Capacity and memory are the two primary resources configured in each PowerMax system. Capacity is categorized as physical, effective, or provisioned. Memory is categorized as system resources.

Memory resources support the physical capacity and the metadata structures for provisioned capacity. The amount of effective capacity available is related to the amount of physical capacity, the amount of system resources available, and the reducibility of data written to the system. Data written that is highly reducible consumes less physical capacity, resulting in more effective capacity. The adverse is also true: Data written that is not reducible can result in less available effective capacity.

Capacity and system resource data is detailed in the management applications used for PowerMax 2500 and 8500 systems:

• Unisphere for PowerMax is a UI that provides data in graphs, charts, and list form (examples are shown in later sections of this paper).
• Solutions Enabler is a standard CLI that provides the data provided in Unisphere, but the data is not in the form of charts and graphs.
• Mainframe Enablers is a suite of software components that monitor and manage the Dell storage systems in a mainframe environment.