When a storage space is created, the data is spread across the disks in a user specified Auxiliary Storage Pool (ASP), or Independent Auxiliary Storage Pool (IASP). The disks in the pool may be configured to be unprotected, parity protected (RAID-5), or with mirrored protection. Unprotected disks provide no protection against disk failures. Parity protected disks maintain parity sets which allow the recovery if a disk fails in a parity set (but at a performance cost). Mirroring provides protection against disk failures, but with much better performance than parity. The integrated server gains the benefits of the efficient iSeries™ storage architecture, regardless of how an ASP or IASP is configured.
The iSeries sever has functions to help maintain the efficient spread of data across the disks. One example is the Start Disk Reorganization (STRDSKRGZ) operation, which balances disk storage utilization. Another is the "Add units to ASPs and balance data" available when hard disk resources are assigned to an ASP. On integrated servers, a storage space will only be moved or rebalanced across disks while the linked server is varied off.
The location of the data associated with a storage space is usually automatically managed by the iSeries. There is no need to configure striped volumes or software RAID of the disks within the Windows operating system. Configuring these features in the Windows operating system may actually slow the effective disk operations. Even though the storage is spread across the iSeries disks in small extents, continue to defragment the associated disk on Windows to maintain efficient file-system data structures.
You can monitor how well the iSeries is fulfilling the integrated server's disk requirements by using the Work with Disk Status (WRKDSKSTS), Work with Network Server Storage Spaces (WRKNWSSTG), and Work with Network Server Status (WRKNWSSTS) commands. For other performance considerations, realize that integrated servers are Microsoft® Windows servers. You can use Microsoft's Windows Performance Monitor as you would on any other server. See your Microsoft Windows documentation for information about using the Performance Monitor.
