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# Provision storage for mainframe

Service level provisioning for mainframe simplifies storage system management by automating many of the tasks that are associated with provisioning storage.

This topic describes provisioning storage for mainframe. See Provision storage for a description of provisioning storage for open systems.

With the release of HYPERMAX OS 5977 Q1 2016, Unisphere introduces support for service level provisioning for mainframe. Service level provisioning for mainframe simplifies storage system management by automating many of the tasks that are associated with provisioning storage.

Service level provisioning eliminates the need for storage administrators to manually assign physical resources to their applications. Instead, storage administrators specify the service level and capacity that is required for the application and the system provisions the storage group appropriately.

You can provision CKD storage to a mainframe host using the Provision Storage wizard. For specific instructions about how to provision storage for mainframe, see Provision Storage wizard for mainframe.

The storage system must have at least one FICON director configured.

## Mapping CKD devices to CU images

You can map CKD devices to front-end EA/EF directors. Addressing on EA and EF directors is divided into Logical Control Unit images, also known as CU images. Each CU image has its own unique SSID and contains a maximum of 256 devices (numbered 0x00 through 0xFF). When mapped to an EA or EF port, a group of devices becomes part of a CU image.

For more information about how to map CKD devices to CU images, see the following tasks:

- z/OS map from the CU image list view
- z/OS map from the volume list view