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RFC 3720 - Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)
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RFC3720 - Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)
Network Working Group J. Satran
Request for Comments: 3720 K. Meth
Category: Standards Track IBM
C. Sapuntzakis
Cisco Systems
M. Chadalapaka
Hewlett-Packard Co.
E. Zeidner
IBM
April 2004
Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI)
Status of this Memo
This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes a transport protocol for Internet Small
Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) that works on top of TCP. The
iSCSI protocol aims to be fully compliant with the standardized SCSI
architecture model.
SCSI is a popular family of protocols that enable systems to
communicate with I/O devices, especially storage devices. SCSI
protocols are request/response application protocols with a common
standardized architecture model and basic command set, as well as
standardized command sets for different device classes (disks, tapes,
media-changers etc.).
As system interconnects move from the classical bus structure to a
network structure, SCSI has to be mapped to network transport
protocols. IP networks now meet the performance requirements of fast
system interconnects and as such are good candidates to "carry" SCSI.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. Definitions and Acronyms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1. Definitions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.2. Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.3. Conventions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3.1. Word Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.3.2. Half-Word Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
2.3.3. Byte Rule. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Overview. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.1. SCSI Concepts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3.2. iSCSI Concepts and Functional Overview . . . . . . . . 18
3.2.1. Layers and Sessions. . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.2. Ordering and iSCSI Numbering . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.2.1. Command Numbering and
Acknowledging . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.2.2.2. Response/Status Numbering and
Acknowledging . . . . . . . . . . 23
3.2.2.3. Data Sequencing . . . . . . . . 24
3.2.3. iSCSI Login. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
3.2.4. iSCSI Full Feature Phase . . . . . . . . . . 25
3.2.4.1. Command Connection Allegiance . . 26
3.2.4.2. Data Transfer Overview. . . . . . 27
3.2.4.3. Tags and Integrity Checks . . . . 28
3.2.4.4. Task Management . . . . . . . . . 28
3.2.5. iSCSI Connection Termination . . . . . . . . 29
3.2.6. iSCSI Names. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
3.2.6.1. iSCSI Name Properties . . . . . . 30
3.2.6.2. iSCSI Name Encoding . . . . . . . 31
3.2.6.3. iSCSI Name Structure. . . . . . . 32
3.2.6.3.1. Type "iqn." (iSCSI
Qualified Name) . . . 32
3.2.6.3.2. Type "eui." (IEEE
EUI-64 format). . . . 34
3.2.7. Persistent State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
3.2.8. Message Synchronization and Steering . . . . 35
3.2.8.1. Sync/Steering and iSCSI PDU
Length . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.3. iSCSI Session Types. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
3.4. SCSI to iSCSI Concepts Mapping Model . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.1. iSCSI Architecture Model . . . . . . . . . . 37
3.4.2. SCSI Architecture Model. . . . . . . . . . . 39
3.4.3. Consequences of the Model. . . . . . . . . . 41
3.4.3.1. I_T Nexus State . . . . . . . . . 42
3.5. Request/Response Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
3.5.1. Request/Response Types Carrying SCSI Payload 43
3.5.1.1. SCSI-Command . . . . . . . . . . 43
3.5.1.2. SCSI-Response . . . . . . . . . 43
3.5.1.3. Task Management Function Request. 44
3.5.1.4. Task Management Function Response 44
3.5.1.5. SCSI Data-Out and SCSI Data-In. . 44
3.5.1.6. Ready To Transfer (R2T) . . . . . 45
3.5.2. Requests/Responses carrying SCSI and iSCSI
Payload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.5.2.1. Asynchronous Message. . . . . . . 46
3.5.3. Requests/Responses Carrying iSCSI Only
Payload. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
3.5.3.1. Text Request and Text Response. . 46
3.5.3.2. Login Request and Login Response. 47
3.5.3.3. Logout Request and Response . . . 47
3.5.3.4. SNACK Request . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.5.3.5. Reject. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
3.5.3.6. NOP-Out Request and NOP-In
Response . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
4. SCSI Mode Parameters for iSCSI. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
5. Login and Full Feature Phase Negotiation. . . . . . . . . . . 48
5.1. Text Format. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
5.2. Text Mode Negotiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
5.2.1. List negotiations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
5.2.2. Simple-value Negotiations. . . . . . . . . . 56
5.3. Login Phase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
5.3.1. Login Phase Start. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
5.3.2. iSCSI Security Negotiation . . . . . . . . . 62
5.3.3. Operational Parameter Negotiation During
the Login Phase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
5.3.4. Connection Reinstatement . . . . . . . . . . 64
5.3.5. Session Reinstatement, Closure, and Timeout. 64
5 5.3.5.1. Loss of Nexus
Notification. . . . . 65
5.3.6. Session Continuation and Failure . . . . . . 65
5.4. Operational Parameter Negotiation Outside the Login
Phase. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
6. iSCSI Error Handling and Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.1. Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.1.1. Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.1.2. Goals. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
6.1.3. Protocol Features and State Expectations . . 68
6.1.4. Recovery Classes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
6.1.4.1. Recovery Within-command . . . . . 69
6.1.4.2. Recovery Within-connection. . . . 70
6.1.4.3. Connection Recovery . . . . . . . 71
6.1.4.4. Session Recovery. . . . . . . . . 72
6.1.5. Error Recovery Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . 72
6.2. Retry and Reassign in Recovery . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.2.1. Usage of Retry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
6.2.2. Allegiance Reassignment. . . . . . . . . . . 75
6.3. Usage Of Reject PDU in Recovery. . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.4. Connection Timeout Management. . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
6.4.1. Timeouts on Transport Exception Events . . . 77
6.4.2. Timeouts on Planned Decommissioning. . . . . 77
6.5. Implicit Termination of Tasks. . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
6.6. Format Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.7. Digest Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
6.8. Sequence Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
6.9. SCSI Timeouts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.10. Negotiation Failures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
6.11. Protocol Errors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.12. Connection Failures. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
6.13. Session Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
7. State Transitions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.1. Standard Connection State Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.1.1. State Descriptions for Initiators and
Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
7.1.2. State Transition Descriptions for Initiators
and Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
7.1.3. Standard Connection State Diagram for an
Initiator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
7.1.4. Standard Connection State Diagram for a
Target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
7.2. Connection Cleanup State Diagram for Initiators and
Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
7.2.1. State Descriptions for Initiators and
Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7.2.2. State Transition Descriptions for Initiators
and Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
7.3. Session State Diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
7.3.1. Session State Diagram for an Initiator . . . 95
7.3.2. Session State Diagram for a Target . . . . . 96
7.3.3. State Descriptions for Initiators and
Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
7.3.4. State Transition Descriptions for Initiators
and Targets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
8. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
8.1. iSCSI Security Mechanisms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
8.2. In-band Initiator-Target Authentication. . . . . . . . 100
8.2.1. CHAP Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
8.2.2. SRP Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
8.3. IPsec. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
8.3.1. Data Integrity and Authentication. . . . . . 104
8.3.2. Confidentiality. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
8.3.3. Policy, Security Associations, and
Cryptographic Key Management . . . . . . . . 105
9. Notes to Implementers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
9.1. Multiple Network Adapters. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
9.1.1. Conservative Reuse of ISIDs. . . . . . . . . 107
9.1.2. iSCSI Name, ISID, and TPGT Use . . . . . . . 107
9.2. Autosense and Auto Contingent Allegiance (ACA) . . . . 109
9.3. iSCSI Timeouts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
9.4. Command Retry and Cleaning Old Command Instances . . . 110
9.5. Synch and Steering Layer and Performance . . . . . . . 110
9.6. Considerations for State-dependent Devices and
Long-lasting SCSI Operations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
9.6.1. Determining the Proper ErrorRecoveryLevel. . 112
10. iSCSI PDU Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
10.1. iSCSI PDU Length and Padding . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.2. PDU Template, Header, and Opcodes. . . . . . . . . . . 113
10.2.1. Basic Header Segment (BHS) . . . . . . . . . 114
10.2.1.1. I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
10.2.1.2. Opcode. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
10.2.1.3. Final (F) bit . . . . . . . . . . 116
10.2.1.4. Opcode-specific Fields. . . . . . 116
10.2.1.5. TotalAHSLength. . . . . . . . . . 116
10.2.1.6. DataSegmentLength . . . . . . . . 116
10.2.1.7. LUN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
10.2.1.8. Initiator Task Tag. . . . . . . . 117
10.2.2. Additional Header Segment (AHS) . . . . . . . 117
10.2.2.1. AHSType . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
10.2.2.2. AHSLength . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
10.2.2.3. Extended CDB AHS. . . . . . . . . 118
10.2.2.4. Bidirectional Expected Read-Data
Length AHS. . . . . . . . . . . . 118
10.2.3. Header Digest and Data Digest. . . . . . . . 118
10.2.4. Data Segment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
10.3. SCSI Command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
10.3.1. Flags and Task Attributes (byte 1) . . . . . 120
10.3.2. CmdSN - Command Sequence Number. . . . . . . 120
10.3.3. ExpStatSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
10.3.4. Expected Data Transfer Length. . . . . . . . 121
10.3.5. CDB - SCSI Command Descriptor Block. . . . . 121
10.3.6. Data Segment - Command Data. . . . . . . . . 121
10.4. SCSI Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
10.4.1. Flags (byte 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
10.4.2. Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
10.4.3. Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 124
10.4.4. SNACK Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
10.4.5. Residual Count . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
10.4.6. Bidirectional Read Residual Count. . . . . . 125
10.4.7. Data Segment - Sense and Response Data
Segment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
10.4.7.1. SenseLength . . . . . . . . . . . 126
10.4.7.2. Sense Data. . . . . . . . . . . . 126
10.4.8. ExpDataSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
10.4.9. StatSN - Status Sequence Number. . . . . . . 127
10.4.10. ExpCmdSN - Next Expected CmdSN from this
Initiator. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
10.4.11. MaxCmdSN - Maximum CmdSN from this Initiator 128
10.5. Task Management Function Request . . . . . . . . . . . 129
10.5.1. Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
10.5.2. TotalAHSLength and DataSegmentLength . . . . 132
10.5.3. LUN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
10.5.4. Referenced Task Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
10.5.5. RefCmdSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132
10.5.6. ExpDataSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133
10.6. Task Management Function Response. . . . . . . . . . . 134
10.6.1. Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
10.6.2. Task Management Actions on Task Sets . . . . 136
10.6.3. TotalAHSLength and DataSegmentLength . . . . 137
10.7. SCSI Data-Out & SCSI Data-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
10.7.1. F (Final) Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
10.7.2. A (Acknowledge) Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
10.7.3. Flags (byte 1) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 140
10.7.4. Target Transfer Tag and LUN. . . . . . . . . 140
10.7.5. DataSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.7.6. Buffer Offset. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.7.7. DataSegmentLength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 141
10.8. Ready To Transfer (R2T). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142
10.8.1. TotalAHSLength and DataSegmentLength . . . . 143
10.8.2. R2TSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
10.8.3. StatSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.8.4. Desired Data Transfer Length and Buffer
Offset . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.8.5. Target Transfer Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
10.9. Asynchronous Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
10.9.1. AsyncEvent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 146
10.9.2. AsyncVCode . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
10.9.3. LUN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
10.9.4. Sense Data and iSCSI Event Data. . . . . . . 148
10.9.4.1. SenseLength . . . . . . . . . . . 148
10.10. Text Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
10.10.1. F (Final) Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
10.10.2. C (Continue) Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
10.10.3. Initiator Task Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
10.10.4. Target Transfer Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
10.10.5. Text . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151
10.11. Text Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
10.11.1. F (Final) Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
10.11.2. C (Continue) Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.11.3. Initiator Task Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.11.4. Target Transfer Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
10.11.5. StatSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
10.11.6. Text Response Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
10.12. Login Request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
10.12.1. T (Transit) Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.12.2. C (Continue) Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
10.12.3. CSG and NSG. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
10.12.4. Version. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
10.12.4.1. Version-max. . . . . . . . . . . 156
10.12.4.2. Version-min. . . . . . . . . . . 156
10.12.5. ISID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
10.12.6. TSIH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
10.12.7. Connection ID - CID. . . . . . . . . . . . . 158
10.12.8. CmdSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
10.12.9. ExpStatSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
10.12.10. Login Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
10.13. Login Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
10.13.1. Version-max. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
10.13.2. Version-active . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
10.13.3. TSIH . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
10.13.4. StatSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
10.13.5. Status-Class and Status-Detail . . . . . . . 161
10.13.6. T (Transit) Bit. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
10.13.7. C (Continue) Bit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
10.13.8. Login Parameters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164
10.14. Logout Request . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
10.14.1. Reason Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
10.14.2. TotalAHSLength and DataSegmentLength . . . . 168
10.14.3. CID. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
10.14.4. ExpStatSN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168
10.14.5. Implicit termination of tasks. . . . . . . . 168
10.15. Logout Response. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 169
10.15.1. Response . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
10.15.2. TotalAHSLength and DataSegmentLength . . . . 170
10.15.3. Time2Wait. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
10.15.4. Time2Retain. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
10.16. SNACK Request. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
10.16.1. Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 172
10.16.2. Data Acknowledgement . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
10.16.3. Resegmentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
10.16.4. Initiator Task Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
10.16.5. Target Transfer Tag or SNACK Tag . . . . . . 174
10.16.6. BegRun . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
10.16.7. RunLength. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
10.17. Reject . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
10.17.1. Reason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
10.17.2. DataSN/R2TSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
10.17.3. StatSN, ExpCmdSN and MaxCmdSN. . . . . . . . 177
10.17.4. Complete Header of Bad PDU . . . . . . . . . 177
10.18. NOP-Out. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
10.18.1. Initiator Task Tag . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
10.18.2. Target Transfer Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
10.18.3. Ping Data. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
10.19. NOP-In . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
10.19.1. Target Transfer Tag. . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
10.19.2. StatSN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
10.19.3. LUN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 181
11. iSCSI Security Text Keys and Authentication Methods . . . . . 181
11.1. AuthMethod . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 182
11.1.1. Kerberos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184
11.1.2. Simple Public-Key Mechanism (SPKM) . . . . . 184
11.1.3. Secure Remote Password (SRP) . . . . . . . . 185
11.1.4. Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
(CHAP) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
12. Login/Text Operational Text Keys. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
12.1. HeaderDigest and DataDigest. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 188
12.2. MaxConnections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
12.3. SendTargets. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
12.4. TargetName . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
12.5. InitiatorName. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
12.6. TargetAlias. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 192
12.7. InitiatorAlias . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
12.8. TargetAddress. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
12.9. TargetPortalGroupTag . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
12.10. InitialR2T . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
12.11. ImmediateData. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
12.12. MaxRecvDataSegmentLength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
12.13. MaxBurstLength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 196
12.14. FirstBurstLength . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
12.15. DefaultTime2Wait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197
12.16. DefaultTime2Retain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
12.17. MaxOutstandingR2T. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
12.18. DataPDUInOrder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198
12.19. DataSequenceInOrder. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
12.20. ErrorRecoveryLevel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 199
12.21. SessionType. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200
12.22. The Private or Public Extension Key Format . . . . . . 200
13. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 201
13.1. Naming Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
13.2. Mechanism Specification Requirements . . . . . . . . . 203
13.3. Publication Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
13.4. Security Requirements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
13.5. Registration Procedure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
13.5.1. Present the iSCSI extension item to the
Community. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
13.5.2. iSCSI extension item review and IESG
approval . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
13.5.3. IANA Registration. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 204
13.5.4. Standard iSCSI extension item-label format . 204
13.6. IANA Procedures for Registering iSCSI extension items. 205
References. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205
Appendix A. Sync and Steering with Fixed Interval Markers . . . . 209
A.1. Markers At Fixed Intervals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
A.2. Initial Marker-less Interval . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
A.3. Negotiation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
A.3.1. OFMarker, IFMarker . . . . . . . . . . . . . 210
A.3.2. OFMarkInt, IFMarkInt . . . . . . . . . . . . 211
Appendix B. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
B.1. Read Operation Example . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 212
B.2. Write Operation Example. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 213
B.3. R2TSN/DataSN Use Examples. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 214
B.4. CRC Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Appendix C. Login Phase Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
Appendix D. SendTargets Operation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
Appendix E. Algorithmic Presentation of Error Recovery Classes . 233
E.1. General Data Structure and Procedure Description . . . 233
E.2. Within-command Error Recovery Algorithms . . . . . . . 234
E.2.1. Procedure Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . 234
E.2.2. Initiator Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
E.2.3. Target Algorithms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237
E.3. Within-connection Recovery Algorithms. . . . . . . . . 240
E.3.1. Procedure Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . 240
E.3.2. Initiator Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . 241
E.3.3. Target Algorithms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
E.4. Connection Recovery Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . 243
E.4.1. Procedure Descriptions . . . . . . . . . . . 243
E.4.2. Initiator Algorithms . . . . . . . . . . . . 244
E.4.3. Target Algorithms. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246
Appendix F. Clearing Effects of Various Events on Targets. . . . 249
F.1. Clearing Effects on iSCSI Objects. . . . . . . . . . . 249
F.2. Clearing Effects on SCSI Objects . . . . . . . . . . . 253
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 254
Authors' Addresses. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 256
Full Copyright Statement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 257
1. Introduction
The Small Computer Systems Interface (SCSI) is a popular family of
protocols for communicating with I/O devices, especially storage
devices. SCSI is a client-server architecture. Clients of a SCSI
interface are called "initiators". Initiators issue SCSI "commands"
to request services from components, logical units of a server known
as a "target". A "SCSI transport" maps the client-server SCSI
protocol to a specific interconnect. An Initiator is one endpoint of
a SCSI transport and a target is the other endpoint.
The SCSI protocol has been mapped over various transports, including
Parallel SCSI, IPI, IEEE-1394 (firewire) and Fibre Channel. These
transports are I/O specific and have limited distance capabilities.
The iSCSI protocol defined in this document describes a means of
transporting SCSI packets over TCP/IP (see [RFC791], [RFC793],
[RFC1035], [RFC1122]), providing for an interoperable solution which
can take advantage of existing Internet infrastructure, Internet
management facilities, and address distance limitations.
2. Definitions and Acronyms
2.1. Definitions
- Alias: An alias string can also be associated with an iSCSI Node.
The alias allows an organization to associate a user-friendly
string with the iSCSI Name. However, the alias string is not a
substitute for the iSCSI Name.
- CID (Connection ID): Connections within a session are identified by
a connection ID. It is a unique ID for this connection within the
session for the initiator. It is generated by the initiator and
presented to the target during login requests and during logouts
that close connections.
- Connection: A connection is a TCP connection. Communication
between the initiator and target occurs over one or more TCP
connections. The TCP connections carry control messages, SCSI
commands, parameters, and data within iSCSI Protocol Data Units
(iSCSI PDUs).
- iSCSI Device: A SCSI Device using an iSCSI service delivery
subsystem. Service Delivery Subsystem is defined by [SAM2] as a
transport mechanism for SCSI commands and responses.
- iSCSI Initiator Name: The iSCSI Initiator Name specifies the
worldwide unique name of the initiator.
- iSCSI Initiator Node: The "initiator". The word "initiator" has
been appropriately qualified as either a port or a device in the
rest of the document when the context is ambiguous. All
unqualified usages of "initiator" refer to an initiator port (or
device) depending on the context.
- iSCSI Layer: This layer builds/receives iSCSI PDUs and
relays/receives them to/from one or more TCP connections that form
an initiator-target "session".
- iSCSI Name: The name of an iSCSI initiator or iSCSI target.
- iSCSI Node: The iSCSI Node represents a single iSCSI initiator or
iSCSI target. There are one or more iSCSI Nodes within a Network
Entity. The iSCSI Node is accessible via one or more Network
Portals. An iSCSI Node is identified by its iSCSI Name. The
separation of the iSCSI Name from the addresses used by and for the
iSCSI Node allows multiple iSCSI Nodes to use the same address, and
the same iSCSI Node to use multiple addresses.
- iSCSI Target Name: The iSCSI Target Name specifies the worldwide
unique name of the target.
- iSCSI Target Node: The "target".
- iSCSI Task: An iSCSI task is an iSCSI request for which a response
is expected.
- iSCSI Transfer Direction: The iSCSI transfer direction is defined
with regard to the initiator. Outbound or outgoing transfers are
transfers from the initiator to the target, while inbound or
incoming transfers are from the target to the initiator.
- ISID: The initiator part of the Session Identifier. It is
explicitly specified by the initiator during Login.
- I_T nexus: According to [SAM2], the I_T nexus is a relationship
between a SCSI Initiator Port and a SCSI Target Port. For iSCSI,
this relationship is a session, defined as a relationship between
an iSCSI Initiator's end of the session (SCSI Initiator Port) and
the iSCSI Target's Portal Group. The I_T nexus can be identified
by the conjunction of the SCSI port names; that is, the I_T nexus
identifier is the tuple (iSCSI Initiator Name + ',i,'+ ISID, iSCSI
Target Name + ',t,'+ Portal Group Tag).
- Network Entity: The Network Entity represents a device or gateway
that is accessible from the IP network. A Network Entity must have
one or more Network Portals, each of which can be used to gain
access to the IP network by some iSCSI Nodes contained in that
Network Entity.
- Network Portal: The Network Portal is a component of a Network
Entity that has a TCP/IP network address and that may be used by an
iSCSI Node within that Network Entity for the connection(s) within
one of its iSCSI sessions. A Network Portal in an initiator is
identified by its IP address. A Network Portal in a target is
identified by its IP address and its listening TCP port.
- Originator: In a negotiation or exchange, the party that initiates
the negotiation or exchange.
- PDU (Protocol Data Unit): The initiator and target divide their
communications into messages. The term "iSCSI protocol data unit"
(iSCSI PDU) is used for these messages.
- Portal Groups: iSCSI supports multiple connections within the same
session; some implementations will have the ability to combine
connections in a session across multiple Network Portals. A Portal
Group defines a set of Network Portals within an iSCSI Network
Entity that collectively supports the capability of coordinating a
session with connections spanning these portals. Not all Network
Portals within a Portal Group need participate in every session
connected through that Portal Group. One or more Portal Groups may
provide access to an iSCSI Node. Each Network Portal, as utilized
by a given iSCSI Node, belongs to exactly one portal group within
that node.
- Portal Group Tag: This 16-bit quantity identifies a Portal Group
within an iSCSI Node. All Network Portals with the same portal
group tag in the context of a given iSCSI Node are in the same
Portal Group.
- Recovery R2T: An R2T generated by a target upon detecting the loss
of one or more Data-Out PDUs through one of the following means: a
digest error, a sequence error, or a sequence reception timeout. A
recovery R2T carries the next unused R2TSN, but requests all or
part of the data burst that an earlier R2T (with a lower R2TSN) had
already requested.
- Responder: In a negotiation or exchange, the party that responds to
the originator of the negotiation or exchange.
- SCSI Device: This is the SAM2 term for an entity that contains one
or more SCSI ports that are connected to a service delivery
subsystem and supports a SCSI application protocol. For example, a
SCSI Initiator Device contains one or more SCSI Initiator Ports and
zero or more application clients. A Target Device contains one or
more SCSI Target Ports and one or more device servers and
associated logical units. For iSCSI, the SCSI Device is the
component within an iSCSI Node that provides the SCSI
functionality. As such, there can be at most, one SCSI Device
within a given iSCSI Node. Access to the SCSI Device can only be
achieved in an iSCSI normal operational session. The SCSI Device
Name is defined to be the iSCSI Name of the node.
- SCSI Layer: This builds/receives SCSI CDBs (Command Descriptor
Blocks) and relays/receives them with the remaining command execute
[SAM2] parameters to/from the iSCSI Layer.
- Session: The group of TCP connections that link an initiator with a
target form a session (loosely equivalent to a SCSI I-T nexus).
TCP connections can be added and removed from a session. Across
all connections within a session, an initiator sees one and the
same target.
- SCSI Initiator Port: This maps to the endpoint of an iSCSI normal
operational session. An iSCSI normal operational session is
negotiated through the login process between an iSCSI initiator
node and an iSCSI target node. At successful completion of this
process, a SCSI Initiator Port is created within the SCSI Initiator
Device. The SCSI Initiator Port Name and SCSI Initiator Port
Identifier are both defined to be the iSCSI Initiator Name together
with (a) a label that identifies it as an initiator port
name/identifier and (b) the ISID portion of the session identifier.
- SCSI Port: This is the SAM2 term for an entity in a SCSI Device
that provides the SCSI functionality to interface with a service
delivery subsystem. For iSCSI, the definition of the SCSI
Initiator Port and the SCSI Target Port are different.
- SCSI Port Name: A name made up as UTF-8 [RFC2279] characters and
includes the iSCSI Name + 'i' or 't' + ISID or Portal Group Tag.
- SCSI Target Port: This maps to an iSCSI Target Portal Group.
- SCSI Target Port Name and SCSI Target Port Identifier: These are
both defined to be the iSCSI Target Name together with (a) a label
that identifies it as a target port name/identifier and (b) the
portal group tag.
- SSID (Session ID): A session between an iSCSI initiator and an
iSCSI target is defined by a session ID that is a tuple composed of
an initiator part (ISID) and a target part (Target Portal Group
Tag). The ISID is explicitly specified by the initiator at session
establishment. The Target Portal Group Tag is implied by the
initiator through the selection of the TCP endpoint at connection
establishment. The TargetPortalGroupTag key must also be returned
by the target as a confirmation during connection establishment
when TargetName is given.
- Target Portal Group Tag: A numerical identifier (16-bit) for an
iSCSI Target Portal Group.
- TSIH (Target Session Identifying Handle): A target assigned tag for
a session with a specific named initiator. The target generates it
during session establishment. Its internal format and content are
not defined by this protocol, except for the value 0 that is
reserved and used by the initiator to indicate a new session. It
is given to the target during additional connection establishment
for the same session.
2.2. Acronyms
Acronym Definition
------------------------------------------------------------
3DES Triple Data Encryption Standard
ACA Auto Contingent Allegiance
AEN Asynchronous Event Notification
AES Advanced Encryption Standard
AH Additional Header (not the IPsec AH!)
AHS Additional Header Segment
API Application Programming Interface
ASC Additional Sense Code
ASCII American Standard Code for Information Interchange
ASCQ Additional Sense Code Qualifier
BHS Basic Header Segment
CBC Cipher Block Chaining
CD Compact Disk
CDB Command Descriptor Block
CHAP Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol
CID Connection ID
CO Connection Only
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
CRL Certificate Revocation List
CSG Current Stage
CSM Connection State Machine
DES Data Encryption Standard
DNS Domain Name Server
DOI Domain of Interpretation
DVD Digital Versatile Disk
ESP Encapsulating Security Payload
EUI Extended Unique Identifier
FFP Full Feature Phase
FFPO Full Feature Phase Only
FIM Fixed Interval Marker
Gbps Gigabits per Second
HBA Host Bus Adapter
HMAC Hashed Message Authentication Code
I_T Initiator_Target
I_T_L Initiator_Target_LUN
IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
ID Identifier
IDN Internationalized Domain Name
IEEE Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IKE Internet Key Exchange
I/O Input - Output
IO Initialize Only
IP Internet Protocol
IPsec Internet Protocol Security
IPv4 Internet Protocol Version 4
IPv6 Internet Protocol Version 6
IQN iSCSI Qualified Name
ISID Initiator Session ID
ITN iSCSI Target Name
ITT Initiator Task Tag
KRB5 Kerberos V5
LFL Lower Functional Layer
LTDS Logical-Text-Data-Segment
LO Leading Only
LU Logical Unit
LUN Logical Unit Number
MAC Message Authentication Codes
NA Not Applicable
NIC Network Interface Card
NOP No Operation
NSG Next Stage
OS Operating System
PDU Protocol Data Unit
PKI Public Key Infrastructure
R2T Ready To Transfer
R2TSN Ready To Transfer Sequence Number
RDMA Remote Direct Memory Access
RFC Request For Comments
SAM SCSI Architecture Model
SAM2 SCSI Architecture Model - 2
SAN Storage Area Network
SCSI Small Computer Systems Interface
SN Sequence Number
SNACK Selective Negative Acknowledgment - also
Sequence Number Acknowledgement for data
SPKM Simple Public-Key Mechanism
SRP Secure Remote Password
SSID Session ID
SW Session Wide
TCB Task Control Block
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TPGT Target Portal Group Tag
TSIH Target Session Identifying Handle
TTT Target Transfer Tag
UFL Upper Functional Layer
ULP Upper Level Protocol
URN Uniform Resource Names [RFC2396]
UTF Universal Transformation Format
WG Working Group
2.3. Conventions
In examples, "I->" and "T->" show iSCSI PDUs sent by the initiator
and target respectively.
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in BCP 14 [RFC2119].
iSCSI messages - PDUs - are represented by diagrams as in the
following example:
Byte/ 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
/ | | | |
|0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7|0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7|0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7|0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7|
+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
0| Basic Header Segment (BHS) |
+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
----------
+| |
+---------------+---------------+---------------+---------------+
The diagrams include byte and bit numbering.
The following representation and ordering rules are observed in this
document:
- Word Rule
- Half-word Rule
- Byte Rule
2.3.1. Word Rule
A word holds four consecutive bytes. Whenever a word has numeric
content, it is considered an unsigned number in base 2 positional
representation with the lowest numbered byte (e.g., byte 0) bit 0
representing 2**31 and bit 1 representing 2**30 through lowest
numbered byte + 3 (e.g., byte 3) bit 7 representing 2**0.
Decimal and hexadecimal representation of word values map this
representation to decimal or hexadecimal positional notation.
2.3.2. Half-Word Rule
A half-word holds two consecutive bytes. Whenever a half-word has
numeric content it is considered an unsigned number in base 2
positional representation with the lowest numbered byte (e.g., byte
0), bit 0 representing 2**15 and bit 1 representing 2**14 through
lowest numbered byte + 1 (e.g., byte 1), bit 7 representing 2**0.
Decimal and hexadecimal representation of half-word values map this
representation to decimal or hexadecimal positional notation.
2.3.3. Byte Rule
For every PDU, bytes are sent and received in increasing numbered
order (network order).
Whenever a byte has numerical content, it is considered an unsigned
number in base 2 positional representation with bit 0 representing
2**7 and bit 1 representing 2**6 through bit 7 representing 2**0.
3. Overview
3.1. SCSI Concepts
The SCSI Architecture Model-2 [SAM2] describes in detail the
architecture of the SCSI family of I/O protocols. This section
provides a brief background of the SCSI architecture and is intended
to familiarize readers with its terminology.
At the highest level, SCSI is a family of interfaces for requesting
services from I/O devices, including hard drives, tape drives, CD and
DVD drives, printers, and scanners. In SCSI terminology, an
individual I/O device is called a "logical unit" (LU).
SCSI is a client-server architecture. Clients of a SCSI interface
are called "initiators". Initiators issue SCSI "commands" to request
services from components, logical units, of a server known as a
"target". The "device server" on the logical unit accepts SCSI
commands and processes them.
A "SCSI transport" maps the client-server SCSI protocol to a specific
interconnect. Initiators are one endpoint of a SCSI transport. The
"target" is the other endpoint. A target can contain multiple
Logical Units (LUs). Each Logical Unit has an address within a
target called a Logical Unit Number (LUN).
A SCSI task is a SCSI command or possibly a linked set of SCSI
commands. Some LUs support multiple pending (queued) tasks, but the
queue of tasks is managed by the logical unit. The target uses an
initiator provided "task tag" to distinguish between tasks. Only one
command in a task can be outstanding at any given time.
Each SCSI command results in an optional data phase and a required
response phase. In the data phase, information can travel from the
initiator to target (e.g., WRITE), target to initiator (e.g., READ),
or in both directions. In the response phase, the target returns the
final status of the operation, including any errors.
Command Descriptor Blocks (CDB) are the data structures used to
contain the command parameters that an initiator sends to a target.
The CDB content and structure is defined by [SAM2] and device-type
specific SCSI standards.
3.2. iSCSI Concepts and Functional Overview
The iSCSI protocol is a mapping of the SCSI remote procedure
invocation model (see [SAM2]) over the TCP protocol. SCSI commands
are carried by iSCSI requests and SCSI responses and status are
carried by iSCSI responses. iSCSI also uses the request response
mechanism for iSCSI protocol mechanisms.
For the remainder of this document, the terms "initiator" and
"target" refer to "iSCSI initiator node" and "iSCSI target node",
respectively (see Section 3.4.1 iSCSI Architecture Model) unless
otherwise qualified.
In keeping with similar protocols, the initiator and target divide
their communications into messages. This document uses the term
"iSCSI protocol data unit" (iSCSI PDU) for these messages.
For performance reasons, iSCSI allows a "phase-collapse". A command
and its associated data may be shipped together from initiator to
target, and data and responses may be shipped together from targets.
The iSCSI transfer direction is defined with respect to the
initiator. Outbound or outgoing transfers are transfers from an
initiator to a target, while inbound or incoming transfers are from a
target to an initiator.
An iSCSI task is an iSCSI request for which a response is expected.
In this document "iSCSI request", "iSCSI command", request, or
(unqualified) command have the same meaning. Also, unless otherwise
specified, status, response, or numbered response have the same
meaning.
3.2.1. Layers and Sessions
The following conceptual layering model is used to specify initiator
and target actions and the way in which they relate to transmitted
and received Protocol Data Units:
a) the SCSI layer builds/receives SCSI CDBs (Command Descriptor
Blocks) and passes/receives them with the remaining command
execute parameters ([SAM2]) to/from
b) the iSCSI layer that builds/receives iSCSI PDUs and
relays/receives them to/from one or more TCP connections; the
group of connections form an initiator-target "session".
Communication between the initiator and target occurs over one or
more TCP connections. The TCP connections carry control messages,
SCSI commands, parameters, and data within iSCSI Protocol Data Units
(iSCSI PDUs). The group of TCP connections that link an initiator
with a target form a session (loosely equivalent to a SCSI I_T nexus,
see Section 3.4.2 SCSI Architecture Model). A session is defined by
a session ID that is composed of an initiator part and a target part.
TCP connections can be added and removed from a session. Each
connection within a session is identified by a connection ID (CID).
Across all connections within a session, an initiator sees one
"target image". All target identifying elements, such as LUN, are
the same. A target also sees one "initiator image" across all
connections within a session. Initiator identifying elements, such
as the Initiator Task Tag, are global across the session regardless
of the connection on which they are sent or received.
iSCSI targets and initiators MUST support at least one TCP connection
and MAY support several connections in a session. For error recovery
purposes, targets and initiators that support a single active
connection in a session SHOULD support two connections during
recovery.
3.2.2. Ordering and iSCSI Numbering
iSCSI uses Command and Status numbering schemes and a Data sequencing
scheme.
Command numbering is session-wide and is used for ordered command
delivery over multiple connections. It can also be used as a
mechanism for command flow control over a session.
Status numbering is per connection and is used to enable missing
status detection and recovery in the presence of transient or
permanent communication errors.
Data sequencing is per command or part of a command (R2T triggered
sequence) and is used to detect missing data and/or R2T PDUs due to
header digest errors.
Typically, fields in the iSCSI PDUs communicate the Sequence Numbers
between the initiator and target. During periods when traffic on a
connection is unidirectional, iSCSI NOP-Out/In PDUs may be utilized
to synchronize the command and status ordering counters of the target
and initiator.
The iSCSI session abstraction is equivalent to the SCSI I_T nexus,
and the iSCSI session provides an ordered command delivery from the
SCSI initiator to the SCSI target. For detailed design
considerations that led to the iSCSI session model as it is defined
here and how it relates the SCSI command ordering features defined in
SCSI specifications to the iSCSI concepts see [CORD].
3.2.2.1. Command Numbering and Acknowledging
iSCSI performs ordered command delivery within a session. All
commands (initiator-to-target PDUs) in transit from the initiator to
the target are numbered.
iSCSI considers a task to be instantiated on the target in response
to every request issued by the initiator. A set of task management
operations including abort and reassign (see Section 10.5 Task
Management Function Request) may be performed on any iSCSI task.
Some iSCSI tasks are SCSI tasks, and many SCSI activities are related
to a SCSI task ([SAM2]). In all cases, the task is identified by the
Initiator Task Tag for the life of the task.
The command number is carried by the iSCSI PDU as CmdSN
(Command Sequence Number). The numbering is session-wide. Outgoing
iSCSI PDUs carry this number. The iSCSI initiator allocates CmdSNs
with a 32-bit unsigned counter (modulo 2**32). Comparisons and
arithmetic on CmdSN use Serial Number Arithmetic as defined in
[RFC1982] where SERIAL_BITS = 32.
Commands meant for immediate delivery are marked with an immediate
delivery flag; they MUST also carry the current CmdSN. CmdSN does
not advance after a command marked for immediate delivery is sent.
Command numbering starts with the first login request on the first
connection of a session (the leading login on the leading connection)
and command numbers are incremented by 1 for every non-immediate
command issued afterwards.
If immediate delivery is used with task management commands, these
commands may reach the target before the tasks on which they are
supposed to act. However their CmdSN serves as a marker of their
position in the stream of commands. The initiator and target must
ensure that the task management commands act as specified by [SAM2].
For example, both commands and responses appear as if delivered in
order. Whenever CmdSN for an outgoing PDU is not specified by an
explicit rule, CmdSN will carry the current value of the local CmdSN
variable (see later in this section).
The means by which an implementation decides to mark a PDU for
immediate delivery or by which iSCSI decides by itself to mark a PDU
for immediate delivery are beyond the scope of this document.
The number of commands used for immediate delivery is not limited and
their delivery for execution is not acknowledged through the
numbering scheme. Immediate commands MAY be rejected by the iSCSI
target layer due to a lack of resources. An iSCSI target MUST be
able to handle at least one immediate task management command and one
immediate non-task-management iSCSI command per connection at any
time.
In this document, delivery for execution means delivery to the SCSI
execution engine or an iSCSI protocol specific execution engine
(e.g., for text requests with public or private extension keys
involving an execution component). With the exception of the
commands marked for immediate delivery, the iSCSI target layer MUST
deliver the commands for execution in the order specified by CmdSN.
Commands marked for immediate delivery may be delivered by the iSCSI
target layer for execution as soon as detected. iSCSI may avoid
delivering some commands to the SCSI target layer if required by a
prior SCSI or iSCSI action (e.g., CLEAR TASK SET Task Management
request received before all the commands on which it was supposed to
act).
On any connection, the iSCSI initiator MUST send the commands in
increasing order of CmdSN, except for commands that are retransmitted
due to digest error recovery and connection recovery.
For the numbering mechanism, the initiator and target maintain the
following three variables for each session:
- CmdSN - the current command Sequence Number, advanced by 1 on
each command shipped except for commands marked for immediate
delivery. CmdSN always contains the number to be assigned to
the next Command PDU.
- ExpCmdSN - the next expected command by the target. The target
acknowledges all commands up to, but not including, this
number. The initiator treats all commands with CmdSN less than
ExpCmdSN as acknowledged. The target iSCSI layer sets the
ExpCmdSN to the largest non-immediate CmdSN that it can deliver
for execution plus 1 (no holes in the CmdSN sequence).
- MaxCmdSN - the maximum number to be shipped. The queuing
capacity of the receiving iSCSI layer is MaxCmdSN - ExpCmdSN +
1.
The initiator's ExpCmdSN and MaxCmdSN are derived from
target-to-initiator PDU fields. Comparisons and arithmetic on
ExpCmdSN and MaxCmdSN MUST use Serial Number Arithmetic as defined in
[RFC1982] where SERIAL_BITS = 32.
The target MUST NOT transmit a MaxCmdSN that is less than
ExpCmdSN-1. For non-immediate commands, the CmdSN field can take any
value from ExpCmdSN to MaxCmdSN inclusive. The target MUST silently
ignore any non-immediate command outside of this range or non-
immediate duplicates within the range. The CmdSN carried by
immediate commands may lie outside the ExpCmdSN to MaxCmdSN range.
For example, if the initiator has previously sent a non-immediate
command carrying the CmdSN equal to MaxCmdSN, the target window is
closed. For group task management commands issued as immediate
commands, CmdSN indicates the scope of the group action (e.g., on
ABORT TASK SET indicates which commands are aborted).
MaxCmdSN and ExpCmdSN fields are processed by the initiator as
follows:
- If the PDU MaxCmdSN is less than the PDU ExpCmdSN-1 (in Serial
Arithmetic Sense), they are both ignored.
- If the PDU MaxCmdSN is greater than the local MaxCmdSN (in
Serial Arithmetic Sense), it updates the local MaxCmdSN;
otherwise, it is ignored.
- If the PDU ExpCmdSN is greater than the local ExpCmdSN (in
Serial Arithmetic Sense), it updates the local ExpCmdSN;
otherwise, it is ignored.
This sequence is required because updates may arrive out of order
(e.g., the updates are sent on different TCP connections).
iSCSI initiators and targets MUST support the command numbering
scheme.
A numbered iSCSI request will not change its allocated CmdSN,
regardless of the number of times and circumstances in which it is
reissued (see Section 6.2.1 Usage of Retry). At the target, CmdSN is
only relevant when the command has not created any state related to
its execution (execution state); afterwards, CmdSN becomes
irrelevant. Testing for the execution state (represented by
identifying the Initiator Task Tag) MUST precede any other action at
the target. If no execution state is found, it is followed by
ordering and delivery. If an execution state is found, it is
followed by delivery.
If an initiator issues a command retry for a command with CmdSN R on
a connection when the session CmdSN value is Q, it MUST NOT advance
the CmdSN past R + 2**31 -1 unless the connection is no longer
operational (i.e., it has returned to the FREE state, see Section
7.1.3 Standard Connection State Diagram for an Initiator), the
connection has been reinstated (see Section 5.3.4 Connection
Reinstatement), or a non-immediate command with CmdSN equal or
greater than Q was issued subsequent to the command retry on the same
connection and the reception of that command is acknowledged by the
target (see Section 9.4 Command Retry and Cleaning Old Command
Instances).
A target MUST NOT issue a command response or Data-In PDU with status
before acknowledging the command. However, the acknowledgement can
be included in the response or Data-In PDU.
3.2.2.2. Response/Status Numbering and Acknowledging
Responses in transit from the target to the initiator are numbered.
The StatSN (Status Sequence Number) is used for this purpose. StatSN
is a counter maintained per connection. ExpStatSN is used by the
initiator to acknowledge status. The status sequence number space is
32-bit unsigned-integers and the arithmetic operations are the
regular mod(2**32) arithmetic.
Status numbering starts with the Login response to the first Login
request of the connection. The Login response includes an initial
value for status numbering (any initial value is valid).
To enable command recovery, the target MAY maintain enough state
information for data and status recovery after a connection failure.
A target doing so can safely discard all of the state information
maintained for recovery of a command after the delivery of the status
for the command (numbered StatSN) is acknowledged through ExpStatSN.
A large absolute difference between StatSN and ExpStatSN may indicate
a failed connection. Initiators MUST undertake recovery actions if
the difference is greater than an implementation defined constant
that MUST NOT exceed 2**31-1.
Initiators and Targets MUST support the response-numbering scheme.
3.2.2.3. Data Sequencing
Data and R2T PDUs transferred as part of some command execution MUST
be sequenced. The DataSN field is used for data sequencing. For
input (read) data PDUs, DataSN starts with 0 for the first data PDU
of an input command and advances by 1 for each subsequent data PDU.
For output data PDUs, DataSN starts with 0 for the first data PDU of
a sequence (the initial unsolicited sequence or any data PDU sequence
issued to satisfy an R2T) and advances by 1 for each subsequent data
PDU. R2Ts are also sequenced per command. For example, the first
R2T has an R2TSN of 0 and advances by 1 for each subsequent R2T. For
bidirectional commands, the target uses the DataSN/R2TSN to sequence
Data-In and R2T PDUs in one continuous sequence (undifferentiated).
Unlike command and status, data PDUs and R2Ts are not acknowledged by
a field in regular outgoing PDUs. Data-In PDUs can be acknowledged
on demand by a special form of the SNACK PDU. Data and R2T PDUs are
implicitly acknowledged by status for the command. The DataSN/R2TSN
field enables the initiator to detect missing data or R2T PDUs.
For any read or bidirectional command, a target MUST issue less than
2**32 combined R2T and Data-In PDUs. Any output data sequence MUST
contain less than 2**32 Data-Out PDUs.
3.2.3. iSCSI Login
The purpose of the iSCSI login is to enable a TCP connection for
iSCSI use, authentication of the parties, negotiation of the
session's parameters and marking of the connection as belonging to an
iSCSI session.
A session is used to identify to a target all the connections with a
given initiator that belong to the same I_T nexus. (For more details
on how a session relates to an I_T nexus, see Section 3.4.2 SCSI
Architecture Model).
The targets listen on a well-known TCP port or other TCP port for
incoming connections. The initiator begins the login process by
connecting to one of these TCP ports.
As part of the login process, the initiator and target SHOULD
authenticate each other and MAY set a security association protocol
for the session. This can occur in many different ways and is
subject to negotiation.
To protect the TCP connection, an IPsec security association MAY be
established before the Login request. For information on using IPsec
security for iSCSI see Chapter 8 and [RFC3723].
The iSCSI Login Phase is carried through Login requests and
responses. Once suitable authentication has occurred and operational
parameters have been set, the session transitions to the Full Feature
Phase and the initiator may start to send SCSI commands. The
security policy for whether, and by what means, a target chooses to
authorize an initiator is beyond the scope of this document. For a
more detailed description of the Login Phase, see Chapter 5.
The login PDU includes the ISID part of the session ID (SSID). The
target portal group that services the login is implied by the
selection of the connection endpoint. For a new session, the TSIH is
zero. As part of the response, the target generates a TSIH.
During session establishment, the target identifies the SCSI
initiator port (the "I" in the "I_T nexus") through the value pair
(InitiatorName, ISID). We describe InitiatorName later in this
section. Any persistent state (e.g., persistent reservations) on the
target that is associated with a SCSI initiator port is identified
based on this value pair. Any state associated with the SCSI target
port (the "T" in the "I_T nexus") is identified externally by the
TargetName and portal group tag (see Section 3.4.1 iSCSI Architecture
Model). ISID is subject to reuse restrictions because it is used to
identify a persistent state (see Section 3.4.3 Consequences of the
Model).
Before the Full Feature Phase is established, only Login Request and
Login Response PDUs are allowed. Login requests and responses MUST
be used exclusively during Login. On any connection, the login phase
MUST immediately follow TCP connection establishment and a subsequent
Login Phase MUST NOT occur before tearing down a connection.
A target receiving any PDU except a Login request before the Login
phase is started MUST immediately terminate the connection on which
the PDU was received. Once the Login phase has started, if the
target receives any PDU except a Login request, it MUST send a Login
reject (with Status "invalid during login") and then disconnect. If
the initiator receives any PDU except a Login response, it MUST
immediately terminate the connection.
3.2.4. iSCSI Full Feature Phase
Once the initiator is authorized to do so, the iSCSI session is in
the iSCSI Full Feature Phase. A session is in Full Feature Phase
after successfully finishing the Login Phase on the first (leading)
connection of a session. A connection is in Full Feature Phase if
the session is in Full Feature Phase and the connection login has
completed successfully. An iSCSI connection is not in Full Feature
Phase
a) when it does not have an established transport connection,
OR
b) when it has a valid transport connection, but a successful
login was not performed or the connection is currently logged
out.
In a normal Full Feature Phase, the initiator may send SCSI commands
and data to the various LUs on the target by encapsulating them in
iSCSI PDUs that go over the established iSCSI session.
3.2.4.1. Command Connection Allegiance
For any iSCSI request issued over a TCP connection, the corresponding
response and/or other related PDU(s) MUST be sent over the same
connection. We call this "connection allegiance". If the original
connection fails before the command is completed, the connection
allegiance of the command may be explicitly reassigned to a different
transport connection as described in detail in Section 6.2 Retry and
Reassign in Recovery.
Thus, if an initiator issues a READ command, the target MUST send the
requested data, if any, followed by the status to the initiator over
the same TCP connection that was used to deliver the SCSI command.
If an initiator issues a WRITE command, the initiator MUST send the
data, if any, for that command over the same TCP connection that was
used to deliver the SCSI command. The target MUST return Ready To
Transfer (R2T), if any, and the status over the same TCP connection
that was used to deliver the SCSI command. Retransmission requests
(SNACK PDUs) and the data and status that they generate MUST also use
the same connection.
However, consecutive commands that are part of a SCSI linked
command-chain task (see [SAM2]) MAY use different connections.
Connection allegiance is strictly per-command and not per-task.
During the iSCSI Full Feature Phase, the initiator and target MAY
interleave unrelated SCSI commands, their SCSI Data, and responses
over the session.
3.2.4.2. Data Transfer Overview
Outgoing SCSI data (initiator to target user data or command
parameters) is sent as either solicited data or unsolicited data.
Solicited data are sent in response to R2T PDUs. Unsolicited data
can be sent as part of an iSCSI command PDU ("immediate data") or in
separate iSCSI data PDUs.
Immediate data are assumed to originate at offset 0 in the initiator
SCSI write-buffer (outgoing data buffer). All other Data PDUs have
the buffer offset set explicitly in the PDU header.
An initiator may send unsolicited data up to FirstBurstLength as
immediate (up to the negotiated maximum PDU length), in a separate
PDU sequence or both. All subsequent data MUST be solicited. The
maximum length of an individual data PDU or the immediate-part of the
first unsolicited burst MAY be negotiated at login.
The maximum amount of unsolicited data that can be sent with a
command is negotiated at login through the FirstBurstLength key. A
target MAY separately enable immediate data (through the
ImmediateData key) without enabling the more general (separate data
PDUs) form of unsolicited data (through the InitialR2T key).
Unsolicited data on write are meant to reduce the effect of latency
on throughput (no R2T is needed to start sending data). In addition,
immediate data is meant to reduce the protocol overhead (both
bandwidth and execution time).
An iSCSI initiator MAY choose not to send unsolicited data, only
immediate data or FirstBurstLength bytes of unsolicited data with a
command. If any non-immediate unsolicited data is sent, the total
unsolicited data MUST be either FirstBurstLength, or all of the data
if the total amount is less than the FirstBurstLength.
It is considered an error for an initiator to send unsolicited data
PDUs to a target that operates in R2T mode (only solicited data are
allowed). It is also an error for an initiator to send more
unsolicited data, whether immediate or as separate PDUs, than
FirstBurstLength.
An initiator MUST honor an R2T data request for a valid outstanding
command (i.e., carrying a valid Initiator Task Tag) and deliver all
the requested data provided the command is supposed to deliver
outgoing data and the R2T specifies data within the command bounds.
The initiator action is unspecified for receiving an R2T request that
specifies data, all or part, outside of the bounds of the command.
A target SHOULD NOT silently discard data and then request
retransmission through R2T. Initiators SHOULD NOT keep track of the
data transferred to or from the target (scoreboarding). SCSI targets
perform residual count calculation to check how much data was
actually transferred to or from the device by a command. This may
differ from the amount the initiator sent and/or received for reasons
such as retransmissions and errors. Read or bidirectional commands
implicitly solicit the transmission of the entire amount of data
covered by the command. SCSI data packets are matched to their
corresponding SCSI commands by using tags specified in the protocol.
In addition, iSCSI initiators and targets MUST enforce some ordering
rules. When unsolicited data is used, the order of the unsolicited
data on each connection MUST match the order in which the commands on
that connection are sent. Command and unsolicited data PDUs may be
interleaved on a single connection as long as the ordering
requirements of each are maintained (e.g., command N+1 MAY be sent
before the unsolicited Data-Out PDUs for command N, but the
unsolicited Data-Out PDUs for command N MUST precede the unsolicited
Data-Out PDUs of command N+1). A target that receives data out of
order MAY terminate the session.
3.2.4.3. Tags and Integrity Checks
Initiator tags for pending commands are unique initiator-wide for a
session. Target tags are not strictly specified by the protocol. It
is assumed that target tags are used by the target to tag (alone or
in combination with the LUN) the solicited data. Target tags are
generated by the target and "echoed" by the initiator. These
mechanisms are designed to accomplish efficient data delivery along
with a large degree of control over the data flow.
As the Initiator Task Tag is used to identify a task during its
execution, the iSCSI initiator and target MUST verify that all other
fields used in task-related PDUs have values that are consistent with
the values used at the task instantiation based on the Initiator Task
Tag (e.g., the LUN used in an R2T PDU MUST be the same as the one
used in the SCSI command PDU used to instantiate the task). Using
inconsistent field values is considered a protocol error.
3.2.4.4. Task Management
SCSI task management assumes that individual tasks and task groups
can be aborted solely based on the task tags (for individual tasks)
or the timing of the task management command (for task groups), and
that the task management action is executed synchronously - i.e., no
message involving an aborted task will be seen by the SCSI initiator
after receiving the task management response. In iSCSI initiators
and targets interact asynchronously over several connections. iSCSI
specifies the protocol mechanism and implementation requirements
needed to present a synchronous view while using an asynchronous
infrastructure.
3.2.5. iSCSI Connection Termination
An iSCSI connection may be terminated by use of a transport
connection shutdown or a transport reset. Transport reset is assumed
to be an exceptional event.
Graceful TCP connection shutdowns are done by sending TCP FINs. A
graceful transport connection shutdown SHOULD only be initiated by
either party when the connection is not in iSCSI Full Feature Phase.
A target MAY terminate a Full Feature Phase connection on internal
exception events, but it SHOULD announce the fact through an
Asynchronous Message PDU. Connection termination with outstanding
commands may require recovery actions.
If a connection is terminated while in Full Feature Phase, connection
cleanup (see section 7) is required prior to recovery. By doing
connection cleanup before starting recovery, the initiator and target
will avoid receiving stale PDUs after recovery.
3.2.6. iSCSI Names
Both targets and initiators require names for the purpose of
identification. In addition, names enable iSCSI storage resources to
be managed regardless of location (address). An iSCSI node name is
also the SCSI device name of an iSCSI device. The iSCSI name of a
SCSI device is the principal object used in authentication of targets
to initiators and initiators to targets. This name is also used to
identify and manage iSCSI storage resources.
iSCSI names must be unique within the operational domain of the end
user. However, because the operational domain of an IP network is
potentially worldwide, the iSCSI name formats are architected to be
worldwide unique. To assist naming authorities in the construction
of worldwide unique names, iSCSI provides two name formats for
different types of naming authorities.
iSCSI names are associated with iSCSI nodes, and not iSCSI network
adapter cards, to ensure that the replacement of network adapter
cards does not require reconfiguration of all SCSI and iSCSI resource
allocation information.
Some SCSI commands require that protocol-specific identifiers be
communicated within SCSI CDBs. See Section 3.4.2 SCSI Architecture
Model for the definition of the SCSI port name/identifier for iSCSI
ports.
An initiator may discover the iSCSI Target Names to which it has
access, along with their addresses, using the SendTargets text
request, or other techniques discussed in [RFC3721].
3.2.6.1. iSCSI Name Properties
Each iSCSI node, whether an initiator or target, MUST have an iSCSI
name.
Initiators and targets MUST support the receipt of iSCSI names of up
to the maximum length of 223 bytes.
The initiator MUST present both its iSCSI Initiator Name and the
iSCSI Target Name to which it wishes to connect in the first login
request of a new session or connection. The only exception is if a
discovery session (see Section 2.3 iSCSI Session Types) is to be
established. In this case, the iSCSI Initiator Name is still
required, but the iSCSI Target Name MAY be omitted.
iSCSI names have the following properties:
a) iSCSI names are globally unique. No two initiators or targets
can have the same name.
b) iSCSI names are permanent. An iSCSI initiator node or target
node has the same name for its lifetime.
c) iSCSI names do not imply a location or address. An iSCSI
initiator or target can move, or have multiple addresses. A
change of address does not imply a change of name.
d) iSCSI names do not rely on a central name broker; the naming
authority is distributed.
e) iSCSI names support integration with existing unique naming
schemes.
f) iSCSI names rely on existing naming authorities. iSCSI does
not create any new naming authority.
The encoding of an iSCSI name has the following properties:
a) iSCSI names have the same encoding method regardless of the
underlying protocols.
b) iSCSI names are relatively simple to compare. The algorithm
for comparing two iSCSI names for equivalence does not rely on
an external server.
c) iSCSI names are composed only of displayable characters. iSCSI
names allow the use of international character sets but are not
case sensitive. No whitespace characters are used in iSCSI
names.
d) iSCSI names may be transported using both binary and
ASCII-based protocols.
An iSCSI name really names a logical software entity, and is not tied
to a port or other hardware that can be changed. For instance, an
initiator name should name the iSCSI initiator node, not a particular
NIC or HBA. When multiple NICs are used, they should generally all
present the same iSCSI initiator name to the targets, because they
are simply paths to the same SCSI layer. In most operating systems,
the named entity is the operating system image.
Similarly, a target name should not be tied to hardware interfaces
that can be changed. A target name should identify the logical
target and must be the same for the target regardless of the physical
portion being addressed. This assists iSCSI initiators in
determining that the two targets it has discovered are really two
paths to the same target.
The iSCSI name is designed to fulfill the functional requirements for
Uniform Resource Names (URN) [RFC1737]. For example, it is required
that the name have a global scope, be independent of address or
location, and be persistent and globally unique. Names must be
extensible and scalable with the use of naming authorities. The name
encoding should be both human and machine readable. See [RFC1737]
for further requirements.
3.2.6.2. iSCSI Name Encoding
An iSCSI name MUST be a UTF-8 encoding of a string of Unicode
characters with the following properties:
- It is in Normalization Form C (see "Unicode Normalization
Forms" [UNICODE]).
- It only contains characters allowed by the output of the iSCSI
stringprep template (described in [RFC3722]).
- The following characters are used for formatting iSCSI names:
- dash ('-'=U+002d)
- dot ('.'=U+002e)
- colon (':'=U+003a)
- The UTF-8 encoding of the name is not larger than 223 bytes.
The stringprep process is described in [RFC3454]; iSCSI's use of the
stringprep process is described in [RFC3722]. Stringprep is a method
designed by the Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) working group to
translate human-typed strings into a format that can be compared as
opaque strings. Strings MUST NOT include punctuation, spacing,
diacritical marks, or other characters that could get in the way of
readability. The stringprep process also converts strings into
equivalent strings of lower-case characters.
The stringprep process does not need to be implemented if the names
are only generated using numeric and lower-case (any character set)
alphabetic characters.
Once iSCSI names encoded in UTF-8 are "normalized" they may be safely
compared byte-for-byte.
3.2.6.3. iSCSI Name Structure
An iSCSI name consists of two parts--a type designator followed by a
unique name string.
The iSCSI name does not define any new naming authorities. Instead,
it supports two existing ways of designating naming authorities: an
iSCSI-Qualified Name, using domain names to identify a naming
authority, and the EUI format, where the IEEE Registration Authority
assists in the formation of worldwide unique names (EUI-64 format).
The type designator strings currently defined are:
iqn. - iSCSI Qualified name
eui. - Remainder of the string is an IEEE EUI-64
identifier, in ASCII-encoded hexadecimal.
These two naming authority designators were considered sufficient at
the time of writing this document. The creation of additional naming
type designators for iSCSI may be considered by the IETF and detailed
in separate RFCs.
3.2.6.3.1. Type "iqn." (iSCSI Qualified Name)
This iSCSI name type can be used by any organization that owns a
domain name. This naming format is useful when an end user or
service provider wishes to assign iSCSI names for targets and/or
initiators.
To generate names of this type, the person or organization generating
the name must own a registered domain name. This domain name does
not have to be active, and does not have to resolve to an address; it
just needs to be reserved to prevent others from generating iSCSI
names using the same domain name.
Since a domain name can expire, be acquired by another entity, or may
be used to generate iSCSI names by both owners, the domain name must
be additionally qualified by a date during which the naming authority
owned the domain name. For this reason, a date code is provided as
part of the "iqn." format.
The iSCSI qualified name string consists of:
- The string "iqn.", used to distinguish these names from "eui."
formatted names.
- A date code, in yyyy-mm format. This date MUST be a date
during which the naming authority owned the domain name used in
this format, and SHOULD be the first month in which the domain
name was owned by this naming authority at 00:01 GMT of the
first day of the month. This date code uses the Gregorian
calendar. All four digits in the year must be present. Both
digits of the month must be present, with January == "01" and
December == "12". The dash must be included.
- A dot "."
- The reversed domain name of the naming authority (person or
organization) creating this iSCSI name.
- An optional, colon (:) prefixed, string within the character
set and length boundaries that the owner of the domain name
deems appropriate. This may contain product types, serial
numbers, host identifiers, or software keys (e.g., it may
include colons to separate organization boundaries). With the
exception of the colon prefix, the owner of the domain name can
assign everything after the reversed domain name as desired.
It is the responsibility of the entity that is the naming
authority to ensure that the iSCSI names it assigns are
worldwide unique. For example, "Example Storage Arrays, Inc.",
might own the domain name "example.com".
The following are examples of iSCSI qualified names that might be
generated by "EXAMPLE Storage Arrays, Inc."
Naming String defined by
Type Date Auth "example.com" naming authority
+--++-----+ +---------+ +--------------------------------+
| || | | | | |
iqn.2001-04.com.example:storage:diskarrays-sn-a8675309
iqn.2001-04.com.example
iqn.2001-04.com.example:storage.tape1.sys1.xyz
iqn.2001-04.com.example:storage.disk2.sys1.xyz
3.2.6.3.2. Type "eui." (IEEE EUI-64 format)
The IEEE Registration Authority provides a service for assigning
globally unique identifiers [EUI]. The EUI-64 format is used to
build a global identifier in other network protocols. For example,
Fibre Channel defines a method of encoding it into a WorldWideName.
For more information on registering for EUI identifiers, see [OUI].
The format is "eui." followed by an EUI-64 identifier (16
ASCII-encoded hexadecimal digits).
Example iSCSI name:
Type EUI-64 identifier (ASCII-encoded hexadecimal)
+--++--------------+
| || |
eui.02004567A425678D
The IEEE EUI-64 iSCSI name format might be used when a manufacturer
is already registered with the IEEE Registration Authority and uses
EUI-64 formatted worldwide unique names for its products.
More examples of name construction are discussed in [RFC3721].
3.2.7. Persistent State
iSCSI does not require any persistent state maintenance across
sessions. However, in some cases, SCSI requires persistent
identification of the SCSI initiator port name (See Section 3.4.2
SCSI Architecture Model and Section 3.4.3 Consequences of the Model).
iSCSI sessions do not persist through power cycles and boot
operations.
All iSCSI session and connection parameters are re-initialized upon
session and connection creation.
Commands persist beyond connection termination if the session
persists and command recovery within the session is supported.
However, when a connection is dropped, command execution, as
perceived by iSCSI (i.e., involving iSCSI protocol exchanges for the
affected task), is suspended until a new allegiance is established by
the 'task reassign' task management function. (See Section 10.5 Task
Management Function Request.)
3.2.8. Message Synchronization and Steering
iSCSI presents a mapping of the SCSI protocol onto TCP. This
encapsulation is accomplished by sending iSCSI PDUs of varying
lengths. Unfortunately, TCP does not have a built-in mechanism for
signaling message boundaries at the TCP layer. iSCSI overcomes this
obstacle by placing the message length in the iSCSI message header.
This serves to delineate the end of the current message as well as
the beginning of the next message.
In situations where IP packets are delivered in order from the
network, iSCSI message framing is not an issue and messages are
processed one after the other. In the presence of IP packet
reordering (i.e., frames being dropped), legacy TCP implementations
store the "out of order" TCP segments in temporary buffers until the
missing TCP segments arrive, upon which the data must be copied to
the application buffers. In iSCSI, it is desirable to steer the SCSI
data within these out of order TCP segments into the pre-allocated
SCSI buffers rather than store them in temporary buffers. This
decreases the need for dedicated reassembly buffers as well as the
latency and bandwidth related to extra copies.
Relying solely on the "message length" information from the iSCSI
message header may make it impossible to find iSCSI message
boundaries in subsequent TCP segments due to the loss of a TCP
segment that contains the iSCSI message length. The missing TCP
segment(s) must be received before any of the following segments can
be steered to the correct SCSI buffers (due to the inability to
determine the iSCSI message boundaries). Since these segments cannot
be steered to the correct location, they must be saved in temporary
buffers that must then be copied to the SCSI buffers.
Different schemes can be used to recover synchronization. To make
these schemes work, iSCSI implementations have to make sure that the
appropriate protocol layers are provided with enough information to
implement a synchronization and/or data steering mechanism. One of
these schemes is detailed in Appendix A. - Sync and Steering with
Fixed Interval Markers -.
The Fixed Interval Markers (FIM) scheme works by inserting markers in
the payload stream at fixed intervals that contain the offset for the
start of the next iSCSI PDU.
Under normal circumstances (no PDU loss or data reception out of
order), iSCSI data steering can be accomplished by using the
identifying tag and the data offset fields in the iSCSI header in
addition to the TCP sequence number from the TCP header. The
identifying tag helps associate the PDU with a SCSI buffer address
while the data offset and TCP sequence number are used to determine
the offset within the buffer.
When the part of the TCP data stream containing an iSCSI PDU header
is delayed or lost, markers may be used to minimize the damage as
follows:
- Markers indicate where the next iSCSI PDU starts and enable
continued processing when iSCSI headers have to be dropped due to
data errors discovered at the iSCSI level (e.g., iSCSI header CRC
errors).
- Markers help minimize the amount of data that has to be kept by
the TCP/iSCSI layer while waiting for a late TCP packet arrival
or recovery, because later they might help find iSCSI PDU headers
and use the information contained in those to steer data to SCSI
buffers.
3.2.8.1. Sync/Steering and iSCSI PDU Length
When a large iSCSI message is sent, the TCP segment(s) that contain
the iSCSI header may be lost. The remaining TCP segment(s), up to
the next iSCSI message, must be buffered (in temporary buffers)
because the iSCSI header that indicates to which SCSI buffers the
data are to be steered was lost. To minimize the amount of
buffering, it is recommended that the iSCSI PDU length be restricted
to a small value (perhaps a few TCP segments in length). During
login, each end of the iSCSI session specifies the maximum iSCSI PDU
length it will accept.
3.3. iSCSI Session Types
iSCSI defines two types of sessions:
a) Normal operational session - an unrestricted session.
b) Discovery-session - a session only opened for target
discovery. The target MUST ONLY accept text requests with the
SendTargets key and a logout request with the reason "close
the session". All other requests MUST be rejected.
The session type is defined during login with the key=value parameter
in the login command.
3.4. SCSI to iSCSI Concepts Mapping Model
The following diagram shows an example of how multiple iSCSI Nodes
(targets in this case) can coexist within the same Network Entity and
can share Network Portals (IP addresses and TCP ports). Other more
complex configurations are also possible. For detailed descriptions
of the components of these diagrams, see Section 3.4.1 iSCSI
Architecture Model.
+-----------------------------------+
| Network Entity (iSCSI Client) |
| |
| +-------------+ |
| | iSCSI Node | |
| | (Initiator) | |
| +-------------+ |
| | | |
| +--------------+ +--------------+ |
| |Network Portal| |Network Portal| |
| | 10.1.30.4 | | 10.1.40.6 | |
+-+--------------+-+--------------+-+
| |
| IP Networks |
| |
+-+--------------+-+--------------+-+
| |Network Portal| |Network Portal| |
| | 10.1.30.21 | | 10.1.40.3 | |
| | TCP Port 3260| | TCP Port 3260| |
| +--------------+ +--------------+ |
| | | |
| ----------------- |
| | | |
| +-------------+ +--------------+ |
| | iSCSI Node | | iSCSI Node | |
| | (Target) | | (Target) | |
| +-------------+ +--------------+ |
| |
| Network Entity (iSCSI Server) |
+-----------------------------------+
3.4.1. iSCSI Architecture Model
This section describes the part of the iSCSI architecture model that
has the most bearing on the relationship between iSCSI and the SCSI
Architecture Model.
a) Network Entity - represents a device or gateway that is
accessible from the IP network. A Network Entity must have
one or more Network Portals (see item d), each of which can be
used by some iSCSI Nodes (see item (b)) contained in that
Network Entity to gain access to the IP network.
b) iSCSI Node - represents a single iSCSI initiator or iSCSI
target. There are one or more iSCSI Nodes within a Network
Entity. The iSCSI Node is accessible via one or more Network
Portals (see item d). An iSCSI Node is identified by its
iSCSI Name (see Section 3.2.6 iSCSI Names and Chapter 12).
The separation of the iSCSI Name from the addresses used by
and for the iSCSI node allows multiple iSCSI nodes to use the
same addresses, and the same iSCSI node to use multiple
addresses.
c) An alias string may also be associated with an iSCSI Node.
The alias allows an organization to associate a user friendly
string with the iSCSI Name. However, the alias string is not
a substitute for the iSCSI Name.
d) Network Portal - a component of a Network Entity that has a
TCP/IP network address and that may be used by an iSCSI Node
within that Network Entity for the connection(s) within one of
its iSCSI sessions. In an initiator, it is identified by its
IP address. In a target, it is identified by its IP address
and its listening TCP port.
e) Portal Groups - iSCSI supports multiple connections within the
same session; some implementations will have the ability to
combine connections in a session across multiple Network
Portals. A Portal Group defines a set of Network Portals
within an iSCSI Node that collectively supports the capability
of coordinating a session with connections that span these
portals. Not all Network Portals within a Portal Group need
to participate in every session connected through that Portal
Group. One or more Portal Groups may provide access to an
iSCSI Node. Each Network Portal, as utilized by a given iSCSI
Node, belongs to exactly one portal group within that node.
Portal Groups are identified within an iSCSI Node by a portal
group tag, a simple unsigned-integer between 0 and 65535 (see
Section 12.3 SendTargets). All Network Portals with the same
portal group tag in the context of a given iSCSI Node are in
the same Portal Group.
Both iSCSI Initiators and iSCSI Targets have portal groups,
though only the iSCSI Target Portal Groups are used directly
in the iSCSI protocol (e.g., in SendTargets). For references
to the initiator Portal Groups, see Section 9.1.1 Conservative
Reuse of ISIDs.
f) Portals within a Portal Group should support similar session
parameters, because they may participate in a common session.
The following diagram shows an example of one such configuration on a
target and how a session that shares Network Portals within a Portal
Group may be established.
----------------------------IP Network---------------------
| | |
+----|---------------|-----+ +----|---------+
| +---------+ +---------+ | | +---------+ |
| | Network | | Network | | | | Network | |
| | Portal | | Portal | | | | Portal | |
| +--|------+ +---------+ | | +---------+ |
| | | | | | |
| | Portal | | | | Portal |
| | Group 1 | | | | Group 2 |
+--------------------------+ +--------------+
| | |
+--------|---------------|--------------------|--------------------+
| | | | |
| +----------------------------+ +-----------------------------+ |
| | iSCSI Session (Target side)| | iSCSI Session (Target side) | |
| | | | | |
| | (TSIH = 56) | | (TSIH = 48) | |
| +----------------------------+ +-----------------------------+ |
| |
| iSCSI Target Node |
| (within Network Entity, not shown) |
+------------------------------------------------------------------+
3.4.2. SCSI Architecture Model
This section describes the relationship between the SCSI Architecture
Model [SAM2] and the constructs of the SCSI device, SCSI port and I_T
nexus, and the iSCSI constructs described in Section 3.4.1 iSCSI
Architecture Model.
This relationship implies implementation requirements in order to
conform to the SAM2 model and other SCSI operational functions.
These requirements are detailed in Section 3.4.3 Consequences of the
Model.
The following list outlines mappings of SCSI architectural elements
to iSCSI.
a) SCSI Device - the SAM2 term for an entity that contains one or
more SCSI ports that are connected to a service delivery
subsystem and supports a SCSI application protocol. For
example, a SCSI Initiator Device contains one or more SCSI
Initiator Ports and zero or more application clients. A SCSI
Target Device contains one or more SCSI Target Ports and one
or more logical units. For iSCSI, the SCSI Device is the
component within an iSCSI Node that provides the SCSI
functionality. As such, there can be one SCSI Device, at
most, within an iSCSI Node. Access to the SCSI Device can
only be achieved in an iSCSI normal operational session (see
Section 3.3 iSCSI Session Types). The SCSI Device Name is
defined to be the iSCSI Name of the node and MUST be used in
the iSCSI protocol.
b) SCSI Port - the SAM2 term for an entity in a SCSI Device that
provides the SCSI functionality to interface with a service
delivery subsystem or transport. For iSCSI, the definition of
SCSI Initiator Port and SCSI Target Port are different.
SCSI Initiator Port: This maps to one endpoint of an iSCSI
normal operational session (see Section 3.3 iSCSI Session
Types). An iSCSI normal operational session is negotiated
through the login process between an iSCSI initiator node and
an iSCSI target node. At successful completion of this
process, a SCSI Initiator Port is created within the SCSI
Initiator Device. The SCSI Initiator Port Name and SCSI
Initiator Port Identifier are both defined to be the iSCSI
Initiator Name together with (a) a label that identifies it as
an initiator port name/identifier and (b) the ISID portion of
the session identifier.
SCSI Target Port: This maps to an iSCSI Target Portal Group.
The SCSI Target Port Name and the SCSI Target Port Identifier
are both defined to be the iSCSI Target Name together with (a)
a label that identifies it as a target port name/identifier
and (b) the portal group tag.
The SCSI Port Name MUST be used in iSCSI. When used in SCSI
parameter data, the SCSI port name MUST be encoded as:
- The iSCSI Name in UTF-8 format, followed by
- a comma separator (1 byte), followed by
- the ASCII character 'i' (for SCSI Initiator Port) or the
ASCII character 't' (for SCSI Target Port) (1 byte),
followed by
- a comma separator (1 byte), followed by
- a text encoding as a hex-constant (see Section 5.1 Text
Format) of the ISID (for SCSI initiator port) or the portal
group tag (for SCSI target port) including the initial 0X
or 0x and the terminating null (15 bytes).
The ASCII character 'i' or 't' is the label that identifies
this port as either a SCSI Initiator Port or a SCSI Target
Port.
c) I_T nexus - a relationship between a SCSI Initiator Port and a
SCSI Target Port, according to [SAM2]. For iSCSI, this
relationship is a session, defined as a relationship between
an iSCSI Initiator's end of the session (SCSI Initiator Port)
and the iSCSI Target's Portal Group. The I_T nexus can be
identified by the conjunction of the SCSI port names or by the
iSCSI session identifier SSID. iSCSI defines the I_T nexus
identifier to be the tuple (iSCSI Initiator Name + 'i' + ISID,
iSCSI Target Name + 't' + Portal Group Tag).
NOTE: The I_T nexus identifier is not equal to the session
identifier (SSID).
3.4.3. Consequences of the Model
This section describes implementation and behavioral requirements
that result from the mapping of SCSI constructs to the iSCSI
constructs defined above. Between a given SCSI initiator port and a
given SCSI target port, only one I_T nexus (session) can exist. No
more than one nexus relationship (parallel nexus) is allowed by
[SAM2]. Therefore, at any given time, only one session can exist
between a given iSCSI initiator node and an iSCSI target node, with
the same session identifier (SSID).
These assumptions lead to the following conclusions and requirements:
ISID RULE: Between a given iSCSI Initiator and iSCSI Target Portal
Group (SCSI target port), there can only be one session with a given
value for ISID that identifies the SCSI initiator port. See Section
10.12.5 ISID.
The structure of the ISID that contains a naming authority component
(see Section 10.12.5 ISID and [RFC3721]) provides a mechanism to
facilitate compliance with the ISID rule. (See Section 9.1.1
Conservative Reuse of ISIDs.)
The iSCSI Initiator Node should manage the assignment of ISIDs prior
to session initiation. The "ISID RULE" does not preclude the use of
the same ISID from the same iSCSI Initiator with different Target
Portal Groups on the same iSCSI target or on other iSCSI targets (see
Section 9.1.1 Conservative Reuse of ISIDs). Allowing this would be
analogous to a single SCSI Initiator Port having relationships
(nexus) with multiple SCSI target ports on the same SCSI target
device or SCSI target ports on other SCSI target devices. It is also
possible to have multiple sessions with different ISIDs to the same
Target Portal Group. Each such session would be considered to be
with a different initiator even when the sessions originate from the
same initiator device. The same ISID may be used by a different
iSCSI initiator because it is the iSCSI Name together with the ISID
that identifies the SCSI Initiator Port.
NOTE: A consequence of the ISID RULE and the specification for the
I_T nexus identifier is that two nexus with the same identifier
should never exist at the same time.
TSIH RULE: The iSCSI Target selects a non-zero value for the TSIH at
session creation (when an initiator presents a 0 value at Login).
After being selected, the same TSIH value MUST be used whenever the
initiator or target refers to the session and a TSIH is required.
3.4.3.1. I_T Nexus State
Certain nexus relationships contain an explicit state (e.g.,
initiator-specific mode pages) that may need to be preserved by the
device server [SAM2] in a logical unit through changes or failures in
the iSCSI layer (e.g., session failures). In order for that state to
be restored, the iSCSI initiator should reestablish its session
(re-login) to the same Target Portal Group using the previous ISID.
That is, it should perform session recovery as described in Chapter
6. This is because the SCSI initiator port identifier and the SCSI
target port identifier (or relative target port) form the datum that
the SCSI logical unit device server uses to identify the I_T nexus.
3.5. Request/Response Summary
This section lists and briefly describes all the iSCSI PDU types
(request and responses).
All iSCSI PDUs are built as a set of one or more header segments
(basic and auxiliary) and zero or one data segments. The header
group and the data segment may each be followed by a CRC (digest).
The basic header segment has a fixed length of 48 bytes.
3.5.1. Request/Response Types Carrying SCSI Payload
3.5.1.1. SCSI-Command
This request carries the SCSI CDB and all the other SCSI execute
command procedure call (see [SAM2]) IN arguments such as task
attributes, Expected Data Transfer Length for one or both transfer
directions (the latter for bidirectional commands), and Task Tag (as
part of the I_T_L_x nexus). The I_T_L nexus is derived by the
initiator and target from the LUN field in the request and the I_T
nexus is implicit in the session identification.
In addition, the SCSI-command PDU carries information required for
the proper operation of the iSCSI protocol - the command sequence
number (CmdSN) for the session and the expected status number
(ExpStatSN) for the connection.
All or part of the SCSI output (write) data associated with the SCSI
command may be sent as part of the SCSI-Command PDU as a data
segment.
3.5.1.2. SCSI-Response
The SCSI-Response carries all the SCSI execute-command procedure call
(see [SAM2]) OUT arguments and the SCSI execute-command procedure
call return value.
The SCSI-Response contains the residual counts from the operation, if
any, an indication of whether the counts represent an overflow or an
underflow, and the SCSI status if the status is valid or a response
code (a non-zero return value for the execute-command procedure call)
if the status is not valid.
For a valid status that indicates that the command has been
processed, but resulted in an exception (e.g., a SCSI CHECK
CONDITION), the PDU data segment contains the associated sense data.
The use of Autosense ([SAM2]) is REQUIRED by iSCSI.
Some data segment content may also be associated (in the data
segment) with a non-zero response code.
In addition, the SCSI-Response PDU carries information required for
the proper operation of the iSCSI protocol:
- The number of Data-In PDUs that a target has sent (to enable
the initiator to check that all have arrived).
- StatSN - the Status Sequence Number on this connection.
- ExpCmdSN - the next Expected Command Sequence Number at the
target.
- MaxCmdSN - the maximum CmdSN acceptable at the target from
this initiator.
3.5.1.3 Task Management Function Request
The Task Management function request provides an initiator with a way
to explicitly control the execution of one or more SCSI Tasks or
iSCSI functions. The PDU carries a function identifier (which task
management function to perform) and enough information to
unequivocally identify the task or task-set on which to perform the
action, even if the task(s) to act upon has not yet arrived or has
been discarded due to an error.
The referenced tag identifies an individual task if the function
refers to an individual task.
The I_T_L nexus identifies task sets. In iSCSI the I_T_L nexus is
identified by the LUN and the session identification (the session
identifies an I_T nexus).
For task sets, the CmdSN of the Task Management function request
helps identify the tasks upon which to act, namely all tasks
associated with a LUN and having a CmdSN preceding the Task
Management function request CmdSN.
For a Task Management function, the coordination between responses to
the tasks affected and the Task Management function response is done
by the target.
3.5.1.4. Task Management Function Response
The Task Management function response carries an indication of
function completion for a Task Management function request including
how it was completed (response and qualifier) and additional
information for failure responses.
After the Task Management response indicates Task Management function
completion, the initiator will not receive any additional responses
from the affected tasks.
3.5.1.5. SCSI Data-Out and SCSI Data-In
SCSI Data-Out and SCSI Data-In are the main vehicles by which SCSI
data payload is carried between initiator and target. Data payload
is associated with a specific SCSI command through the Initiator Task
Tag. For target convenience, outgoing solicited data also carries a
Target Transfer Tag (copied from R2T) and the LUN. Each PDU contains
the payload length and the data offset relative to the buffer address
contained in the SCSI execute command procedure call.
In each direction, the data transfer is split into "sequences". An
end-of-sequence is indicated by the F bit.
An outgoing sequence is either unsolicited (only the first sequence
can be unsolicited) or consists of all the Data-Out PDUs sent in
response to an R2T.
Input sequences are built to enable the direction switching for
bidirectional commands.
For input, the target may request positive acknowledgement of input
data. This is limited to sessions that support error recovery and is
implemented through the A bit in the SCSI Data-In PDU header.
Data-In and Data-Out PDUs also carry the DataSN to enable the
initiator and target to detect missing PDUs (discarded due to an
error).
In addition, StatSN is carried by the Data-In PDUs.
To enable a SCSI command to be processed while involving a minimum
number of messages, the last SCSI Data-In PDU passed for a command
may also contain the status if the status indicates termination with
no exceptions (no sense or response involved).
3.5.1.6. Ready To Transfer (R2T)
R2T is the mechanism by which the SCSI target "requests" the
initiator for output data. R2T specifies to the initiator the offset
of the requested data relative to the buffer address from the execute
command procedure call and the length of the solicited data.
To help the SCSI target associate the resulting Data-Out with an R2T,
the R2T carries a Target Transfer Tag that will be copied by the
initiator in the solicited SCSI Data-Out PDUs. There are no protocol
specific requirements with regard to the value of these tags, but it
is assumed that together with the LUN, they will enable the target to
associate data with an R2T.
R2T also carries information required for proper operation of the
iSCSI protocol, such as:
- R2TSN (to enable an initiator to detect a missing R2T)
- StatSN
- ExpCmdSN
- MaxCmdSN
3.5.2. Requests/Responses carrying SCSI and iSCSI Payload
3.5.2.1. Asynchronous Message
Asynchronous Messages are used to carry SCSI asynchronous events
(AEN) and iSCSI asynchronous messages.
When carrying an AEN, the event details are reported as sense data in
the data segment.
3.5.3. Requests/Responses Carrying iSCSI Only Payload
3.5.3.1. Text Request and Text Response
Text requests and responses are designed as a parameter negotiation
vehicle and as a vehicle for future extension.
In the data segment, Text Requests/Responses carry text information
using a simple "key=value" syntax.
Text Request/Responses may form extended sequences using the same
Initiator Task Tag. The initiator uses the F (Final) flag bit in the
text request header to indicate its readiness to terminate a
sequence. The target uses the F (Final) flag bit in the text
response header to indicate its consent to sequence termination.
Text Request and Responses also use the Target Transfer Tag to
indicate continuation of an operation or a new beginning. A target
that wishes to continue an operation will set the Target Transfer Tag
in a Text Response to a value different from the default 0xffffffff.
An initiator willing to continue will copy this value into the Target
Transfer Tag of the next Text Request. If the initiator wants to
restart the current target negotiation (start fresh) will set the
Target Transfer Tag to 0xffffffff.
Although a complete exchange is always started by the initiator,
specific parameter negotiations may be initiated by the initiator or
target.
3.5.3.2. Login Request and Login Response
Login Requests and Responses are used exclusively during the Login
Phase of each connection to set up the session and connection
parameters. (The Login Phase consists of a sequence of login
requests and responses carrying the same Initiator Task Tag.)
A connection is identified by an arbitrarily selected connection-ID
(CID) that is unique within a session.
Similar to the Text Requests and Responses, Login Requests/Responses
carry key=value text information with a simple syntax in the data
segment.
The Login Phase proceeds through several stages (security
negotiation, operational parameter negotiation) that are selected
with two binary coded fields in the header -- the "current stage"
(CSG) and the "next stage" (NSG) with the appearance of the latter
being signaled by the "transit" flag (T).
The first Login Phase of a session plays a special role, called the
leading login, which determines some header fields (e.g., the version
number, the maximum number of connections, and the session
identification).
The CmdSN initial value is also set by the leading login.
StatSN for each connection is initiated by the connection login.
A login request may indicate an implied logout (cleanup) of the
connection to be logged in (a connection restart) by using the same
Connection ID (CID) as an existing connection, as well as the same
session identifying elements of the session to which the old
connection was associated.
3.5.3.3. Logout Request and Response
Logout Requests and Responses are used for the orderly closing of
connections for recovery or maintenance. The logout request may be
issued following a target prompt (through an asynchronous message) or
at an initiators initiative. When issued on the connection to be
logged out, no other request may follow it.
The Logout Response indicates that the connection or session cleanup
is completed and no other responses will arrive on the connection (if
received on the logging out connection). In addition, the Logout
Response indicates how long the target will continue to hold
resources for recovery (e.g., command execution that continues on a
new connection) in the text key Time2Retain and how long the
initiator must wait before proceeding with recovery in the text key
Time2Wait.
3.5.3.4. SNACK Request
With the SNACK Request, the initiator requests retransmission of
numbered-responses or data from the target. A single SNACK request
covers a contiguous set of missing items, called a run, of a given
type of items. The type is indicated in a type field in the PDU
header. The run is composed of an initial item (StatSN, DataSN,
R2TSN) and the number of missed Status, Data, or R2T PDUs. For long
Data-In sequences, the target may request (at predefined minimum
intervals) a positive acknowledgement for the data sent. A SNACK
request with a type field that indicates ACK and the number of
Data-In PDUs acknowledged conveys this positive acknowledgement.
3.5.3.5. Reject
Reject enables the target to report an iSCSI error condition (e.g.,
protocol, unsupported option) that uses a Reason field in the PDU
header and includes the complete header of the bad PDU in the Reject
PDU data segment.
3.5.3.6. NOP-Out Request and NOP-In Response
This request/response pair may be used by an initiator and target as
a "ping" mechanism to verify that a connection/session is still
active and all of its components are operational. Such a ping may be
triggered by the initiator or target. The triggering party indicates
that it wants a reply by setting a value different from the default
0xffffffff in the corresponding Initiator/Target Transfer Tag.
NOP-In/NOP-Out may also be used "unidirectional" to convey to the
initiator/target command, status or data counter values when there is
no other "carrier" and there is a need to update the initiator/
target.
4. SCSI Mode Parameters for iSCSI
There are no iSCSI specific mode pages.
5. Login and Full Feature Phase Negotiation
iSCSI parameters are negotiated at session or connection
establishment by using Login Requests and Responses (see Section
3.2.3 iSCSI Login) and during the Full Feature Phase (Section 3.2.4
iSCSI Full Feature Phase) by using Text Requests and Responses. In
both cases the mechanism used is an exchange of iSCSI-text-key=value
pairs. For brevity iSCSI-text-keys are called just keys in the rest
of this document.
Keys are either declarative or require negotiation and the key
description indicates if the key is declarative or requires
negotiation.
For the declarative keys, the declaring party sets a value for the
key. The key specification indicates if the key can be declared by
the initiator, target or both.
For the keys that require negotiation one of the parties (the
proposing party) proposes a value or set of values by including the
key=value in the data part of a Login or Text Request or Response
PDUs. The other party (the accepting party) makes a selection based
on the value or list of values proposed and includes the selected
value in a key=value in the data part of one of the following Login
or Text Response or Request PDUs. For most of the keys both the
initiator and target can be proposing parties.
The login process proceeds in two stages - the security negotiation
stage and the operational parameter negotiation stage. Both stages
are optional but at least one of them has to be present to enable the
setting of some mandatory parameters.
If present, the security negotiation stage precedes the operational
parameter negotiation stage.
Progression from stage to stage is controlled by the T (Transition)
bit in the Login Request/Response PDU header. Through the T bit set
to 1, the initiator indicates that it would like to transition. The
target agrees to the transition (and selects the next stage) when
ready. A field in the Login PDU header indicates the current stage
(CSG) and during transition, another field indicates the next stage
(NSG) proposed (initiator) and selected (target).
The text negotiation process is used to negotiate or declare
operational parameters. The negotiation process is controlled by the
F (final) bit in the PDU header. During text negotiations, the F bit
is used by the initiator to indicate that it is ready to finish the
negotiation and by the Target to acquiesce the end of negotiation.
Since some key=value pairs may not fit entirely in a single PDU, the
C (continuation) bit is used (both in Login and Text) to indicate
that "more follows".
The text negotiation uses an additional mechanism by which a target
may deliver larger amounts of data to an enquiring initiator. The
target sets a Target Task Tag to be used as a bookmark that when
returned by the initiator, means "go on". If reset to a "neutral
value", it means "forget about the rest".
This chapter details types of keys and values used, the syntax rules
for parameter formation, and the negotiation schemes to be used with
different types of parameters.
5.1. Text Format
The initiator and target send a set of key=value pairs encoded in
UTF-8 Unicode. All the text keys and text values specified in this
document are to be presented and interpreted in the case in which
they appear in this document. They are case sensitive.
The following character symbols are used in this document for text
items (the hexadecimal values represent Unicode code points):
(a-z, A-Z) - letters
(0-9) - digits
" " (0x20) - space
"." (0x2e) - dot
"-" (0x2d) - minus
"+" (0x2b) - plus
"@" (0x40) - commercial at
"_" (0x5f) - underscore
"=" (0x3d) - equal
":" (0x3a) - colon
"/" (0x2f) - solidus or slash
"[" (0x5b) - left bracket
"]" (0x5d) - right bracket
null (0x00) - null separator
"," (0x2c) - comma
"~" (0x7e) - tilde
Key=value pairs may span PDU boundaries. An initiator or target that
sends partial key=value text within a PDU indicates that more text
follows by setting the C bit in the Text or Login Request or Text or
Login Response to 1. Data segments in a series of PDUs that have the
C bit set to 1 and end with a PDU that have the C bit set to 0, or
include a single PDU that has the C bit set to 0, have to be
considered as forming a single logical-text-data-segment (LTDS).
Every key=value pair, including the last or only pair in a LTDS, MUST
be followed by one null (0x00) delimiter.
A key-name is whatever precedes the first "=" in the key=value pair.
The term key is used frequently in this document in place of
key-name.
A value is whatever follows the first "=" in the key=value pair up to
the end of the key=value pair, but not including the null delimiter.
The following definitions will be used in the rest of this document:
standard-label: A string of one or more characters that consist of
letters, digits, dot, minus, plus, commercial at, or underscore.
A standard-label MUST begin with a capital letter and must not
exceed 63 characters.
key-name: A standard-label.
text-value: A string of zero or more characters that consist of
letters, digits, dot, minus, plus, commercial at, underscore,
slash, left bracket, right bracket, or colon.
iSCSI-name-value: A string of one or more characters that consist
of minus, dot, colon, or any character allowed by the output of
the iSCSI string-prep template as specified in [RFC3722] (see
also Section 3.2.6.2 iSCSI Name Encoding).
iSCSI-local-name-value: A UTF-8 string; no null characters are
allowed in the string. This encoding is to be used for localized
(internationalized) aliases.
boolean-value: The string "Yes" or "No".
hex-constant: A hexadecimal constant encoded as a string that
starts with "0x" or "0X" followed by one or more digits or the
letters a, b, c, d, e, f, A, B, C, D, E, or F. Hex-constants are
used to encode numerical values or binary strings. When used to
encode numerical values, the excessive use of leading 0 digits is
discouraged. The string following 0X (or 0x) represents a base16
number that starts with the most significant base16 digit,
followed by all other digits in decreasing order of significance
and ending with the least-significant base16 digit. When used to
encode binary strings, hexadecimal constants have an implicit
byte-length that includes four bits for every hexadecimal digit
of the constant, including leading zeroes. For example, a
hex-constant of n hexadecimal digits has a byte-length of (the
integer part of) (n+1)/2.
decimal-constant: An unsigned decimal number with the digit 0 or a
string of one or more digits that s