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    Re: iFCP as an IP Storage Work Item



    David,
    
    Why do you want to standardize a common encapsulation protocol
    for FCIP and iFCP if their semantics and behavior are completely
    different?  Would you want tunneling protocol implementations to
    also augment certain ELSs even though it isn't necessary for tunneling
    protocol operation?
    
    If a common encapsulation protocol was defined, I believe a
    negotiation protocol would be necessary to distinguish between
    usage as a gateway or tunneling protocol.  After that behavior
    would be completely different; the tunneling protocol doesn't
    need to augment ELSs, resolve Fibre Channel Address Identifiers
    to IP/N_Port IDs, or do anything else the gateway protocol
    would do.
    
                                             Ken
    
    David Robinson wrote:
    
    > I am throwing in my hat to have the WG support both iFCP and
    > FCIP.  From a business/customer perspective I find believable
    > markets for both approaches (both of which are still speculation).
    > >From a technical perspective they are similar enough that having
    > one standard mechanism and one different defacto mechanism will
    > cause more problems than it solves.
    >
    > It is clear that the semantic meaning of the two proposed protocols
    > cannot be merged as they do not operate in the same plane of
    > traditional stacks. However, from my reading of the two proposals
    > the encapsulation mechanisms are remarkably similar even though
    > their semantics are diverge significantly.  What I have started
    > (before my two weeks away from work, ahhhh...) but haven't
    > yet finished, is an investigation on standardizing a common
    > encapsulation protocol for FC over TCP/IP. The the FCIP vs iFCP
    > becomes a higher level interpretation of the semantics of the
    > bits instead of also having two completely different stacks.
    >
    >         -David
    
    --
    Kenneth Hirata
    Vixel Corporation
    Irvine, CA 92618
    Phone: (949) 450-6100
    Email: khirata@vixel.com
    
    
    


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Last updated: Tue Sep 04 01:05:58 2001
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