ips : padding of ahs & data segment.

[Santosh Rao <santoshr@cup.hp.com>]

All,

Can somebody clarify what the below wording is supposed to imply :

3.2.2.2 AHSLength  
         
The AHS is padded to an integer number of 4 byte words.

3.2.4 Data Segment 
         
The Data Segment is also padded to an integer number of 4 byte words. 


Does the above imply that there are EXACTLY 0 - 3 pad bytes so as to
align the AHS and data segment to the nearest 4 byte aligned boundary,
or can the AHS and data segment be aligned on any integer number of 4
byte words ??

For ex :
Assume a data segment length of 41 bytes. Does the above wording imply
that the data segment MUST be exactly padded to a length of 44 bytes, or
does it allow for padding to 44, 48, 52, 56... bytes ? (multiple integer
of 4 byte words.)

My interpretation is that the wording is loose and allows for the latter
(i.e. any multiple integer of 4 byte words.)

However, in order for this to work, the padding must be to the next
highest 4 byte word boundary beyond the ahs length or data segment
length. i.e. The pad bytes MUST range between 0 - 3 bytes.

I think the wording needs to be tightened to clarify this.

Comments ?

Thanks,
Santosh


-- 
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Santosh Rao
Software Design Engineer,
HP-UX iSCSI Driver Team,
Hewlett Packard, Cupertino.
email : santoshr@cup.hp.com
Phone : 408-447-3751
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