Internet DRAFT - draft-hufferd-ips-iser-sctp-ib

draft-hufferd-ips-iser-sctp-ib




       
            INTERNET DRAFT                              
            draft-hufferd-ips-iser-sctp-ib-00.txt      John Hufferd  
                                                       Mike Ko  
                                                           IBM Corporation 
                                                        
                                                       Yaron Haviv 
                                                           Voltaire Ltd 
                                                        
                                                        
                                                       December, 2004 
                                                        
                                                        
                                                       Expires: June, 2005 
           

          

          Generalization of iSER for SCTP, Infiniband and other Network 
         Protocols   

          

          

      Status of this Memo 
       
         By submitting this Internet-Draft, I certify that any applicable 
         patent or other IPR claims of which I am aware have been disclosed, 
         or will be disclosed, and any of which I become aware will be 
         disclosed, in accordance with RFC 3668. 

         Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering 
         Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that 
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         Drafts. 

         Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six 
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         at any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as 
         reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." 

         The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at 
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         The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at 
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      Abstract 
       
         The iSCSI Extensions for RDMA document [iSER] currently specifies 
         the RDMA data transfer capability for [iSCSI] over iWARP/TCP.  This 
         document generalizes the iSER document to permit it to be used with 
         other RDMA capable protocols such as iWARP/SCTP, InfiniBand, etc.  
         It also describes what should be defined in the InfiniBand Trade 
         Association and what are appropriate for IETF.  






































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         Table of Contents 

         1    Motivation..................................................5 
         2    Overall generalizations needed within the iSER specification6 
         2.1  Generalization of Definitions...............................6 
         2.1.1  The iWARP term............................................6 
         2.1.2  The RNIC term.............................................7 
         2.1.3  Steering Tag (STag).......................................7 
         2.1.4  Inbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (IRD) & Outbound RDMA Read 
         Queue Depth (ORD)................................................7 
         2.1.5  RDMA Protocol (RDMAP).....................................8 
         2.1.6  RDMAP Stream..............................................8 
         2.1.7  RDMAP Message.............................................8 
         2.2  The following should be placed/updated in Acronym Section...9 
         2.3  Connection Establishment, Login, and Transition to iSER.....9 
         2.4  Security considerations.....................................9 
         2.5  Adjustments to Appendix....................................10 
         2.6  Add Appendix B.............................................10 
         3    Architectural discussion of iSER over InfiniBand...........11 
         3.1  The Host side of the InfiniBand iSCSI & iSER connections...11 
         3.2  The Storage side of iSCSI & iSER mixed network environment.13 
         3.3  Discovery processes for an InfiniBand Host.................14 
         3.4  IBTA Connection specifications.............................15 
         4    Preferred changes to iSCSI Discovery Data..................16 
         5    The Appropriate Standardization Organizations for iSER/IB..17 
         5.1  The IETF ips Working Group Standardization.................17 
         5.2  The InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) Standardization....17 
         5.3  IBTA and optional InfiniBand Features......................17 
         5.4  ServiceID and IP Port number...............................17 
         6    IANA Considerations........................................18 
         7    References.................................................19 
         7.1  Informative References.....................................19 
         8    Appendix...................................................20 
         8.1  Additional detailed [iSER] document modification...........20 
         8.1.1  Adjustment to Section 2.1 Motivation.....................20 
         8.1.2  Adjustment to Section 2.2 Architectural Goals............20 
         8.1.3  Adjustment to Section 2.3 Protocol Overview..............20 
         8.1.4  Adjustment to Section 2.4 RDMA services and iSER.........21 
         8.1.5  Adjustment to Section 2.7 iSCSI/iSER Layering............21 
         8.1.6  Generalization of Other iSER Sections....................22 
         8.1.7  Adjustments to 13.2 Informational References.............25 
         9    Author’s Address...........................................27 
         10   Acknowledgments............................................28 
         11   Full Copyright Statement...................................29 
          



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         Table of Figures 

         Figure 2 iSCSI, and iSER on IB..................................12 
         Figure 3 Storage Controller with iSCSI, iWARP/TCP, iWARP/SCTP, and 
         IB connections..................................................14 
         Figure 1 Generic example of iSCSI/iSER Layering in Full Feature Mode
          ................................................................22 
          








































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      1  Motivation 

         Currently the work to define iSCSI extensions for RDMA [iSER] only 
         considers using the iWARP protocol suite over the TCP layer.  While 
         this objective meets the short term requirement since iSCSI is 
         defined only for TCP, there is a huge benefit to generalize a 
         standardized [iSER] so that it can be used with other types of RDMA 
         capable layers now and in the future, including the following: 

            . iWARP over SCTP 

            . InfiniBand (with reliable connections, RC) 

         The interest in using [iSER] for InfiniBand is based on exploiting 
         the iSCSI protocol features and its discovery and management 
         protocol instead of using the SCSI RDMA Protocol (SRP) which lacks 
         the management and discovery support.  Furthermore, with an iSCSI 
         based protocol, the Storage Professional and/or Administrator only 
         needs to understand and support a single basic protocol, which has 
         similar implementations across a suite of different network types 
         (iWARP/TCP, iWARP/SCTP, InfiniBand, etc.). 

         It was to enable this vision and desire for a single Storage 
         Protocol that the proposed generalizations to [iSER] were created. 

          






















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      2  Overall generalizations needed within the iSER specification 

         This section will specify changes/adjustments that should be 
         considered to the wordage in the iSER document to make it more 
         general.  The goal of these changes is not to modify the basic 
         operation of iSCSI/iSER when operating on the TCP version of iWARP, 
         but to change/adjust the wordage in such a way that iSCSI/iSER can 
         be layered over a different RDMA-capable protocol layer, such as an 
         SCTP version of iWARP, or InfiniBand. 

         The details of many of the suggested changes can be found in the 
         Appendix of this document. 

      2.1  Generalization of Definitions 

         It is required that some of the terminology be clarified as to 
         applicability of the terms to the actual LLP used.   

      2.1.1  The iWARP term 

         As currently defined, the iWARP term has a strong TCP centric bias.  
         We will introduce a new, more generic term, known as RDMA-Capable 
         Protocol (RCP) to denote the protocol layer that provides the RDMA 
         functionality for iSER.  The following term will be added to the 
         Definition section: 

         RDMA-Capable Protocol – The protocol or protocol suite that provides 
         the RDMA functionality, e.g., iWARP, Infiniband, etc. 

         With these new definitions, the "iWARP" term will be generalized as 
         follows: 

           1. Whenever the term "iWARP protocol suite" occurs in the iSER 
              draft, it will be replaced by "RDMA-Capable Protocol".  In 
              addition, the phrase "such as the iWARP protocol suite" will be 
              added where necessary.  

           2. Whenever the term "iWARP layer" occurs in the iSER draft, it 
              will be replaced by "RDMA-capable protocol layer".  In 
              addition, the phrase "such as the iWARP Layer" will be added 
              where necessary.  

           3. Whenever the term "iWARP" is used as an adjective in other 
              context, it will be replaced with just RDMA, or "RDMA-Capable", 
              whichever is appropriate.  E.g., "iWARP functionality" will be 
              replaced with "RDMA functionality". 
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           4. Whenever the term "iWARP" is used as a shorthand for the iWARP 
              protocol suite, it will be replaced by "RDMA-capable protocol". 

           5. Whenever iWARP is used as a specific implementation example 
              intended for TCP only, such as "iWARP Message Format" in the 
              appendix, it will be changed to iWARP/TCP.  

      2.1.2  The RNIC term 

         The term "RNIC" has been generally accepted by the industry to mean 
         an RDMA-enabled Network Interface Controller for the IP world.  So 
         to generalize iSER for any RDMA-capable protocol layer, we will 
         introduce a new term known as RDMA-Capable Controller, defined as 
         follows: 

           . RDMA-Capable Controller – A network I/O adapter or embedded 
              controller with RDMA functionality.  E.g., for TCP/IP, this can 
              be an RNIC, and for Infiniband, this could be a HCA (Host 
              Channel Adapter) or TCA (Target Channel Adapter). 

         Within the body of the iSER document the term RDMA-Capable 
         Controller will be used whenever the intention is to talk about a 
         general controller that provides RDMA functionality.  In addition, 
         the clause "such as an RNIC" will be added as necessary.  

         Within the body of the iSER document, the term RNIC is left 
         unchanged if it specifically or implicitly refers to TCP/IP. 

      2.1.3  Steering Tag (STag) 

         The Steering Tag (STag) term needs to have its definition extended 
         so that it applies to both a Tag for a Remote Buffer, and the Tag 
         for a Local Buffer. The following should be considered as a 
         replacement for the existing one in the definition section.  

         Steering Tag (STag) - An identifier of a Tagged Buffer on a Node 
         (Local or Remote) as defined in [RDMAP] and [DDP].  For other RDMA-
         Capable protocol layer, the Steering Tag may be known by different 
         names.  For example, for Infiniband, a Remote STag is known as an R-
         Key, and a Local STag is known as an L-Key.   

      2.1.4  Inbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (IRD) & Outbound RDMA Read Queue 
             Depth (ORD) 

         To generalize on the terms Inbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (IRD) and 
         the Outbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (ORD) for other RDMA-Capable 
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         protocol layers, the following should be added to the definition for 
         IRD: "For other RDMA-Capable protocol layer, the term "IRD" may be 
         known by a different name.  For example, for Infiniband, the 
         equivalent for IRD is the Responder Resources".  For ORD, the 
         following should be added: "For other RDMA-Capable Protocol Layer, 
         the term "ORD" may be known by a different name.  For example, for 
         Infiniband, the equivalent for ORD is the Initiator Depth." 

      2.1.5  RDMA Protocol (RDMAP)  

         In the body of the document the term "RDMA-Capable Protocol", or 
         "RCP" should be used whenever any RDMA wire protocol or RDMA 
         protocol stack is applicable.  Only when the document intends to 
         explicitly address a specific wire protocol would the term [RDMAP] 
         be used. 

      2.1.6  RDMAP Stream 

         The following should be considered for inclusion in the definition 
         section to replace "RDMAP Stream": 

           . RCP Stream - A single bidirectional association between the peer 
             RDMA-capable protocol layers on two Nodes over a single 
             transport-level stream. For TCP or SCTP, an RCP Stream is also 
             known as an RDMAP Stream. For iSER/TCP, the association is 
             created when the connection transitions to iSER-assisted mode 
             following a successful Login Phase during which iSER support is 
             negotiated.   

        In the body of the document, the term "RCP Stream" will be used in 
        place of "RDMAP Stream". 

      2.1.7  RDMAP Message 

         The following should be considered for inclusion in the definition 
         section to replace "RDMAP Message": 

           . RCP Message – The sequence of packets of the RDMA-capable 
             protocol which represent a single RDMA operation or a part of 
             RDMA Read Operation.  For TCP or SCTP, an RCP Message is also 
             known as an RDMAP Message. 

         In the body of the document, the term "RCP Message" will be used in 
         place of "RDMAP Message".  The exception is when the term "RDMAP 
         Message" is used to describe the iSER Hello and HelloReply Messages.  
         Here "RDMAP Message" will be replaced by "iSER Message" in order to 
         accommodate LLPs that have message delivery capability, such as SCTP 

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         or [IB].  The iSCSI layer may use that messaging capability 
         immediately after connection establishment before enabling iSER-
         assisted mode.  In this case the iSER Hello and HelloReply Messages 
         are not the first RCP Messages, but they are the first iSER 
         Messages. 

      2.2  The following should be placed/updated in Acronym Section 

         HCA         Host Channel Adapter  

         IB          InfiniBand 

         IPoIB       IP over InfiniBand 

         LLP         Lower Layer Protocol 

         SCTP        Stream Control Transmission Protocol  

         TCA        Target Channel Adapter  

      2.3  Connection Establishment, Login, and Transition to iSER 

         The discussion of connection establishment and the use of a 
         messaging protocol for exchanging Login Request and Login Response 
         Messages should be discussed for SCTP and IB, along with the 
         transitioning of an IB connection to iSER mode, the suggested detail 
         changes can be found (along with others) in the Appendix of this 
         document.  

          

      2.4  Security considerations 

         The discussion of Security should specify that all non IP protocols 
         will define their own requirements for IPsec.  However the iSCSI 
         requirements for IPsec are still required wherever an iSER Message 
         enters an IP environment from a non IP one (such as IB).  Further 
         the iSCSI/iSER requirement for IPsec on IP based protocols such as 
         TCP and SCTP will continue to require IPsec as a must implement, but 
         optional to use feature.  The suggested changes can be found (along 
         with others) in the Appendix of this document.  

          

          



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      2.5  Adjustments to Appendix 

         Rename the current appendix “Appendix A” 

         Modify the term “iWARP” to “iWARP/TCP” in every section heading in 
         this Appendix. 

          

      2.6  Add Appendix B  

         An appendix (Appendix B) should be considered for the iSER draft to 
         explain how an InfiniBand RC connection can be used to carry iSER 
         protocols.  The content of any such appendix should be similar in 
         nature to that presented in section 3 of this document.  

































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      3  Architectural discussion of iSER over InfiniBand  

         The following is an explanation of how an InfiniBand network (with 
         Gateways) would be structured.  It is intended to provide an insight 
         on how iSER is used in an InfiniBand environment and be generally 
         informational.  This information is NOT being proposed as text for 
         the main body of the iSER document.  It may be considered for a NON 
         Normative informational Appendix within the iSER document, but its 
         primary purpose is to help put the idea of an iSER operating on 
         InfiniBand into perspective for the readers of this document.  

      3.1  The Host side of the InfiniBand iSCSI & iSER connections 

         The following figure (2) defines the topologies in which iSCSI and 
         iSER will be able to operate on an InfiniBand Network.
































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         +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +--- -----+ 

         |  Host   | |  Host   | |   Host  | |   Host  | |   Host  |  
         |         | |         | |         | |         | |         | 
         +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ 
         |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA|    
         +-v+ +-v-+  +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+  
           |    +------|-----+-----|-----+-----|-----+-----|-----+---> To IB  
         IB|        IB |        IB |        IB |        IB |    SubNet2 SWTCH 
         +-v-----------v-----------v-----------v-----------v---------+  
         |                  InfiniBand Switch for Subnet1            |   
         +---+----+-----+----+-----+-----+------+----+-----------v---+ 
             |TCA |     |TCA |     | TCA |      | TCA|           |    
             +----+     +----+     +-----+      +----+           | IB  
            /  IB  \   / IB   \   /  IB   \    /      \    +--+--v--+--+      
           |  iSER  | |  iSER  | |   iSER  |  |  IPoIB |   |  | TCA |  |    
           | Gateway| | Gateway| | Gateway |  | Gateway|   |  +-----+  | 
           |   to   | |   to   | |    to   |  |   to   |   | Storage   | 
           |  iSCSI | |iSER/TCP| |iSER/SCTP|  |   IP   |   | Controller| 
           |   TCP  | |  iWARP | |  iWARP  |  |Ethernet|   +-----+-----+ 
           +---v----| +---v----| +----v----+  +----v---+            
               | EN       | EN        | EN         | EN         
               +----------+-----------+------------+----> to IP based storage 

                 Ethernet links that carry iSCSI or iWARP 

                            Figure 1 iSCSI, and iSER on IB 






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         In Figure 2, the Host systems are connected via the InfiniBand Host 
         Channel Adapters (HCAs) to the InfiniBand links.  With the use of IB 
         switch(es), the InfiniBand links connect the HCA to InfiniBand 
         Target Channel Adapters (TCAs) located in gateways or Storage 
         Controllers.  An iSER-capable IB-IP Gateway converts the iSER 
         Messages encapsulated in IB protocols to either standard iSCSI, or 
         iSER Messages for iWARP.  An IPoIB Gateway converts InfiniBand IPoIB 
         protocols to IP protocols, and in the iSCSI case, permits iSCSI to 
         be operated on an IB Network between the Hosts and the IPoIB 
         Gateway.  

      3.2  The Storage side of iSCSI & iSER mixed network environment 

         Figure 3 shows a storage controller that has four different portal 
         groups: one supporting only iSCSI (TPG-4), one supporting 
         iSER/iWARP/TCP or iSCSI (TPG-2), one supporting iSER/iWARP/SCTP 
         (TPG-3), and one supporting iSER/IB (TPG-1).   

          

























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                |             |              |             | 
                |             |              |             | 
          +--+--v--+-------+--v--+--------+--v--+-------+--v--+--+ 
          |  |  IB |       |iWARP|        |iWARP|       | EN  |  | 
          |  | RNIC|       | TCP |        |SCTP |       | NIC |  | 
          |  |(TCA)|       | RNIC|        |RNIC |       |     |  | 
          |  +-----|       +-----+        +-----+       +-----+  | 
          |   TPG-1         TPG-2          TPG-3          TPG-4  | 
          |  9.1.3.3       9.1.2.4        9.1.2.5       9.1.2.6  |  
          |                                                      |  
          |                  Storage Controller                  |  
          |                                                      | 
          +------------------------------------------------------+ 

           Figure 2 Storage Controller with iSCSI, iWARP/TCP, iWARP/SCTP, and 
                                    IB connections 

         The normal iSCSI portal group advertising processes (for SLP, iSNS, 
         or SendTargets commands) are available to a Storage Controller.   

      3.3  Discovery processes for an InfiniBand Host 

         An InfiniBand Host system can gather portal group IP address from 
         SLP, iSNS, or the SendTargets discovery processes by using TCP/IP 
         via IPoIB.  After obtaining one or more remote portal IP addresses, 
         the Initiator uses the standard IP mechanisms to resolve the IP 
         address to a local outgoing interface and the destination hardware 
         address (Ethernet MAC or IB GID of the target or a gateway leading 
         to the target). If the resolved interface is an IPoIB network 
         interface, then the target portal can be reached through an 
         InfiniBand fabric. In this case the Initiator can establish an 
         iSCSI/TCP or iSCSI/iSER session with the Target over that InfiniBand 
         interface, using the Hardware Address (InfiniBand GID) obtained 
         through the standard Address Resolution (ARP) processes.  

         If more than one IP address are obtained through the discovery 
         process, the Initiator should select a Target IP address that is on 
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         the same IP subnet as the Initiator if one exists. This will avoid a 
         potential overhead of going through a gateway when a direct path 
         exist. 

         In addition a user can configure manual static IP route entries if a 
         particular path to the target is preferred.   

          

      3.4  IBTA Connection specifications 

         It is expected that the InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) only 
         needs to define: 

          . Means for permitting a Host to establish an iSCSI/iSER connection 
            with a peer InfiniBand end-node, and indicating when that end-
            node does not support iSER, so the Host would be able to fall 
            back to iSCSI/TCP over IPoIB.  

          . Means for permitting the Host to establish connections with IB 
            iSER connections on Storage Controllers or IB iSER connected 
            Gateways in preference to IPoIB connected Gateways/Bridges or 
            connections to Target Storage Controllers that also accept iSCSI 
            via IPoIB.  

          The IBTA may also decide to specify how iSER may be implemented on 
          connections dealing features that are optional for IB 
          implementations. (See section 5.3)  

          Everything else that is needed is defined in the generalizations 
          made to the iSER specification in this document. 

          The following are implementation issues and need not be 
          standardized by IBTA:  

            . How implementations determine which iSCSI/iSER portal group to 
               use. (Basing the decision on new information that may be 
               placed in the iSCSI discovery information is not required, and 
               simple trial selection is acceptable.)   

            . How implementations determine how to best handle the concept 
               of multiple connections per session as it deals with multiple 
               IB Addresses:Ports per Portal Group.   
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      4  Preferred changes to iSCSI Discovery Data 

       The iSER/iWARP/SCTP initiator has similar problems in locating the 
       appropriate Portal Group similar to an InfiniBand initiator.  That is, 
       it must check each discovered Portal Group IP address to see if it 
       will accept an iSER/iWARP/SCTP connection. 

       Even though it is possible for the InfiniBand Host initiator or an 
       iSER/iWARP/SCTP initiator to pick an appropriate connection, the 
       approach may not be optimal, and it takes up needless resources and 
       time by attempting to connect to each portal Group.   

       Therefore, it is useful to have a connection type associated with the 
       Portal Group Tag that will permit the most appropriate connections to 
       be made without needless connection tries and failures. 

       For these reasons we will also submit updates to the [iSCSI] 
       (SendTargets), [SLP], and [iSNS] Drafts/RFCs that will add an 
       additional tag following the Portal Group Number.  The types will be 
       documented by IANA, with the following definitions. 

       Portal Group Type   IANA Portal Group Value  

       iSCSI                     0, or blank 

       iSER/iWARP/TCP            1  

       iSER/iWARP/SCTP           2 

       iSER/iWARP/IB             3 

        

       If other connection types are defined later they will also need to 
       obtain an IANA Portal Group type value. 

       The syntax of the parameter will be IP Address:Port[, PG#[, Type#]] 

       If there is no Type# specified it will be assumed to be an iSCSI 
       capable Portal, or one that must be tested via the connection and 
       Login Process. 

        





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      5  The Appropriate Standardization Organizations for iSER/IB 

      5.1  The IETF ips Working Group Standardization 

         iSER document will be updated to generalize the use of iSER for 
         other RDMA-capable protocol layers such as iSER over IB or iSER over 
         iWARP/SCTP. (See the suggested words in section 2 and the Appendix 
         of this document.) There may also be an informational appendix to 
         explain how the InfiniBand Path connection will be done and how the 
         Login parameters will be handled in an InfiniBand environment. 

      5.2  The InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) Standardization 

         The InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) will be asked to standardize 
         the iSER Connection process that permits the selection of the best 
         path from the Host. (See section 3.4 “IBTA Connection 
         specifications” above.) 

      5.3  IBTA and optional InfiniBand Features 

         Since the IBTA has made key capabilities optional that are currently 
         required by iSER, such as ZBTO (a.k.a. ZBVA in InfiniBand) and 
         SendInvSE, it is required that IBTA documents how it will support an 
         iSER connection process (perhaps including the Hello/HelloReply 
         messages) that permits the iSER implementation to understand the 
         limitations of the remote peer.  It is also required that IBTA 
         documents how a version of iSER, which understands the limitations 
         of its peer, should operate in that environment. 

         It should be noted that this places a requirement on the iSER/IB to 
         iSER/iWARP (or iSCSI) Gateway to support the ZBTOs (ZBVAs) on the IP 
         side of the Gateway. This means that it must keep the Virtual 
         Addresses associated with every outstanding STag, so that it can 
         convert the VA to and from the ZBTO required by the iSER/iWARP peer.  

      5.4  ServiceID and IP Port number 

         The IBTA will be asked to standardize the iSER ServiceID, and how 
         the ServiceID can be added to the IP port number during the 
         connection process. 








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      6  IANA Considerations  

         The following additional items will require registration with IANA 
         before the resulting draft can be approved to become an RFC: 

         None are known at this time. 

          

        

        

              

        
































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      7  References 

      7.1  Informative References 

          

         [DA] M. Chadalapaka et al., "Datamover Architecture for iSCSI", IETF 
             Internet-draft, draft-ietf-ips-da-00.txt (work in progress), 
             September 2004 

         [DDP] H. Shah et al., "Direct Data Placement over Reliable 
             Transports", IETF Internet-draft draft-ietf-rddp-ddp-03.txt 
             (work in progress), August 2004 

         [IPSEC] S. Kent et al., "Security Architecture for the Internet 
             Protocol", RFC 2401, November 1998 

         [iSCSI] J. Satran et al., "iSCSI", RFC 3720, April 2004 

         [iSER] M. Ko et. al., ”iSCSI Extensions for RDMA Specification”, 
             IETF Internet-draft draft-ko-iwarp-iser-00.txt 

         [iSNS] Josh Tseng et. al., Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), 
             IETF Internet-draft, draft-ietf-ips-isns-22.txt 

         [MPA] P. Culley et al., "Marker PDU Aligned Framing for TCP 
             Specification", IETF Internet-draft draft-ietf-rddp-mpa-01.txt 
             (work in progress), July 2004 

         [RDMAP] R. Recio et al., "An RDMA Protocol Specification", IETF 
             Internet-draft draft-ietf-rddp-rdmap-01.txt (work in progress), 
             October 2003 

         [SAM2] T10/1157D, SCSI Architecture Model - 2 (SAM-2) 

         [SLP] M. Bakke et. al., Finding iSCSI Targets and Name Servers Using 
             SLP, IETF Internet-draft, draft-ietf-ips-iscsi-slp-09.txt 

         [TCP] Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7, RFC 793, 
             September 1981 

         [VERBS] J. Hilland et al., "RDMA Protocol Verbs Specification", 
             RDMAC Consortium Draft Specification draft-hilland-iwarp-verbs-
             v1.0-RDMAC, April 2003 




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      8  Appendix 

      8.1  Additional detailed [iSER] document modification 

         The new terms introduced in the subsections under section 2.1 will 
         replace the existing ones in the [iSER] document where appropriate.  
         In addition, the following changes and clarifications are needed. 

      8.1.1  Adjustment to Section 2.1 Motivation 

         The fourth paragraph should be adjusted such as:  

         Supporting direct data placement is the main function of an RDMA-
         capable protocol.  An RDMA-Capable Controller (such as a NIC 
         enhanced with the RDMAP/DDP functions layered on top of MPA/TCP or 
         SCTP, or an Infiniband Host Channel Adapter or Target Channel 
         Adapter) can be used by any application that has been extended to 
         support RDMA.  

      8.1.2  Adjustment to Section 2.2 Architectural Goals 

         The following are changes that should be considered for the numbered 
         paragraphs: 

         1. Provide an RDMA data transfer model for iSCSI that enables direct 
         in order or out of order data placement of SCSI data into pre-
         allocated SCSI buffers while maintaining in order data delivery. 

         5. Allow initiator and target implementations that utilize generic 
         RDMA-capable controllers such as RNICs and implement iSCSI and iSER 
         in software (not require iSCSI or iSER specific assists in the RDMA-
         capable protocol or RDMA-capable controller).  

         6. Require full and only generic RDMA-capable protocol functionality 
         at both the initiator and the target.  

          

      8.1.3  Adjustment to Section 2.3 Protocol Overview  

         The following is a suggestion for changes that should be considered 
         for the paragraph number 6: 

         6. The RDMA-capable protocol guarantees data integrity.  (For 
         example, for TCP, iWARP includes a CRC-enhanced framing layer 
         (called MPA) on top of TCP; for SCTP, the CRCs are included in the 
         SCTP protocol; and for Infiniband, the CRCs are included in the 

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         Reliable Connection mode.)  For this reason, iSCSI header and data 
         digests are negotiated to "None" for iSCSI/iSER sessions. 

      8.1.4  Adjustment to Section 2.4 RDMA services and iSER  

         Additional generalization wordage is needed.  The following is a 
         change that should be considered for the first paragraph: 

         iSER is designed to work with software and/or hardware protocol 
         stacks providing the protocol services defined in RDMA-capable 
         protocol documents such as [RDMAP], [IB], etc. 

      8.1.5  Adjustment to Section 2.7 iSCSI/iSER Layering  

         The layering wordage needs additional generalization and the example 
         needs to be made more general. The following is suggested wordage 
         and a suggested replacement for figure 1: 

         “iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER) is layered between the iSCSI layer 
         and the RDMA-capable protocol layer.  Figure 1 shows an example of 
         the relationship between SCSI, iSCSI, iSER, RDMA-capable protocol 
         layers such as iWARP and [IB], and the underlying transports such as 
         TCP, SCTP, or [IB].” 

























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                          +------------------------------------------------+  
                          |                      SCSI                      |  
                          +------------------------------------------------+  
                          |                     iSCSI                      |  
               DI ------> +------------------------------------------------+  
                          |                     iSER                       |  
                          +------------------------+------------+----------+  
                          |           RDMAP        |            |          | 
                          +------------------------+            |          | 
                          |            DDP         |            |  Other   | 
                          +--------------+---------+ InfiniBand | Possible | 
                          |     MPA      |         |    (RC)    |   RCP    | 
                          +--------------+  SCTP   |            |          | 
                          |     TCP      |         |            |          | 
                          +--------------+---------+------------+----------+ 
                          |            IP          | [IB] (LLP) |Other LLP |    
                          +------------------------+------------+----------+ 
          

         Figure 3 Generic example of iSCSI/iSER Layering in Full Feature Mode  

          

          

          

      8.1.6  Generalization of Other iSER Sections 

         The following are changes that should be considered for section 4.1 
         Interactions with the iWARP Layer (which should change to 
         Interaction with the RDMA-Capable Protocol) 

          . In the next to last * paragraph consider replacing that paragraph 
            with the following: 

               o “*   For LLPs operating in the stream mode, such as TCP, the 
                 RDMA-capable protocol implementation supports the enabling 

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                 of the RDMA mode after Connection establishment and the 
                 exchange of Login parameters in stream mode.  For LLPs that 
                 have message delivery capability, such as SCTP or [IB], the 
                 iSCSI Layer may use that messaging capability immediately 
                 after connection establishment before enabling iSER-assisted 
                 mode. The native messaging facility of such an LLP may be 
                 used for the Login parameter exchanges.”  

         The following are changes that should be considered for section 4.2 
         Interactions with the Transport Layer 

          . “The iSER Layer does not interface with the transport layer 
            (e.g.,    TCP, SCTP or [IB]) directly.  During Connection setup, 
            the iSCSI Layer is responsible for setting up the Connection.  If 
            the login is    successful, the iSCSI Layer invokes the 
            Enable_Datamover Operational    Primitive to request the iSER 
            Layer to transition to the iSER-   assisted mode for that iSCSI 
            connection.  See section 5.1 on    iSCSI/iSER Connection setup.  
            After transitioning to iSER-assisted   mode, the RDMA-capable 
            protocol layer and the underlying LLP are responsible for 
            maintaining the Connection and reporting to the iSER Layer of any 
            Connection failures. ”  

      8.1.6.1  Adjustments to 5.1 iSCSI/iSER Connection Setup  

         The following is a new Section 5.1 paragraph (insert after paragraph 
         1) that should be considered  

          . “When a messaging capability is supported by the underlying 
            transport (e.g. SCTP or InfiniBand), the messaging capability may 
            be used by both the initiator and the target to exchange the 
            iSCSI Login Request and Login Response PDUs. The method for 
            establishing the actual connection is protocol specific and 
            outside the scope of this specification.” 

         The following are changes that should be considered for the last 
         paragraph in 5.1 

          . “When the RDMAExtensions key is negotiated to "Yes", the 
            HeaderDigest   and the DataDigest keys MUST be negotiated to 
            "None" on all iSCSI/iSER connections participating in that iSCSI 
            session.  This is    because, for an iSCSI/iSER connection, the 
            RDMA-capable protocol provides a CRC based error detection for 
            all iSER Messages.”  




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      8.1.6.2  Adjustment to Section 5.1.1 Initiator Behavior 

       The following are changes that should be considered for the 11th 
       paragraph of section 5.1.1 Initiator Behavior.  

          . “3. If necessary, the iSER Layer MUST enable the RDMA-capable 
            protocol and transition the connection to iSER-assisted mode. 
            (Some RDMA-capable protocol, such as [IB], does not require 
            special enablement for RDMA support.)”  

      8.1.6.3  Adjustment to Section 5.1.2 Target Behavior 

       In section 5.1.2 all the references to “iWARP” should be replaced with 
       “the RDMA-capable protocol”.  

       Also in Section 5.1.2, the paragraph numbered as “4.” The following 
       should be considered as a replacement 

          . “4. After sending the final SCSI Login Response PDU, the iSER 
            Layer MUST enable the RDMA-capable protocol if necessary and 
            transition the connection to iSER-assisted mode. (Some RDMA-
            capable protocol, such as [IB], does not require special 
            enablement for RDMA support.)  Note that for TCP, the final SCSI 
            Login Response PDU is sent in byte stream mode.”  

         And the last paragraph in Section 5.1.2 should consider the 
         following for a replacement  

          . “Note: In the above sequence, the operations as described in    
            bullets 3 and 4 must be performed atomically for iWARP 
            connections. Failure to do this may result in race conditions.” 

         The following are changes that should be considered for the second 
         paragraph of 5.1.3 iSER Hello Exchange. (It tolerates connections 
         that might already be in RDMA mode when the Hello Exchanges were 
         sent.) 

          . “In response to the iSER Hello Message, the iSER Layer at the 
            target    MUST return the iSER HelloReply Message as the first 
            RCP Message sent by the target after the connection transitions 
            into iSER-assisted mode.  The iSER HelloReply Message is used by 
            the iSER Layer at the target to declare iSER parameters to the 
            initiator. See section 9.4 on iSER Header Format for iSER 
            HelloReply Message.” 


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      8.1.6.4  Adjustments to Section 11 Security Considerations 

         The following paragraphs should be considered as the replacement 
         paragraphs for Section 11 Security Considerations.  

         “When iSER is layered on top of an RDMA-capable protocol layer and 
         provides the RMDA extension to the iSCSI protocol, the security 
         considerations of iSER are similar to that of the underlying RDMA-
         capable protocol layer.  For iWARP, this is described in [RDMAP]. 

         If iSER is layered on top of the iWARP protocol Stack (TCP or SCTP), 
         all the Security protocol mechanisms described in [iSCSI] may be 
         deployed for an iSCSI/iSER connection. If the IPsec mechanism is 
         used, then it MUST be established before the connection transitions 
         to iSER-assisted mode. 

         If iSER is layered on top of a non-IP based RDMA-capable protocol 
         layer, the non-IPsec security protocol mechanisms described in 
         [iSCSI] MAY be deployed for an iSCSI/iSER connection.  The 
         authorized standards organization for that network’s protocols (such 
         as InfiniBand Trade Associations) is responsible for determining the 
         capability and requirement of that environment on the implementation 
         of IPsec.  

         If iSER is layered on top of a non-IP protocol, the IPsec protocols 
         and features, as specified in [iSCSI] MUST be implemented at any 
         point where the iSER protocol enters the IP network (e.g.,  via 
         gateways).  

      8.1.7  Adjustments to 13.2 Informational References  

         Add the following references: 

         [SCTP] R. Stewart, et. al., “Stream Control Transmission Protocol”, 

         RFC 2960 October 2000 (Updated by RFC3309) 

          

         [IB] InfiniBand Architecture Specification Volume 1 Release 1.2, 

         October 2004 

          




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         [IPoIB] H.K. Chu et al, "Transmission of IP over InfiniBand", IETF 
         Internet-draft draft-ietf-ipoib-ip-over-infiniband-07.txt (work in 
         progress), August, 2004 

          











































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      9  Author’s Address 

         John Hufferd 
             IBM Corp. 
             5600 Cottle Rd. 
             San Jose, CA 95120, USA 
             Phone: +1-408-256-0403 
             Email: hufferd@us.ibm.com 

         Mike Ko 
             IBM Corp. 
             650 Harry Rd. 
             San Jose, CA 95120, USA 
             Phone: +1-408-927-2085 
             Email: mako@us.ibm.com 

         Yaron Haviv 
             Voltaire Ltd. 
             9 Hamanofim St. 
             Herzelia 46725, Israel 
             Phone: +972.9.9717655 
             Email: yaronh@voltaire.com 

          
























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      10 Acknowledgments 

         David Black 
             EMC Corporation 
             176 South St.  
             Hopkinton, MA  01748, USA 
             Phone: +1-508-293-7953 
             Email: black_david@emc.com 

         Mallikarjun Chadalapaka 
             Hewlett-Packard Company 
             8000 Foothills Blvd. 
             Roseville, CA 95747-5668, USA 
             Phone: +1-916-785-5621 
             Email: cbm@rose.hp.com 

         Mike Krause 
             Hewlett-Packard Company 
             43LN 
             19410 Homestead Road 
             Cupertino, CA  95014, USA 
             Phone: +1-408-447-3191 
             Email: krause@cup.hp.com  

         Alex Nezhinsky 
             Voltaire Ltd.  
             9 Hamanofim St.  
             Herzelia 46725, Israel 
             Phone: +972.9.9717637 
             Email: alexn@voltaire.com 

          Renato J. Recio 
             IBM Corp. 
             11501 Burnett Road 
             Austin, TX 78758, USA 
             Phone: +1-512-838-3685 
             Email: recio@us.ibm.com 

         Tom Talpey 
             Network Appliance 
             375 Totten Pond Road 
             Waltham, MA 02451, USA 
             Phone: +1-781-768-5329 
             EMail: thomas.talpey@netapp.com 




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      11 Full Copyright Statement 

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