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    Re: iSCSI: multiple sessions b/n a pair of WWUIs.



    
    Santosh,
    
    There may be lack of synchronization between the two drafts (not unexpected
    since they are being worked on in parallel).
    
    The requirement in name+disc that a given initiator name cannot reuse an
    ISID for two different sessions comes as a consequence a number of things
    (which are described in the draft).  The gist is that this is needed to
    provide the correct context for restoration of reservations state (and
    other nexus state) to a particular nexus after logout/login. In other
    words, if the session goes down for some reason, the target needs clear
    context to restore nexus state to a rebuilt session. The only tool it has
    is uniqueness of Name+ISID combination within its name space.
    
    There was a similar requirement in draft...05.txt in 2.11.5 (though that
    was ambiguous about whether ISIDs are unique within a target across all
    initiator names or just with respect to a given initiator name).
    Apparently that requirement is now gone from draft...06.txt!
    
    The requirement forces carving up ISID namespaces between iSCSI adapters
    (session managers) in a given node.  They each get their name and a piece
    of the ISID space from configuration information.  You mentioned this
    yourself in a related reply in this thread to Hari.
    
    So, we get multiple sessions between nodes (named things), single sessions
    between ports (one per ISID+TSID pair) and a framework for restoring
    necessary nexus state (uniqueness of Name+ISID at the target -- no reuse of
    ISID).   (I think Julo's comment is that he has had time to keep up with
    the formalization done in N&DT within the last week.)
    
    I think/hope this has everything needed.
    
    [But I have to admit, this is sort of a hack to get the iSCSI constructs to
    shoe-horn into the SAM constructs.  All of this would have been a lot
    easier if we hadn't gone to multiple connections per session. iSCSI is the
    first protocol to allow for such constructs.]
    
    Jim Hafner
    
    
    Santosh Rao <santoshr@cup.hp.com>@ece.cmu.edu on 04/25/2001 04:34:39 PM
    
    Sent by:  owner-ips@ece.cmu.edu
    
    
    To:   Julian Satran/Haifa/IBM@IBMIL, IPS Reflector <ips@ece.cmu.edu>
    cc:
    Subject:  iSCSI: multiple sessions b/n a pair of WWUIs.
    
    
    
    > To: ips@ece.cmu.edu
    > Subject: Re: iSCSI: session login and ISID
    > From: julian_satran@il.ibm.com
    > Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 14:21:49 +0300
    
    
    > WWUI can be presented during login phase (2.10.9 is correct and in-line
    with 1.2.7) Two > sesions can have the same ISID but will have different
    TSID. The question of whether
    > more than one session should be allowed between a pair of wuis is under
    debate.
    
    > Julo
    
    
    Julian,
    
    There seems to be some disconnect between your comments above and the
    name-disc draft. As per the name-disc draft Section 2(d) :
    
    "There can be only one iSCSI  session with a given ISID between an iSCSI
    Intiator Node and an iSCSI Target Node."
    
    The iSCSI [&name-disc] drafts should explicitly state that ISID is
    uniquely assigned for a given initiator. Similarly, the TSID is uniquely
    assigned for a given target.
    
    On the subject of multiple sessions for a given pair of WWUIs, this MUST
    be a requirement. iSCSI must allow multiple sessions for a given pair of
    WWUIs.
    
    This is required because single-connection session models would like to
    setup multiple sessions b/n initiator hosts and multi-ported targets and
    export the multiple paths to LUs to upper layer wedge drivers like EMC
    Powerpath, Veritas VxVm, etc.
    
    Inability to establish multiple sessions b/n a pair of WWUIs implies
    iSCSI layer will only export one path to the upper layer wedge drivers,
    thereby, breaking such applications.
    
    This also implies iSCSI would then take on all the responsibilities of
    providing load balancing and fail-over capabilities and would require
    the use of multi-connection sessions for that purpose.
    
    By allowing multiple sessions for a given WWUI pair, iSCSI layer could
    achieve equivalent functionality using single connection sessions and
    would also not break existing wedge drivers.
    
    Regards,
    Santosh
    
    
    
    
    


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