR InServ Storage Server models featuring Thin Built In. Together, 3PAR Thin Persistence software and the 3PAR Gen3 ASIC deliver fast, online reclamation of unused storage capacity resulting from common tasks that involve data deletions at the file system level. With the introduction of Oracle’s ASM Storage Reclamation utility, customers can capitalize on this unique 3PAR technology to maximize capacity utilization over time.

3PAR thin technologies include unique hardware and software innovations essential to 3PAR’s strategy of helping customers become more efficient by reducing storage management and capacity purchases – both up-front and over time. The integration of 3PAR Thin Provisioning functionality with Oracle’s ASM Storage Reclamation Utility enables customers to significantly improve storage utilization and operational efficiency in Oracle Database environments.

With this latest co-development effort, 3PAR has extended its thin technology leadership by becoming the first storage vendor to bring ASIC-accelerated space reclamation to environments that use ASM, Oracle Database’s integrated file system and volume manager, and 3PAR Thin Provisioning. In these environments – which represent a significant portion of 3PAR’s installed user base – deleting a tablespace or database, or adding disks to an ASM disk group to accommodate growth or load-balance performance, can result in the creation of unused disk space. 3PAR Thin Persistence and Oracle’s ASM Storage Reclamation utility work together to capture this previously unused space.

"In our Oracle Database environment, 3PAR has delivered great performance, efficiency, and flexibility," said Lance Black, Executive Vice President of Operations at Horizon Data Center Solutions. "With the combination of Thin Provisioning, Thin Persistence, and Oracle’s ASM Storage Reclamation Utility, 3PAR and Oracle are taking efficiency to the next level."

"Many Oracle customers are benefiting from the performance, reliability, scalability and ease of management that Automatic Storage Management delivers," said Angelo Pruscino, Senior Vice President, Clustering Technology, Oracle. "The intelligent integration of Oracle’s ASM Storage Reclamation utility with 3PAR’s thin technologies helps our customers further improve storage efficiency and control storage costs in their datacenters."

The Oracle utility allows users to identify unused ASM disk space, compact the ASM environment, and write zeros to the free space with a single command. 3PAR Thin Persistence is then used to detect the zero writes and eliminate the capacity associated with free space inside thin provisioned volumes on the InServ array. Both processes are performed online and non-disruptively. Because 3PAR’s zero-detect capability uses an ASIC-based implementation, the zero detection occurs rapidly and without perceptible impact to storage array performance.

"To increase their competitiveness, companies are focused on optimizing IT resources for maximum efficiency and cost-effectiveness," said Mark Peters, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "This new ability to employ thin provisioning in Oracle Database environments and then use hardware-accelerated, zero-detection mechanisms on both the Oracle and the 3PAR side to keep those thin volumes lean over time is a valuable tool that can help companies to consistently improve their storage capacity utilization and hence reduce costs and improve ROI."

"3PAR has a history of working with enterprise and cloud datacenter infrastructure providers to boost storage efficiency from as many angles as possible," said David Scott, 3PAR President and CEO. "Since a large percentage of 3PAR customers are Oracle users, giving Oracle environments the ability to get thin with 3PAR Thin Provisioning was a significant technology milestone for us. Giving them the ability to stay thin with 3PAR Thin Persistence and Oracle’s ASM Storage Reclamation utility has extended this technology leadership further, demonstrating our ongoing commitment to developing a thin ecosystem to address the major pain points present in today’s datacenters."

As an Oracle PartnerNetwork member, 3PAR and Oracle work together to test and verify the interoperability of Oracle products with 3PAR Utility Storage. 3PAR and Oracle have tested the Oracle ASM Storage Reclamation utility with Oracle Database 11g and 10g, the 3PAR InServ Storage Server with Thin Built In, and 3PAR Thin Persistence. To assist customers in deploying these products together, additional information and benefits are documented in a joint white paper titled Maintaining High Storage Utilization with Oracle ASM Storage Reclamation Utility and 3PAR Thin Persistence.

A free evaluation version of the Oracle ASM Storage Reclamation utility for Oracle Database 11g and 10g environments is available for download from the Oracle Technology Network. Terms, conditions, and restrictions apply.