Exported virtual volumes (VLUNs)

Exporting a virtual volume makes it available to hosts by creating an association between the virtual volume on a storage system and a logical unit number (LUN) on a host. The association, called a virtual LUN (VLUN), defines the association between a virtual volume and a host.

A virtual volume can be exported to a host by multiple paths that differ by the host ports on the storage system, host WWNs, host iSCSI names, or host names. Thus, a virtual volume can have multiple VLUNs.

For example, assume that a storage system has two host ports, 0:1:2 and 1:1:2. If a virtual volume is exported to Host A and is also exported to Host B, then the virtual volume has four VLUNs (HostA via 0:1:2, Host A via 1:1:2, Host B via 0:1:2, and Host B via 1:1:2).

Tip: In System Reporter, the performance for an exported virtual volume shows the host facing VLUN performance metrics of the virtual volume and not the internal (back end) performance metrics of the virtual volume.