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[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index] RE: FCIP Comment 44 - Proposed text for new sectionI didn't see a lot of traffic on this. I think it's both well-written amd useful, and should stave off certain classes of future questions. Brian Forbes Brocade Communications -----Original Message----- From: Ralph Weber [mailto:ralphoweber@compuserve.com] Sent: Friday, May 10, 2002 5:47 AM To: IPS Reflector Subject: FCIP Comment 44 - Proposed text for new section The following is the text proposed for the new FCIP section that is described in the response to Last Call comment 44. 8.2 Overview of FSF Usage in Connection Establishment When a new TCP Connection is established, an FCIP Special Frame makes one round trip from the FCIP Entity initiating the TCP connect operation to the FCIP Entity receiving the TCP connect request and back. This FSF usage serves three functions: - Identification of the FCIP Link endpoints - Conveyance of a few critical parameters shared by the FC/FCIP Entity pairs involved in the FCIP Link - Configuration discovery (used in place of SLP only when allowed by site security policies) The specific requirements for this usage of the FSF are found in section 9.1. This section provides an overview of the FSF usage without stating requirements. Because FCIP is only a tunnel for a Fibre Channel Fabric and because the Fabric has its own complex link setup algorithm that can be employed for many FCIP link setup needs, it is desirable to minimize the complexity of the FSF usage during TCP Connection setup. With this in mind, this FSF usage is not a login or parameter negotiation mechanism. A single FSF transits each newly established TCP connection as the first bytes sent in each direction. Note: This usage of the FSF cannot be eliminated entirely because a newly created TCP Connection must be associated with the correct FCIP Link before FC Fabric initialization of the connection can commence. The first bytes sent from the TCP connect request initiator to the receiver are an FSF identifying both the sender and who the sender thinks is the receiver. If the contents of this FSF are correct and acceptable to the receiver, the unchanged FSF is echoed back to the sender. This send/echo process is the only set of actions that allows the TCP Connection to be used to carry FC Fabric traffic. If the send and unchanged echo process does not occur, the algorithm followed at one or both ends of the TCP Connection results in the closure of the TCP Connection (see section 9.1 for specific algorithm requirements). Note: Owing to the limited manner in which the FSF is used and the requirement that the FSF be echoed without changes before a TCP Connection is allowed to carry user data, no error checking beyond that provided by TCP is deemed necessary. As described above, the primary purpose of the FSF usage during TCP Connection setup is identifying the FCIP Link to which the new TCP Connection belongs. From these beginnings, it is only a small stretch to envision using the FSF as a simplified configuration discovery tool, and the mechanics of such a usage are described in section 9.1. However, use of the FSF for configuration discovery lacks the broad range of capabilities provided by SLP v2 and most particularly lacks the security capabilities of SLP v2. For these reasons, using the FSF for configuration discovery is not appropriate for all environments. Thus the choice to use the FSF for discovery purposes is a policy choice to be included in the TCP Connection Establishment "shared" database described in section 9.1.1. When FSF-based configuration discovery is enabled, the normal TCP Connection setup rules outlined above are modified as follows. Normally, the algorithm executed by an FCIP Entity receiving an FSF includes verifying that its own identification information in the arriving FSF is correct and closing the TCP Connection if it is not. This can be viewed as requiring the initiator of a TCP connect request to know in advance the identity of the FCIP Entity that is the target of that request (using SLP, for example), and through the FSF effectively saying, "I think I'm talking to X." If the party at the other end of the TCP connect request is really Y, then it simply hangs up. FSF-based discovery allows the "I think I'm talking to X" to be replaced with "Please tell me who I am talking to?", which is accomplished by replacing an explicit value in the Destination FC Fabric Entity World Wide Name field with zero. If the policy at the receiving FCIP Entity allows FSF-based discovery, the zero is replaced with the correct Destination FC Fabric Entity World Wide Name value in the echoed FSF. This is still subject to the rules of sending with unchanged echo, and so closure of TCP Connection occurs after the echoed FSF is received by the TCP connect initiator. Despite the TCP Connection closure, however, the TCP connect initiator now knows the correct Destination FC Fabric Entity World Wide Name identity of the FCIP Entity at a given IP Address and a subsequent TCP Connection setup sequence probably will be successful. The Ch bit in the pFlags field (see section 6.6.1) allows for differentiation between changes in the FSF resulting from transmission errors and changes resulting from intentional acts by the FSF recipient.
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