RE: iSCSI: INQUIRY page 0x83 identifier

["Charles Binford" <Charles.Binford@BlueSpruceNet.com>]

Jim,  You didn't confuse me more - you made a very good point.  The
identifier is for the LU and is *independent* of the transport.  In fact, it
is vital that the same identifier be given over any path, any transport.
Consider a storage device that has multiple host interfaces, some may be FC,
some may be iSCSI, some may be parallel SCSI.  If a host does an INQUIRY
page x83 to the same LU through any of the above mentioned interfaces, it
better get the same identifier back.

Using an "FC type identifier" does not imply the interface is FC.  It just
specifies the format of the data.  For the binary identifiers, even the
format of the identifier is a 'don't care' to the host as it should treat
them as opaque fields that can be matched, but not parsed.  By following the
format rules, however, the LU can ensure the identifier it gives is
world-wide unique.


Charles Binford
Blue Spruce Networks
office/cell: (316) 210-6404
e-fax: (509) 756-4425




-----Original Message-----
From: owner-ips@ece.cmu.edu [mailto:owner-ips@ece.cmu.edu]On Behalf Of
Jim Hafner
Sent: Wednesday, January 24, 2001 9:33 PM
To: ips@ece.cmu.edu
Subject: Re: iSCSI: INQUIRY page 0x83 identifier



JP,

The identifier in this page of Inquiry is NOT at the 'target device' or
'iSCSI device' layer.  It is an identifier for the logical unit to which
the inquiry command was sent.  The FC format was meant primarily for FC
disk drives that have only one logical unit (though it can be used in some
ways by FC controllers, etc.).
[deleted]

Did I confuse things even more?

Jim Hafner