The Solaris iSCSI Target Implementation: Concepts
The Solaris iSCSI Target Implementation: Concepts
14 Dec ’06 – 16:18 by benr
Solaris and iSCSI are two technologies that share something in common: they are amazing technologies that have had to slug their way into the data center. Solaris puts insane amounts of power at your fingertips and iSCSI puts insane amounts of flexibility into your architecture. And so, I think its time that we start looking closely at the Solaris iSCSI Target and what it can do for you. We’ll start at the beginning and work our way forward.
The purpose of iSCSI is simple: make a block storage device, such as a disk or a volume, accessible over a conventional IP network. When iSCSI was introduced it looked neat and nifty but since 1Gbps Ethernet has become the standard baseline for network throughput across the board and 10Gbps Ethernet is a reality, iSCSI has been elevated from “interesting” to “koooooooool”. The immediate advantage of iSCSI is clear: no-cost/low-cost storage networking. However, once you get past the cost aspects you realize that the true advantage of iSCSI is the flexibility it provides as a product of the cost, systems that you would never have imagined putting a Fibre Channel HBA in are now prime candidates for iSCSI. When combined with Ethernet technologies like aggregation (“trunking”, “teaming”, etc) and JumboFrames, or storage technologies like thin provisioning or ZFS we create some unique and compelling options that were either impossible on Fibre Channel or just far too costly to be attainable by the masses. Read more…
