rfc7145
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) M. Ko
Request for Comments: 7145
Obsoletes: 5046 A. Nezhinsky
Category: Standards Track Mellanox
ISSN: 2070-1721 April 2014
Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Extensions
for the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) Specification
Abstract
Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) Extensions for
Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) provides the RDMA data transfer
capability to iSCSI by layering iSCSI on top of an RDMA-Capable
Protocol. An RDMA-Capable Protocol provides RDMA Read and Write
services, which enable data to be transferred directly into SCSI I/O
Buffers without intermediate data copies. This document describes
the extensions to the iSCSI protocol to support RDMA services as
provided by an RDMA-Capable Protocol.
This document obsoletes RFC 5046.
Status of This Memo
This is an Internet Standards Track document.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on
Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7145.
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RFC 7145 iSER Specification April 2014
Copyright Notice
Copyright (c) 2014 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
document authors. All rights reserved.
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
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include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
described in the Simplified BSD License.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ....................................................5
1.1. Motivation .................................................5
1.2. iSCSI/iSER Layering ........................................6
1.3. Architectural Goals ........................................7
1.4. Protocol Overview ..........................................7
1.5. RDMA Services and iSER .....................................9
1.5.1. STag ................................................9
1.5.2. Send ...............................................10
1.5.3. RDMA Write .........................................11
1.5.4. RDMA Read ..........................................11
1.6. SCSI Read Overview ........................................11
1.7. SCSI Write Overview .......................................12
2. Definitions and Acronyms .......................................12
2.1. Definitions ...............................................12
2.2. Acronyms ..................................................18
2.3. Conventions ...............................................20
3. Upper-Layer Interface Requirements .............................20
3.1. Operational Primitives offered by iSER ....................21
3.1.1. Send_Control .......................................21
3.1.2. Put_Data ...........................................21
3.1.3. Get_Data ...........................................22
3.1.4. Allocate_Connection_Resources ......................22
3.1.5. Deallocate_Connection_Resources ....................23
3.1.6. Enable_Datamover ...................................23
3.1.7. Connection_Terminate ...............................23
3.1.8. Notice_Key_Values ..................................24
3.1.9. Deallocate_Task_Resources ..........................24
3.2. Operational Primitives Used by iSER .......................24
3.2.1. Control_Notify .....................................25
3.2.2. Data_Completion_Notify .............................25
3.2.3. Data_ACK_Notify ....................................25
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3.2.4. Connection_Terminate_Notify ........................26
3.3. iSCSI Protocol Usage Requirements .........................26
4. Lower-Layer Interface Requirements .............................27
4.1. Interactions with the RCaP Layer ..........................27
4.2. Interactions with the Transport Layer .....................28
5. Connection Setup and Termination ...............................28
5.1. iSCSI/iSER Connection Setup ...............................28
5.1.1. Initiator Behavior .................................30
5.1.2. Target Behavior ....................................31
5.1.3. iSER Hello Exchange ................................33
5.2. iSCSI/iSER Connection Termination .........................36
5.2.1. Normal Connection Termination at the Initiator .....36
5.2.2. Normal Connection Termination at the Target ........36
5.2.3. Termination without Logout Request/Response PDUs ...37
6. Login/Text Operational Keys ....................................38
6.1. HeaderDigest and DataDigest ...............................38
6.2. MaxRecvDataSegmentLength ..................................38
6.3. RDMAExtensions ............................................39
6.4. TargetRecvDataSegmentLength ...............................40
6.5. InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength ............................41
6.6. OFMarker and IFMarker .....................................41
6.7. MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs ..............................41
6.8. MaxAHSLength ..............................................42
6.9. TaggedBufferForSolicitedDataOnly ..........................43
6.10. iSERHelloRequired ........................................43
7. iSCSI PDU Considerations .......................................44
7.1. iSCSI Data-Type PDU .......................................44
7.2. iSCSI Control-Type PDU ....................................45
7.3. iSCSI PDUs ................................................45
7.3.1. SCSI Command .......................................45
7.3.2. SCSI Response ......................................47
7.3.3. Task Management Function Request/Response ..........49
7.3.4. SCSI Data-out ......................................50
7.3.5. SCSI Data-in .......................................51
7.3.6. Ready To Transfer (R2T) ............................53
7.3.7. Asynchronous Message ...............................55
7.3.8. Text Request and Text Response .....................55
7.3.9. Login Request and Login Response ...................55
7.3.10. Logout Request and Logout Response ................56
7.3.11. SNACK Request .....................................56
7.3.12. Reject ............................................56
7.3.13. NOP-Out and NOP-In ................................57
8. Flow Control and STag Management ...............................57
8.1. Flow Control for RDMA Send Messages .......................57
8.1.1. Flow Control for Control-Type PDUs from the
Initiator ..........................................58
8.1.2. Flow Control for Control-Type PDUs from the
Target .............................................60
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8.2. Flow Control for RDMA Read Resources ......................61
8.3. STag Management ...........................................62
8.3.1. Allocation of STags ................................62
8.3.2. Invalidation of STags ..............................62
9. iSER Control and Data Transfer .................................64
9.1. iSER Header Format ........................................64
9.2. iSER Header Format for iSCSI Control-Type PDU .............65
9.3. iSER Header Format for iSER Hello Message .................67
9.4. iSER Header Format for iSER HelloReply Message ............68
9.5. SCSI Data Transfer Operations .............................69
9.5.1. SCSI Write Operation ...............................69
9.5.2. SCSI Read Operation ................................70
9.5.3. Bidirectional Operation ............................70
10. iSER Error Handling and Recovery ..............................71
10.1. Error Handling ...........................................71
10.1.1. Errors in the Transport Layer .....................71
10.1.2. Errors in the RCaP Layer ..........................72
10.1.3. Errors in the iSER Layer ..........................73
10.1.4. Errors in the iSCSI Layer .........................75
10.2. Error Recovery ...........................................76
10.2.1. PDU Recovery ......................................77
10.2.2. Connection Recovery ...............................77
11. Security Considerations .......................................78
12. IANA Considerations ...........................................79
13. References ....................................................79
13.1. Normative References .....................................79
13.2. Informative References ...................................80
Appendix A. Summary of Changes from RFC 5046 ......................81
Appendix B. Message Format for iSER ...............................83
B.1. iWARP Message Format for iSER Hello Message ..................83
B.2. iWARP Message Format for iSER HelloReply Message .............84
B.3. iSER Header Format for SCSI Read Command PDU .................85
B.4. iSER Header Format for SCSI Write Command PDU ................86
B.5. iSER Header Format for SCSI Response PDU .....................87
Appendix C. Architectural discussion of iSER over InfiniBand ......88
C.1. Host Side of iSCSI and iSER Connections in InfiniBand ........88
C.2. Storage Side of iSCSI and iSER Mixed Network Environment .....89
C.3. Discovery Processes for an InfiniBand Host ...................89
C.4. IBTA Connection Specifications ...............................90
Appendix D. Acknowledgments .......................................90
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Table of Figures
Figure 1. Example of iSCSI/iSER Layering in Full Feature Phase .....6
Figure 2. iSER Header Format ......................................64
Figure 3. iSER Header Format for iSCSI Control-Type PDU ...........65
Figure 4. iSER Header Format for iSER Hello Message ...............67
Figure 5. iSER Header Format for iSER HelloReply Message ..........68
Figure 6. SendSE Message Containing an iSER Hello Message .........83
Figure 7. SendSE Message Containing an iSER HelloReply Message ....84
Figure 8. iSER Header Format for SCSI Read Command PDU ............85
Figure 9. iSER Header Format for SCSI Write Command PDU ...........86
Figure 10. iSER Header Format for SCSI Response PDU ...............87
Figure 11. iSCSI and iSER on IB ...................................88
Figure 12. Storage Controller with TCP, iWARP, and IB Connections .89
1. Introduction
1.1. Motivation
The iSCSI protocol ([iSCSI]) is a mapping of the SCSI Architecture
Model (see [SAM5] and [iSCSI-SAM]) over the TCP protocol. SCSI
commands are carried by iSCSI requests, and SCSI responses and status
are carried by iSCSI responses. Other iSCSI protocol exchanges and
SCSI Data are also transported in iSCSI PDUs.
Out-of-order TCP segments in the Traditional iSCSI model have to be
stored and reassembled before the iSCSI protocol layer within an end
node can place the data in the iSCSI buffers. This reassembly is
required because not every TCP segment is likely to contain an iSCSI
header to enable its placement and TCP itself does not have a built-
in mechanism for signaling ULP (Upper Level Protocol) message
boundaries to aid placement of out-of-order segments. This TCP
reassembly at high network speeds is quite counterproductive for the
following reasons: wasted memory bandwidth in data copying, need for
reassembly memory, wasted CPU cycles in data copying, and the general
store-and-forward latency from an application perspective.
The generic term RDMA-Capable Protocol (RCaP) is used to refer to
protocol stacks that provide the Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA)
functionality, such as iWARP and InfiniBand.
With the availability of RDMA-Capable Controllers within a host
system, it is appropriate for iSCSI to be able to exploit the direct
data placement function of the RDMA-Capable Controller like other
applications.
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iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER) is designed precisely to take
advantage of generic RDMA technologies -- iSER's goal is to permit
iSCSI to employ direct data placement and RDMA capabilities using a
generic RDMA-Capable Controller. In summary, the iSCSI/iSER protocol
stack is designed to enable scaling to high speeds by relying on a
generic data placement process and RDMA technologies and products
that enable direct data placement of both in-order and out-of-order
data.
This document describes iSER as a protocol extension to iSCSI, both
for convenience of description and also because it is true in a very
strict protocol sense. However, it is to be noted that iSER is in
reality extending the connectivity of the iSCSI protocol defined in
[iSCSI], and the name "iSER" reflects this reality.
When the iSCSI protocol as defined in [iSCSI] (i.e., without the iSER
enhancements) is intended in the rest of the document, the term
"Traditional iSCSI" is used to make the intention clear.
This document obsoletes RFC 5046. See Appendix A for the list of
changes from RFC 5046.
1.2. iSCSI/iSER Layering
iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER) is layered between the iSCSI layer
and the RCaP layer.
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| SCSI |
+--------------------------------------------------------+
| iSCSI |
DI -> +--------------------------------------------------------+
| iSER |
+-------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| RDMAP | | |
+-------+ InfiniBand | |
| DDP | Reliable | Other |
+-------+ Connected | RDMA |
| MPA | Transport | Capable |
+-------+ Service | Protocol |
| TCP | | |
+-------+--------------------------+---------------------+
| IP | InfiniBand Network Layer | Other Network Layer |
+-------+--------------------------+---------------------+
Figure 1: Example of iSCSI/iSER Layering in Full Feature Phase
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Figure 1 shows an example of the relationship between SCSI, iSCSI,
iSER, and the different RCaP layers. For TCP, the RCaP is iWARP.
For InfiniBand, the RCaP is the Reliable Connected Transport Service.
Note that the iSCSI layer as described here supports the RDMA
Extensions as used in iSER.
1.3. Architectural Goals
This section summarizes the architectural goals that guided the
design of iSER.
1. Provide an RDMA data transfer model for iSCSI that enables direct
in-order or out-of-order data placement of SCSI data into pre-
allocated SCSI buffers while maintaining in-order data delivery.
2. Do not require any major changes to the SCSI Architecture Model
[SAM5] and SCSI command set standards.
3. Utilize the existing iSCSI infrastructure (sometimes referred to
as "iSCSI ecosystem") including but not limited to MIB,
bootstrapping, negotiation, naming and discovery, and security.
4. Enable a session to operate in the Traditional iSCSI data
transfer mode if iSER is not supported by either the initiator or
the target. (Do not require iSCSI Full Feature Phase
interoperability between an end node operating in Traditional
iSCSI mode and an end node operating in iSER-assisted mode.)
5. Allow initiator and target implementations to utilize generic
RDMA-Capable Controllers such as RNICs or to implement iSCSI and
iSER in software. (Do not require iSCSI- or iSER-specific
assists in the RCaP implementation or RDMA-Capable Controller.)
6. Implement a lightweight Datamover protocol for iSCSI with minimal
state maintenance.
1.4. Protocol Overview
Consistent with the architectural goals stated in Section 1.3, the
iSER protocol does not require changes in the iSCSI ecosystem or any
related SCSI specifications. The iSER protocol defines the mapping
of iSCSI PDUs to RCaP Messages in such a way that it is entirely
feasible to realize iSCSI/iSER implementations that are based on
generic RDMA-Capable Controllers. The iSER protocol layer requires
minimal state maintenance to assist a connection during the iSCSI
Full Feature Phase, besides being oblivious to the notion of an iSCSI
session. The crucial protocol aspects of iSER may be summarized as
follows:
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1. iSER-assisted mode is negotiated during the iSCSI login in the
leading connection for each session, and an entire iSCSI session
can only operate in one mode (i.e., a connection in a session
cannot operate in iSER-assisted mode if a different connection of
the same session is already in Full Feature Phase in the
Traditional iSCSI mode).
2. Once in iSER-assisted mode, all iSCSI interactions on that
connection use RCaP Messages.
3. A Send Message is used for carrying an iSCSI control-type PDU
preceded by an iSER header. See Section 7.2 for more details on
iSCSI control-type PDUs.
4. RDMA Write, RDMA Read Request, and RDMA Read Response Messages
are used for carrying control and all data information associated
with the iSCSI data-type PDUs (i.e., SCSI Data-In PDUs and R2T
PDUs). iSER does not use SCSI Data-Out PDUs for solicited data,
and SCSI Data-Out PDUs for unsolicited data are not treated as
iSCSI data-type PDUs by iSER because RDMA is not used. See
Section 7.1 for more details on iSCSI data-type PDUs.
5. The target drives all data transfer (with the exception of iSCSI
unsolicited data) for SCSI writes and SCSI reads, by issuing RDMA
Read Requests and RDMA Writes, respectively.
6. RCaP is responsible for ensuring data integrity. (For example,
iWARP includes a CRC-enhanced framing layer called MPA on top of
TCP; and for InfiniBand, the CRCs are included in the Reliable
Connection mode). For this reason, iSCSI header and data digests
are negotiated to "None" for iSCSI/iSER sessions.
7. The iSCSI error recovery hierarchy defined in [iSCSI] is fully
supported by iSER. (However, see Section 7.3.11 on the handling
of SNACK Request PDUs.)
8. iSER requires no changes to iSCSI security and text mode
negotiation mechanisms.
Note that Traditional iSCSI implementations may have to be adapted to
employ iSER. It is expected that the adaptation when required is
likely to be centered around the upper-layer interface requirements
of iSER (Section 3).
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1.5. RDMA Services and iSER
iSER is designed to work with software and/or hardware protocol
stacks providing the protocol services defined in RCaP documents such
as [RDMAP], [IB], etc. The following subsections describe the key
protocol elements of RCaP services on which iSER relies.
1.5.1. STag
An STag is the identifier of an I/O Buffer unique to an RDMA-Capable
Controller that the iSER layer Advertises to the remote iSCSI/iSER
node in order to complete a SCSI I/O.
In iSER, Advertisement is the act of informing the target by the
initiator that an I/O Buffer is available at the initiator for RDMA
Read or RDMA Write access by the target. The initiator Advertises
the I/O Buffer by including the STag and the Base Offset in the
header of an iSER Message containing the SCSI Command PDU to the
target. The buffer length is as specified in the SCSI Command PDU.
The iSER layer at the initiator Advertises the STag and the Base
Offset for the I/O Buffer of each SCSI I/O to the iSER layer at the
target in the iSER header of a Send Message containing the SCSI
Command PDU, unless the I/O can be completely satisfied by
unsolicited data alone. The SendSE Message should be used if
supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP).
The iSER layer at the target provides the STag for the I/O Buffer
that is the Data Sink of an RDMA Read Operation (Section 1.5.4) to
the RCaP layer on the initiator node -- i.e., this is completely
transparent to the iSER layer at the initiator.
The iSER layer at the initiator SHOULD invalidate the Advertised STag
upon a normal completion of the associated task. The Send with
Invalidate Message, if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP), can
be used for automatic invalidation when it is used to carry the SCSI
Response PDU. There are two exceptions to this automatic
invalidation -- bidirectional commands and abnormal completion of a
command. The iSER layer at the initiator SHOULD explicitly
invalidate the STag in these two cases. That iSER layer MUST check
that STag invalidation has occurred whenever receipt of a Send with
Invalidate message is the expected means of causing an STag to be
invalidated, and it MUST perform the STag invalidation if the STag
has not already been invalidated (e.g., because a Send Message was
used instead of Send with Invalidate).
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If the Advertised STag is not invalidated as recommended in the
foregoing paragraph (e.g., in order to cache the STag for future
reuse), the I/O Buffer remains exposed to the network for access by
the RCaP. Such an I/O Buffer is capable of being read or written by
the RCaP outside the scope of the iSCSI operation for which it was
originally established; this fact has both robustness and security
considerations. The robustness considerations are that the system
containing the iSER initiator may react poorly to an unexpected
modification of its memory. For the security considerations, see
Section 11.
1.5.2. Send
Send is the RDMA Operation that is not addressed to an Advertised
buffer and uses Untagged buffers as the message is received.
The iSER layer at the initiator uses the Send Operation to transmit
any iSCSI control-type PDU to the target. As an example, the
initiator uses Send Operations to transfer iSER Messages containing
SCSI Command PDUs to the iSER layer at the target.
An iSER layer at the target uses the Send Operation to transmit any
iSCSI control-type PDU to the initiator. As an example, the target
uses Send Operations to transfer iSER Messages containing SCSI
Response PDUs to the iSER layer at the initiator.
For interoperability, iSER implementations SHOULD accept and
correctly process SendSE and SendInvSE messages. However, SendSE and
SendInvSE messages are to be regarded as optimizations or
enhancements to the basic Send Message, and their support may vary by
RCaP protocol and specific implementation. In general, these
messages SHOULD NOT be used, unless the RCaP requires support for
them in all implementations. If these messages are used, the
implementation SHOULD be capable of reverting to use of Send in order
to work with a receiver that does not support these messages.
Attempted use of these messages with a peer that does not support
them may result in a fatal error that closes the RCaP connection.
For example, these messages SHOULD NOT be used with the InfiniBand
RCaP because InfiniBand does not require support for them in all
cases. New iSER implementations SHOULD use Send (and not SendSE or
SendInvSE) unless there are compelling reasons for doing otherwise.
Similarly, iSER implementations SHOULD NOT rely on events triggered
by SendSE and SendInvSE, as these messages may not be used.
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1.5.3. RDMA Write
RDMA Write is the RDMA Operation that is used to place data into an
Advertised buffer at the Data Sink. The Data Source addresses the
Message using an STag and a Tagged Offset that are valid on the Data
Sink.
The iSER layer at the target uses the RDMA Write Operation to
transfer the contents of a local I/O Buffer to an Advertised I/O
Buffer at the initiator. The iSER layer at the target uses the RDMA
Write to transfer the whole data or part of the data required to
complete a SCSI Read command.
The iSER layer at the initiator does not employ RDMA Writes.
1.5.4. RDMA Read
RDMA Read is the RDMA Operation that is used to retrieve data from an
Advertised buffer at the Data Source. The sender of the RDMA Read
Request addresses the Message using an STag and a Tagged Offset that
are valid on the Data Source in addition to providing a valid local
STag and Tagged Offset that identify the Data Sink.
The iSER layer at the target uses the RDMA Read Operation to transfer
the contents of an Advertised I/O Buffer at the initiator to a local
I/O Buffer at the target. The iSER layer at the target uses the RDMA
Read to fetch whole or part of the data required to complete a SCSI
Write Command.
The iSER layer at the initiator does not employ RDMA Reads.
1.6. SCSI Read Overview
The iSER layer at the initiator receives the SCSI Command PDU from
the iSCSI layer. The iSER layer at the initiator generates an STag
for the I/O Buffer of the SCSI Read and Advertises the buffer by
including the STag and the Base Offset as part of the iSER header for
the PDU. The iSER Message is transferred to the target using a Send
Message. The SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP
layer (e.g., iWARP).
The iSER layer at the target uses one or more RDMA Writes to transfer
the data required to complete the SCSI Read.
The iSER layer at the target uses a Send Message to transfer the SCSI
Response PDU back to the iSER layer at the initiator. The iSER layer
at the initiator invalidates the STag and notifies the iSCSI layer of
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the availability of the SCSI Response PDU. The Send with Invalidate
Message, if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP), can be used
for automatic invalidation of the STag.
1.7. SCSI Write Overview
The iSER layer at the initiator receives the SCSI Command PDU from
the iSCSI layer. If solicited data transfer is involved, the iSER
layer at the initiator generates an STag for the I/O Buffer of the
SCSI Write and Advertises the buffer by including the STag and the
Base Offset as part of the iSER header for the PDU. The iSER Message
is transferred to the target using a Send Message. The SendSE
Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP).
The iSER layer at the initiator may optionally send one or more non-
immediate unsolicited data PDUs to the target using Send Messages.
If solicited data transfer is involved, the iSER layer at the target
uses one or more RDMA Reads to transfer the data required to complete
the SCSI Write.
The iSER layer at the target uses a Send Message to transfer the SCSI
Response PDU back to the iSER layer at the initiator. The iSER layer
at the initiator invalidates the STag and notifies the iSCSI layer of
the availability of the SCSI Response PDU. The Send with Invalidate
Message, if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP), can be used
for automatic invalidation of the STag.
2. Definitions and Acronyms
2.1. Definitions
Advertisement (Advertised, Advertise, Advertisements, Advertises) --
The act of informing a remote iSER (iSCSI Extensions for RDMA)
layer that a local node's buffer is available to it. A node makes
a buffer available for incoming RDMA Read Request Message or
incoming RDMA Write Message access by informing the remote iSER
layer of the Tagged Buffer identifiers (STag, Base Offset, and
buffer length). Note that this Advertisement of Tagged Buffer
information is the responsibility of the iSER layer on either end
and is not defined by the RDMA-Capable Protocol. A typical method
would be for the iSER layer to embed the Tagged Buffer's STag,
Base Offset, and buffer length in a message destined for the
remote iSER layer.
Base Offset - A value when added to the Buffer Offset forms the
Tagged Offset.
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Completion (Completed, Complete, Completes) - Completion is defined
as the process by which the RDMA-Capable Protocol layer informs
the iSER layer that a particular RDMA Operation has performed all
functions specified for the RDMA Operation.
Connection - A connection is a logical bidirectional communication
channel between the initiator and the target, e.g., a TCP
connection. Communication between the initiator and the target
occurs over one or more connections. The connections carry
control messages, SCSI commands, parameters, and data within iSCSI
Protocol Data Units (iSCSI PDUs).
Connection Handle - An information element that identifies the
particular iSCSI connection and is unique for a given iSCSI layer
and the underlying iSER layer. Every invocation of an Operational
Primitive is qualified with the Connection Handle.
Data Sink - The peer receiving a data payload. Note that the Data
Sink can be required to both send and receive RCaP (RDMA-Capable
Protocol) Messages to transfer a data payload.
Data Source - The peer sending a data payload. Note that the Data
Source can be required to both send and receive RCaP Messages to
transfer a data payload.
Datamover Interface (DI) - The interface between the iSCSI layer and
the Datamover Layer as described in [DA].
Datamover Layer - A layer that is directly below the iSCSI layer and
above the underlying transport layers. This layer exposes and
uses a set of transport-independent Operational Primitives for the
communication between the iSCSI layer and itself. The Datamover
layer, operating in conjunction with the transport layers, moves
the control and data information on the iSCSI connection. In this
specification, the iSER layer is the Datamover layer.
Datamover Protocol - A Datamover protocol is the wire protocol that
is defined to realize the Datamover-layer functionality. In this
specification, the iSER protocol is the Datamover protocol.
Inbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (IRD) - The maximum number of incoming
outstanding RDMA Read Requests that the RDMA-Capable Controller
can handle on a particular RCaP Stream at the Data Source. For
some RDMA-Capable Protocol layers, the term "IRD" may be known by
a different name. For example, for InfiniBand, the equivalent to
IRD is the Responder Resources.
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I/O Buffer - A buffer that is used in a SCSI Read or Write operation
so SCSI data may be sent from or received into that buffer.
iSCSI - The iSCSI protocol as defined in [iSCSI] is a mapping of the
SCSI Architecture Model of SAM-5 over TCP.
iSCSI control-type PDU - Any iSCSI PDU that is not an iSCSI data-
type PDU and also not a SCSI Data-Out PDU carrying solicited data
is defined as an iSCSI control-type PDU. Specifically, it is to
be noted that SCSI Data-Out PDUs for unsolicited data are defined
as iSCSI control-type PDUs.
iSCSI data-type PDU - An iSCSI data-type PDU is defined as an iSCSI
PDU that causes data transfer via RDMA operations at the iSER
layer, transparent to the remote iSCSI layer, to take place
between the peer iSCSI nodes on a Full Feature Phase iSCSI
connection. An iSCSI data-type PDU, when requested for
transmission by the sender iSCSI layer, results in the associated
data transfer without the participation of the remote iSCSI layer,
i.e., the PDU itself is not delivered as-is to the remote iSCSI
layer. The following iSCSI PDUs constitute the set of iSCSI data-
type PDUs -- SCSI Data-In PDU and R2T PDU.
iSCSI Layer - A layer in the protocol stack implementation within an
end node that implements the iSCSI protocol and interfaces with
the iSER layer via the Datamover Interface.
iSCSI PDU (iSCSI Protocol Data Unit) - The iSCSI layer at the
initiator and the iSCSI layer at the target divide their
communications into messages. The term "iSCSI Protocol Data Unit"
(iSCSI PDU) is used for these messages.
iSCSI/iSER Connection - An iSER-assisted iSCSI connection. An iSCSI
connection that is not iSER assisted always maps onto a TCP
connection at the transport level. But an iSER-assisted iSCSI
connection may not have an underlying TCP connection. For some
RCaP implementations (e.g., iWARP), an iSER-assisted iSCSI
connection has an underlying TCP connection. For other RCaP
implementations (e.g., InfiniBand), there is no underlying TCP
connection. (In the specific example of InfiniBand [IB], an iSER-
assisted iSCSI connection is directly mapped onto the InfiniBand
Reliable Connection-based (RC) channel.)
iSCSI/iSER Session - An iSER-assisted iSCSI session. All connections
of an iSCSI/iSER session are iSCSI/iSER connections.
iSER - iSCSI Extensions for RDMA, the protocol defined in this
document.
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iSER-assisted - A term generally used to describe the operation of
iSCSI when the iSER functionality is also enabled below the iSCSI
layer for the specific iSCSI/iSER connection in question.
iSER-IRD - This variable represents the maximum number of incoming
outstanding RDMA Read Requests that the iSER layer at the
initiator grants on a particular RCaP Stream.
iSER-ORD - This variable represents the maximum number of outstanding
RDMA Read Requests that the iSER layer can initiate on a
particular RCaP Stream. This variable is maintained only by the
iSER layer at the target.
iSER Layer - The layer that implements the iSCSI Extensions for RDMA
(iSER) protocol.
iWARP - A suite of wire protocols comprising of [RDMAP], [DDP], and
[MPA] when layered above [TCP]. [RDMAP] and [DDP] may be layered
above SCTP or other transport protocols.
Local Mapping - A task state record maintained by the iSER layer that
associates the Initiator Task Tag to the Local STag(s). The
specifics of the record structure are implementation dependent.
Local Peer - The implementation of the RDMA-Capable Protocol on the
local end of the connection. Used to refer to the local entity
when describing protocol exchanges or other interactions between
two nodes.
Node - A computing device attached to one or more links of a network.
A node in this context does not refer to a specific application or
protocol instantiation running on the computer. A node may
consist of one or more RDMA-Capable Controllers installed in a
host computer.
Operational Primitive - An Operational Primitive is an abstract
functional interface procedure that requests another layer to
perform a specific action on the requestor's behalf or notifies
the other layer of some event. The Datamover Interface between an
iSCSI layer and a Datamover layer within an iSCSI end node uses a
set of Operational Primitives to define the functional interface
between the two layers. Note that not every invocation of an
Operational Primitive may elicit a response from the requested
layer. A full discussion of the Operational Primitive types and
request-response semantics available to iSCSI and iSER can be
found in [DA].
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Outbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (ORD) - The maximum number of
outstanding RDMA Read Requests that the RDMA-Capable Controller
can initiate on a particular RCaP Stream at the Data Sink. For
some RDMA-Capable Protocol layer, the term "ORD" may be known by a
different name. For example, for InfiniBand, the equivalent to
ORD is the Initiator Depth.
Phase Collapse - Refers to the optimization in iSCSI where the SCSI
status is transferred along with the final SCSI Data-In PDU from a
target. See Section 4.2 in [iSCSI].
RCaP Message - One or more packets of the network layer that
constitute a single RDMA operation or a part of an RDMA Read
Operation of the RDMA-Capable Protocol. For iWARP, an RCaP
Message is known as an RDMAP Message.
RCaP Stream - A single bidirectional association between the peer
RDMA-Capable Protocol layers on two nodes over a single transport-
level stream. For iWARP, an RCaP Stream is known as an RDMAP
Stream, and the association is created following a successful
Login Phase during which iSER support is negotiated.
RDMA-Capable Protocol (RCaP) - The protocol or protocol suite that
provides a reliable RDMA transport functionality, e.g., iWARP,
InfiniBand, etc.
RDMA-Capable Controller - A network I/O adapter or embedded
controller with RDMA functionality. For example, for iWARP, this
could be an RNIC, and for InfiniBand, this could be a HCA (Host
Channel Adapter) or TCA (Target Channel Adapter).
RDMA-enabled Network Interface Controller (RNIC) - A network I/O
adapter or embedded controller with iWARP functionality.
RDMA Operation - A sequence of RCaP Messages, including control
messages, to transfer data from a Data Source to a Data Sink. The
following RDMA Operations are defined -- RDMA Write Operation,
RDMA Read Operation, and Send Operation.
RDMA Protocol (RDMAP) - A wire protocol that supports RDMA Operations
to transfer ULP data between a Local Peer and the Remote Peer as
described in [RDMAP].
RDMA Read Operation - An RDMA Operation used by the Data Sink to
transfer the contents of a Data Source buffer from the Remote Peer
to a Data Sink buffer at the Local Peer. An RDMA Read operation
consists of a single RDMA Read Request Message and a single RDMA
Read Response Message.
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RDMA Read Request - An RCaP Message used by the Data Sink to request
the Data Source to transfer the contents of a buffer. The RDMA
Read Request Message describes both the Data Source and the Data
Sink buffers.
RDMA Read Response - An RCaP Message used by the Data Source to
transfer the contents of a buffer to the Data Sink, in response to
an RDMA Read Request. The RDMA Read Response Message only
describes the Data Sink buffer.
RDMA Write Operation - An RDMA Operation used by the Data Source to
transfer the contents of a Data Source buffer from the Local Peer
to a Data Sink buffer at the Remote Peer. The RDMA Write Message
only describes the Data Sink buffer.
Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) - A method of accessing memory on
a remote system in which the local system specifies the remote
location of the data to be transferred. Employing an RDMA-
Capable Controller in the remote system allows the access to take
place without interrupting the processing of the CPU(s) on the
system.
Remote Mapping - A task state record maintained by the iSER layer
that associates the Initiator Task Tag to the Advertised STag(s)
and the Base Offset(s). The specifics of the record structure are
implementation dependent.
Remote Peer - The implementation of the RDMA-Capable Protocol on the
opposite end of the connection. Used to refer to the remote
entity when describing protocol exchanges or other interactions
between two nodes.
SCSI Layer - This layer builds/receives SCSI CDBs (Command Descriptor
Blocks) and sends/receives them with the remaining command execute
[SAM5] parameters to/from the iSCSI layer.
Send - An RDMA Operation that transfers the content of a buffer from
the Local Peer to an untagged buffer at the Remote Peer.
SendInvSE Message - A Send with Solicited Event and Invalidate
Message.
SendSE Message - A Send with Solicited Event Message.
Sequence Number (SN) - DataSN for a SCSI Data-In PDU and R2TSN for an
R2T PDU. The semantics for both types of sequence numbers are as
defined in [iSCSI].
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Session, iSCSI Session - The group of connections that link an
initiator SCSI port with a target SCSI port form an iSCSI session
(equivalent to a SCSI Initiator-Target (I-T) nexus). Connections
can be added to and removed from a session even while the I-T
nexus is intact. Across all connections within a session, an
initiator sees one and the same target.
Steering Tag (STag) - An identifier of a Tagged Buffer on a node
(Local or Remote) as defined in [RDMAP] and [DDP]. For other
RDMA-Capable Protocols, the Steering Tag may be known by different
names but will be referred to herein as STags. For example, for
InfiniBand, a Remote STag is known as an R-Key, and a Local STag
is known as an L-Key, and both will be considered STags.
Tagged Buffer - A buffer that is explicitly Advertised to the iSER
layer at the remote node through the exchange of an STag, Base
Offset, and length.
Tagged Offset - The offset within a Tagged Buffer.
Traditional iSCSI - Refers to the iSCSI protocol as defined in
[iSCSI] (i.e., without the iSER enhancements).
Untagged Buffer - A buffer that is not explicitly Advertised to the
iSER layer at the remode node.
2.2. Acronyms
Acronym Definition
--------------------------------------------------------------
AHS Additional Header Segment
BHS Basic Header Segment
CO Connection Only
CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check
DDP Direct Data Placement Protocol
DI Datamover Interface
HCA Host Channel Adapter
IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
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IB InfiniBand
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
I/O Input - Output
IO Initialize Only
IP Internet Protocol
IPoIB IP over InfiniBand
IPsec Internet Protocol Security
iSER iSCSI Extensions for RDMA
ITT Initiator Task Tag
LO Leading Only
MPA Marker PDU Aligned Framing for TCP
NOP No Operation
NSG Next Stage (during the iSCSI Login Phase)
PDU Protocol Data Unit
R2T Ready To Transfer
R2TSN Ready To Transfer Sequence Number
RCaP RDMA-Capable Protocol
RDMA Remote Direct Memory Access
RDMAP Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol
RFC Request For Comments
RNIC RDMA-enabled Network Interface Controller
SAM5 SCSI Architecture Model - 5
SCSI Small Computer System Interface
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SNACK Selective Negative Acknowledgment - also
Sequence Number Acknowledgement for data
STag Steering Tag
SW Session Wide
TCA Target Channel Adapter
TCP Transmission Control Protocol
TMF Task Management Function
TTT Target Transfer Tag
ULP Upper Level Protocol
2.3. Conventions
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 [RFC2119].
3. Upper-Layer Interface Requirements
This section discusses the upper-layer interface requirements in the
form of an abstract model of the required interactions between the
iSCSI layer and the iSER layer. The abstract model used here is
derived from the architectural model described in [DA]. [DA] also
provides a functional overview of the interactions between the iSCSI
layer and the Datamover layer as intended by the Datamover
Architecture.
The interface requirements are specified by Operational Primitives.
An Operational Primitive is an abstract functional interface
procedure between the iSCSI layer and the iSER layer that requests
one layer to perform a specific action on behalf of the other layer
or notifies the other layer of some event. Whenever an Operational
Primitive in invoked, the Connection_Handle qualifier is used to
identify a particular iSCSI connection. For some Operational
Primitives, a Data_Descriptor is used to identify the iSCSI/SCSI data
buffer associated with the requested or completed operation.
The abstract model and the Operational Primitives defined in this
section facilitate the description of the iSER protocol. In the rest
of the iSER specification, the compliance statements related to the
use of these Operational Primitives are only for the purpose of the
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required interactions between the iSCSI layer and the iSER layer.
Note that the compliance statements related to the Operational
Primitives in the rest of this specification only mandate functional
equivalence on implementations, but do not put any requirements on
the implementation specifics of the interface between the iSCSI layer
and the iSER layer.
Each Operational Primitive is invoked with a set of qualifiers which
specify the information context for performing the specific action
being requested of the Operational Primitive. While the qualifiers
are required, the method of realizing the qualifiers (e.g., by
passing synchronously with invocation, or by retrieving from task
context, or by retrieving from shared memory, etc.) is implementation
dependent.
3.1. Operational Primitives offered by iSER
The iSER protocol layer MUST support the following Operational
Primitives to be used by the iSCSI protocol layer.
3.1.1. Send_Control
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, BHS and AHS (if any) of the
iSCSI PDU, PDU-specific qualifiers
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request the outbound transfer of an iSCSI control-type PDU (see
Section 7.2). Qualifiers that only apply for a particular control-
type PDU are known as PDU-specific qualifiers, e.g.,
ImmediateDataSize for a SCSI Write command. For details on PDU-
specific qualifiers, see Section 7.3. The iSCSI layer can only
invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive when the connection is
in iSER-assisted mode.
3.1.2. Put_Data
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, content of a SCSI Data-In
PDU header, Data_Descriptor, Notify_Enable
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layer at the target to request the outbound
transfer of data for a SCSI Data-In PDU from the buffer identified by
the Data_Descriptor qualifier. The iSCSI layer can only invoke the
Put_Data Operational Primitive when the connection is in iSER-
assisted mode.
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The Notify_Enable qualifier is used to indicate to the iSER layer
whether or not it should generate an eventual local completion
notification to the iSCSI layer. See Section 3.2.2 on
Data_Completion_Notify for details.
3.1.3. Get_Data
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, content of an R2T PDU,
Data_Descriptor, Notify_Enable
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layer at the target to request the inbound
transfer of solicited data requested by an R2T PDU into the buffer
identified by the Data_Descriptor qualifier. The iSCSI layer can
only invoke the Get_Data Operational Primitive when the connection is
in iSER-assisted mode.
The Notify_Enable qualifier is used to indicate to the iSER layer
whether or not it should generate the eventual local completion
notification to the iSCSI layer. See Section 3.2.2 on
Data_Completion_Notify for details.
3.1.4. Allocate_Connection_Resources
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, Resource_Descriptor
(optional)
Return results: Status
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request the allocation of all connection resources necessary to
support RCaP for an operational iSCSI/iSER connection. The iSCSI
layer may optionally specify the implementation-specific resource
requirements for the iSCSI connection using the Resource_Descriptor
qualifier.
A return result of Status=success means the invocation succeeded, and
a return result of Status=failure means that the invocation failed.
If the invocation is for a Connection_Handle for which an earlier
invocation succeeded, the request will be ignored by the iSER layer
and the result of Status=success will be returned. Only one
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive invocation can be
outstanding for a given Connection_Handle at any time.
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3.1.5. Deallocate_Connection_Resources
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request the deallocation of all connection resources that were
allocated earlier as a result of a successful invocation of the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive.
3.1.6. Enable_Datamover
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle,
Transport_Connection_Descriptor, Final Login_Response_PDU
(optional)
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request that iSER-assisted mode be used for the connection. The
Transport_Connection_Descriptor qualifier is used to identify the
specific connection associated with the Connection_Handle. The iSCSI
layer can only invoke the Enable_Datamover Operational Primitive when
there was a corresponding prior resource allocation.
The Final_Login_Response_PDU input qualifier is applicable only for a
target and contains the final Login Response PDU that concludes the
iSCSI Login Phase.
3.1.7. Connection_Terminate
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request that a specified iSCSI/iSER connection be terminated and all
associated connection and task resources be freed. When this
Operational Primitive invocation returns to the iSCSI layer, the
iSCSI layer may assume full ownership of all iSCSI-level resources,
e.g., I/O Buffers, associated with the connection.
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3.1.8. Notice_Key_Values
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, number of keys, list of Key-
Value pairs
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request the iSER layer to take note of the specified Key-Value pairs
that were negotiated by the iSCSI peers for the connection.
3.1.9. Deallocate_Task_Resources
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, ITT
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target to
request the deallocation of all RCaP-specific resources allocated by
the iSER layer for the task identified by the ITT qualifier. The
iSER layer may require a certain number of RCaP-specific resources
associated with the ITT for each new iSCSI task. In the normal
course of execution, these task-level resources in the iSER layer are
assumed to be transparently allocated on each task initiation and
deallocated on the conclusion of each task as appropriate. In
exception scenarios where the task does not conclude with a SCSI
Response PDU, the iSER layer needs to be notified of the individual
task terminations to aid its task-level resource management. This
Operational Primitive is used for this purpose and is not needed when
a SCSI Response PDU normally concludes a task. Note that RCaP-
specific task resources are deallocated by the iSER layer when a SCSI
Response PDU normally concludes a task, even if the SCSI status was
not success.
3.2. Operational Primitives Used by iSER
The iSER layer MUST use the following Operational Primitives offered
by the iSCSI protocol layer when the connection is in iSER-assisted
mode.
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3.2.1. Control_Notify
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, an iSCSI control-type PDU
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSER layers at the initiator and the target to
notify the iSCSI layer of the availability of an inbound iSCSI
control-type PDU. A PDU is described as "available" to the iSCSI
layer when the iSER layer notifies the iSCSI layer of the reception
of that inbound PDU, along with an implementation-specific indication
as to where the received PDU is.
3.2.2. Data_Completion_Notify
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle, ITT, SN
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSER layer to notify the iSCSI layer of the
completion of the outbound data transfer that was requested by the
iSCSI layer only if the invocation of the Put_Data Operational
Primitive (see Section 3.1.2) was qualified with Notify_Enable set.
SN refers to the DataSN associated with the SCSI Data-In PDU.
This is used by the iSER layer to notify the iSCSI layer of the
completion of the inbound data transfer that was requested by the
iSCSI layer only if the invocation of the Get_Data Operational
Primitive (see Section 3.1.3) was qualified with Notify_Enable set.
SN refers to the R2TSN associated with the R2T PDU.
3.2.3. Data_ACK_Notify
Input qualifier: Connection_Handle, ITT, DataSN
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSER layer at the target to notify the iSCSI
layer of the arrival of the data acknowledgement (as defined in
[iSCSI]) requested earlier by the iSCSI layer for the outbound data
transfer via an invocation of the Put_Data Operational Primitive
where the A-bit in the SCSI Data-In PDU is set to one. See Section
7.3.5. DataSN refers to the expected DataSN of the next SCSI Data-In
PDU that immediately follows the SCSI Data-In PDU with the A-bit set
to which this notification corresponds, with semantics as defined in
[iSCSI].
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3.2.4. Connection_Terminate_Notify
Input qualifiers: Connection_Handle
Return results: Not specified
This is used by the iSER layers at the initiator and the target to
notify the iSCSI layer of the unsolicited termination or failure of
an iSCSI/iSER connection. The iSER layer MUST deallocate the
connection and task resources associated with the terminated
connection before the invocation of this Operational Primitive. Note
that the Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive is not
invoked when the termination of the connection was earlier requested
by the local iSCSI layer.
3.3. iSCSI Protocol Usage Requirements
To operate in iSER-assisted mode, the iSCSI layers at both the
initiator and the target MUST negotiate the RDMAExtensions key (see
Section 6.3) to "Yes" on the leading connection. If the
RDMAExtensions key is not negotiated to "Yes", then iSER-assisted
mode MUST NOT be used. If the RDMAExtensons key is negotiated to
"Yes", but the invocation of the Allocate_Connection_Resources
Operational Primitive to the iSER layer fails, the iSCSI layer MUST
fail the iSCSI Login process or terminate the connection as
appropriate. See Section 10.1.3.1 for details.
If the RDMAExtensions key is negotiated to "Yes", the iSCSI layer
MUST satisfy the following protocol usage requirements from the iSER
protocol:
1. The iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST set ExpDataSN to zero in
Task Management Function Requests for Task Allegiance
Reassignment for read/bidirectional commands, so as to cause the
target to send all unacknowledged read data.
2. The iSCSI layer at the target MUST always return the SCSI status
in a separate SCSI Response PDU for read commands, i.e., there
MUST NOT be a "phase collapse" in concluding a SCSI Read Command.
3. The iSCSI layers at both the initiator and the target MUST
support the keys as defined in Section 6 on Login/Text
Operational Keys. If used as specified, these keys MUST NOT be
answered with NotUnderstood, and the semantics as defined MUST be
followed for each iSER-assisted connection.
4. The iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST NOT issue SNACKs for PDUs.
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4. Lower-Layer Interface Requirements
4.1. Interactions with the RCaP Layer
The iSER protocol layer is layered on top of an RCaP layer (see
Figure 1) and the following are the key features that are assumed to
be supported by any RCaP layer:
* The RCaP layer supports all basic RDMA operations, including the
RDMA Write Operation, RDMA Read Operation, and Send Operation.
* The RCaP layer provides reliable, in-order message delivery and
direct data placement.
* When the iSER layer initiates an RDMA Read Operation following an
RDMA Write Operation on one RCaP Stream, the RDMA Read Response
Message processing on the remote node will be started only after
the preceding RDMA Write Message payload is placed in the memory
of the remote node.
* The RCaP layer encapsulates a single iSER Message into a single
RCaP Message on the Data Source side. The RCaP layer decapsulates
the iSER Message before delivering it to the iSER layer on the
Data Sink side.
* For an RCaP layer that supports the Send with Invalidate Message
(e.g., iWARP), when the iSER layer provides the STag to be
remotely invalidated to the RCaP layer for a Send with Invalidate
Message, the RCaP layer uses this STag as the STag to be
invalidated in the Send with Invalidate Message.
* The RCaP layer uses the STag and Tagged Offset provided by the
iSER layer for the RDMA Write and RDMA Read Request Messages.
* When the RCaP layer delivers the content of an RDMA Send Message
to the iSER layer, the RCaP layer provides the length of the RDMA
Send Message. This ensures that the iSER layer does not have to
carry a length field in the iSER header.
* When the RCaP layer delivers the Send Message to the iSER layer,
it notifies the iSER layer with the mechanism provided on that
interface.
* For an RCaP layer that supports the Send with Invalidate Message
(e.g., iWARP), when the RCaP layer delivers a Send with Invalidate
Message to the iSER layer, it passes the value of the STag that
was invalidated.
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* The RCaP layer propagates all status and error indications to the
iSER layer.
* For a transport layer that operates in byte stream mode such as
TCP, the RCaP implementation supports the enabling of the RDMA
mode after connection establishment and the exchange of Login
parameters in byte stream mode. For a transport layer that
provides message delivery capability such as [IB], the RCaP
implementation supports the direct use of the messaging capability
by the iSCSI layer for the Login Phase after connection
establishment and before enabling iSER-assisted mode. (In the
specific example of InfiniBand [IB], the iSCSI layer uses IB
messages to transfer iSCSI PDUs for the Login Phase after
connection establishment and before enabling iSER-assisted mode.)
* Whenever the iSER layer terminates the RCaP Stream, the RCaP layer
terminates the associated connection.
4.2. Interactions with the Transport Layer
After the iSER connection is established, the RCaP layer and the
underlying transport layer are responsible for maintaining the
connection and reporting to the iSER layer any connection failures.
5. Connection Setup and Termination
5.1. iSCSI/iSER Connection Setup
During connection setup, the iSCSI layer at the initiator is
responsible for establishing a connection with the target. After the
connection is established, the iSCSI layers at the initiator and the
target enter the Login Phase using the same rules as outlined in
[iSCSI]. The connection transitions into the iSCSI Full Feature
Phase in iSER-assisted mode following a successful login negotiation
between the initiator and the target in which iSER-assisted mode is
negotiated and the connection resources necessary to support RCaP
have been allocated at both the initiator and the target. The same
connection MUST be used for both the iSCSI Login Phase and the
subsequent iSER-assisted Full Feature Phase.
For a transport layer that operates in byte stream mode such as TCP,
the RCaP implementation supports the enabling of the RDMA mode after
connection establishment and the exchange of Login parameters in byte
stream mode. For a transport layer that provides message delivery
capability such as [IB], the RCaP implementation supports the use of
the messaging capability by the iSCSI layer directly for the Login
Phase after connection establishment before enabling iSER-assisted
mode.
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iSER-assisted mode MUST NOT be enabled unless it is negotiated on the
leading connection during the LoginOperationalNegotiation stage of
the iSCSI Login Phase. iSER-assisted mode is negotiated using the
RDMAExtensions=<boolean-value> key. Both the initiator and the
target MUST exchange the RDMAExtensions key with the value set to
"Yes" to enable iSER-assisted mode. If both the initiator and the
target fail to negotiate the RDMAExtensions key set to "Yes", then
the connection MUST continue with the login semantics as defined in
[iSCSI]. If the RDMAExtensions key is not negotiated to Yes, then
for some RCaP implementation (such as [IB]), the existing connection
may need to be torn down and a new connection may need to be
established in TCP-capable mode. (For InfiniBand, this will require
a connection like [IPoIB].)
iSER-assisted mode is defined for a Normal session only, and the
RDMAExtensions key MUST NOT be negotiated for a Discovery session.
Discovery sessions are always conducted using the transport layer as
described in [iSCSI].
An iSER-enabled node is not required to initiate the RDMAExtensions
key exchange if its preference is for the Traditional iSCSI mode.
The RDMAExtensions key, if offered, MUST be sent in the first
available Login Response or Login Request PDU in the
LoginOperationalNegotiation stage. This is due to the fact that the
value of some Login parameters might depend on whether or not iSER-
assisted mode is enabled.
iSER-assisted mode is a session-wide attribute. If both the
initiator and the target negotiated RDMAExtensions="Yes" on the
leading connection of a session, then all subsequent connections of
the same session MUST enable iSER-assisted mode without having to
exchange RDMAExtensions keys during the iSCSI Login Phase.
Conversely, if both the initiator and the target failed to negotiate
RDMAExtensions to "Yes" on the leading connection of a session, then
the RDMAExtensions key MUST NOT be negotiated further on any
additional subsequent connection of the session.
When the RDMAExtensions key is negotiated to "Yes", the HeaderDigest
and the DataDigest keys MUST be negotiated to "None" on all
iSCSI/iSER connections participating in that iSCSI session. This is
because, for an iSCSI/iSER connection, RCaP is responsible for
providing error detection that is at least as good as a 32-bit CRC
for all iSER Messages. Furthermore, all SCSI Read data are sent
using RDMA Write Messages instead of the SCSI Data-In PDUs, and all
solicited SCSI Write data are sent using RDMA Read Response Messages
instead of the SCSI Data-Out PDUs. HeaderDigest and DataDigest that
apply to iSCSI PDUs would not be appropriate for RDMA Read and RDMA
Write operations used with iSER.
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5.1.1. Initiator Behavior
If the outcome of the iSCSI negotiation is to enable iSER-assisted
mode, then on the initiator side, prior to sending the Login Request
with the T (Transit) bit set to one and the NSG (Next Stage) field
set to FullFeaturePhase, the iSCSI layer SHOULD request the iSER
layer to allocate the connection resources necessary to support RCaP
by invoking the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive.
The connection resources required are defined by the implementation
and are outside the scope of this specification. The iSCSI layer may
invoke the Notice_Key_Values Operational Primitive before invoking
the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive to request
the iSER layer to take note of the negotiated values of the iSCSI
keys for the connection. The specific keys to be passed in as input
qualifiers are implementation dependent. These may include, but are
not limited to, MaxOutstandingR2T and ErrorRecoveryLevel.
Among the connection resources allocated at the initiator is the
Inbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (IRD). As described in Section 9.5.1,
R2Ts are transformed by the target into RDMA Read operations. IRD
limits the maximum number of simultaneously incoming outstanding RDMA
Read Requests per an RCaP Stream from the target to the initiator.
The required value of IRD is outside the scope of the iSER
specification. The iSER layer at the initiator MUST set IRD to 1 or
higher if R2Ts are to be used in the connection. However, the iSER
layer at the initiator MAY set IRD to zero based on implementation
configuration; setting IRD to zero indicates that no R2Ts will be
used on that connection. Initially, the iSER-IRD value at the
initiator SHOULD be set to the IRD value at the initiator and MUST
NOT be more than the IRD value.
On the other hand, the Outbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (ORD) MAY be
set to zero since the iSER layer at the initiator does not issue RDMA
Read Requests to the target.
Failure to allocate the requested connection resources locally
results in a login failure, and its handling is described in Section
10.1.3.1.
The iSER layer MUST return a success status to the iSCSI layer in
response to the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive.
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After the target returns the Login Response with the T bit set to one
and the NSG field set to FullFeaturePhase, and a Status-Class of 0x00
(Success), the iSCSI layer MUST invoke the Enable_Datamover
Operational Primitive with the following qualifiers. (See Section
10.1.4.6 for the case when the Status-Class is not Success.)
a. Connection_Handle that identifies the iSCSI connection.
b. Transport_Connection_Descriptor that identifies the specific
transport connection associated with the Connection_Handle.
The iSER layer MUST send the iSER Hello Message as the first iSER
Message only if iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes". See
Section 5.1.3 on iSER Hello Exchange.
If the iSCSI layer on the initiator side allocates the connection
resources to support RCaP only after it receives the final Login
Response PDU from the target, then it may not be able to handle the
number of unexpected iSCSI control-type PDUs (as declared by the
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs key from the initiator) that can be sent
by the target before the buffer resources are allocated at the
initiator side. In this case, the iSERHelloRequired key SHOULD be
negotiated to "Yes" so that the initiator can allocate the connection
resources before sending the iSER Hello Message. See Section 5.1.3
for more details.
5.1.2. Target Behavior
If the outcome of the iSCSI negotiation is to enable iSER-assisted
mode, then on the target side, prior to sending the Login Response
with the T (Transit) bit set to one and the NSG (Next Stage) field
set to FullFeaturePhase, the iSCSI layer MUST request the iSER layer
to allocate the resources necessary to support RCaP by invoking the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive. The connection
resources required are defined by implementation and are outside the
scope of this specification. Optionally, the iSCSI layer may invoke
the Notice_Key_Values Operational Primitive before invoking the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive to request the
iSER layer to take note of the negotiated values of the iSCSI keys
for the connection. The specific keys to be passed in as input
qualifiers are implementation dependent. These may include, but not
limited to, MaxOutstandingR2T and ErrorRecoveryLevel.
Premature allocation of RCaP connection resources can expose an iSER
target to a resource exhaustion attack on those resources via
multiple iSER connections that progress only to the point at which
the implementation allocates the RCaP connection resources. The
countermeasure for this attack is initiator authentication; the iSCSI
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layer MUST NOT request the iSER layer to allocate the connection
resources necessary to support RCaP until the iSCSI layer is
sufficiently far along in the iSCSI Login Phase that it is reasonably
certain that the peer side is not an attacker. In particular, if the
Login Phase includes a SecurityNegotiation stage, the iSCSI layer
MUST defer the connection resource allocation (i.e., invoking the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive) to the
LoginOperationalNegotiation stage ([iSCSI]) so that the resource
allocation occurs after the authentication phase is completed.
Among the connection resources allocated at the target is the
Outbound RDMA Read Queue Depth (ORD). As described in Section 9.5.1,
R2Ts are transformed by the target into RDMA Read operations. The
ORD limits the maximum number of simultaneously outstanding RDMA Read
Requests per RCaP Stream from the target to the initiator.
Initially, the iSER-ORD value at the target SHOULD be set to the ORD
value at the target.
On the other hand, the IRD at the target MAY be set to zero since the
iSER layer at the target does not expect RDMA Read Requests to be
issued by the initiator.
Failure to allocate the requested connection resources locally
results in a login failure, and its handling is described in Section
10.1.3.1.
If the iSER layer at the target is successful in allocating the
connection resources necessary to support RCaP, the following events
MUST occur in the specified sequence:
1. The iSER layer MUST return a success status to the iSCSI layer in
response to the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational
Primitive.
2. The iSCSI layer MUST invoke the Enable_Datamover Operational
Primitive with the following qualifiers:
a. Connection_Handle that identifies the iSCSI connection.
b. Transport_Connection_Descriptor that identifies the specific
transport connection associated with the Connection_Handle.
c. The final transport-layer (e.g., TCP) message containing the
Login Response with the T bit set to one and the NSG field set
to FullFeaturePhase.
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3. The iSER layer MUST send the final Login Response PDU in the
native transport mode to conclude the iSCSI Login Phase. If the
underlying transport is TCP, then the iSER layer MUST send the
final Login Response PDU in byte stream mode.
4. After receiving the iSER Hello Message from the initiator, the
iSER layer MUST respond with the iSER HelloReply Message to be
sent as the first iSER Message if iSERHelloRequired is negotiated
to "Yes". If the iSER layer receives an iSER Hello Message when
iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "No", then this MUST be treated
as an iSER protocol error. See Section 5.1.3 on iSER Hello
Exchange for more details.
Note: In the above sequence, the operations as described in items 3
and 4 MUST be performed atomically for iWARP connections. Failure to
do this may result in race conditions.
5.1.3. iSER Hello Exchange
If iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes", the first iSER Message
sent by the iSER layer at the initiator to the target MUST be the
iSER Hello Message. The iSER Hello Message is used by the iSER layer
at the initiator to declare iSER parameters to the target. See
Section 9.3 on iSER Header Format for iSER Hello Message.
Conversely, if iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "No", then the iSER
layer at the initiator MUST NOT send an iSER Hello Message.
In response to the iSER Hello Message, the iSER layer at the target
MUST return the iSER HelloReply Message as the first iSER Message
sent by the target if iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes". The
iSER HelloReply Message is used by the iSER layer at the target to
declare iSER parameters to the initiator. See Section 9.4 on iSER
Header Format for iSER HelloReply Message. If the iSER layer
receives an iSER Hello Message when iSERHelloRequired is negotiated
to "No", then this MUST be treated as an iSER protocol error. See
Section 10.1.3.4 on iSER Protocol Errors on for more details.
In the iSER Hello Message, the iSER layer at the initiator declares
the iSER-IRD value to the target.
Upon receiving the iSER Hello Message, the iSER layer at the target
MUST set the iSER-ORD value to the minimum of the iSER-ORD value at
the target and the iSER-IRD value declared by the initiator. In
order to free up the unused resources, the iSER layer at the target
MAY adjust (lower) its ORD value to match the iSER-ORD value if the
iSER-ORD value is smaller than the ORD value at the target.
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In the iSER HelloReply Message, the iSER layer at the target declares
the iSER-ORD value to the initiator.
Upon receiving the iSER HelloReply Message, the iSER layer at the
initiator MAY adjust (lower) its IRD value to match the iSER-ORD
value in order to free up the unused resources, if the iSER-ORD value
declared by the target is smaller than the iSER-IRD value declared by
the initiator.
It is an iSER-level negotiation failure if the iSER parameters
declared in the iSER Hello Message by the initiator are unacceptable
to the target. This includes the following:
* The initiator-declared iSER-IRD value is greater than 0, and the
target-declared iSER-ORD value is 0.
* The initiator-supported and the target-supported iSER protocol
versions do not overlap.
See Section 10.1.3.2 on the handling of the error situation.
An initiator that conforms to [RFC5046] allocates connection
resources before sending the Login Request with the T (Transit) bit
set to one and the NSG (Next Stage) field set to FullFeaturePhase.
(For brevity, this is referred to as "early" connection allocation.)
The current iSER specification relaxes this requirement to allow an
initiator to allocate connection resources after it receives the
final Login Response PDU from the target. (For brevity, this is
referred to as "late" connection allocation.) An initiator that
employs "late" connection allocation may encounter problems (e.g.,
RCaP connection closure) with a target that sends unexpected iSCSI
PDUs immediately upon transitioning to Full Feature Phase, as allowed
by the negotiated value of the MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs key. The
only way to prevent this situation in full generality is to use iSER
Hello Messages, as they enable the initiator to allocate its
connection resources before sending its iSER Hello Message. The
iSERHelloRequired key is used by the initiator to determine if it is
dealing with a target that supports the iSER Hello exchanges.
Fortunately, known iSER target implementations do not take full
advantage of the number of allowed unexpected PDUs immediately upon
transitioning into Full Feature Phase, thus enabling an initiator
workaround that involves a smaller quantity of connection resources
prior to Full Feature Phase, as explained further below.
In the following summary, where "late" connection allocation is
practiced, an initiator that follows [RFC5046] is referred to as an
"old" initiator; otherwise, it is referred to as a "new" initiator.
Similarly, a target that does not support the iSERHelloRequired key
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(and responds with "NotUnderstood" when negotiating the
iSERHelloRequired key) is referred to as an "old" target; otherwise,
it is referred to as a "new" target. Note that an "old" target can
still support the iSER Hello exchanges, but this fact is not known by
the initiator. A "new" target can also respond with "No" when
negotiating the iSERHelloRequired key. In this case, its behavior
with respect to "late" connection allocation is similar to an "old"
target.
A "new" initiator will work fine with a "new" target.
For an "old" initiator and an "old" target, the failure by the
initiator to handle the number of unexpected iSCSI control-type PDUs
that are sent by the target before the buffer resources are allocated
at the initiator can result in the failure of the iSER session caused
by closure of the underlying RCaP connection. For the "old" target,
there is a known implementation that sends one unexpected iSCSI
control-type PDU after sending the final Login Response and then
waits awhile before sending the next one. This tends to alleviate
somewhat the buffer allocation problem at the initiator.
For a "new" initiator and an "old" target, the failure by the
initiator to handle the number of unexpected iSCSI control-type PDUs
that are sent by the target before the buffer resources are allocated
at the initiator can result in the failure of the iSER session caused
by closure of the underlying RCaP connection. A "new" initiator MAY
choose to terminate the connection; otherwise, it SHOULD do one of
the following:
1. Allocate the connection resources before sending the final Login
Request PDU.
2. Allocate one or more buffers for receiving unexpected control-type
PDUs from the target before sending the final Login Request PDU.
This reduces the possibility of the unexpected control-type PDUs
causing the RCaP connection to close before the connection
resources have been allocated.
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For an "old" initiator and a "new" target, if the iSERHelloRequired
key is not negotiated, a "new" target MUST still respond with the
iSER HelloReply Message when it receives the iSER Hello Message. If
the iSERHelloRequired key is negotiated to "No" or "NotUnderstood", a
"new" target MAY choose to terminate the connection; otherwise, it
SHOULD delay sending any unexpected control-type PDUs until one of
the following events has occurred:
1. A PDU is received from the initiator after it sends the final
Login Response PDU.
2. A system-configurable timeout period (say, one second) has
expired.
5.2. iSCSI/iSER Connection Termination
5.2.1. Normal Connection Termination at the Initiator
The iSCSI layer at the initiator terminates an iSCSI/iSER connection
normally by invoking the Send_Control Operational Primitive qualified
with the Logout Request PDU. The iSER layer at the initiator MUST
use a Send Message to send the Logout Request PDU to the target. The
SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g.,
iWARP). After the iSER layer at the initiator receives the Send
Message containing the Logout Response PDU from the target, it MUST
notify the iSCSI layer by invoking the Control_Notify Operational
Primitive qualified with the Logout Response PDU.
After the iSCSI logout process is complete, the iSCSI layer at the
target is responsible for closing the iSCSI/iSER connection as
described in Section 5.2.2. After the RCaP layer at the initiator
reports that the connection has been closed, the iSER layer at the
initiator MUST deallocate all connection and task resources (if any)
associated with the connection, and invalidate the Local Mappings (if
any) before notifying the iSCSI layer by invoking the
Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive.
5.2.2. Normal Connection Termination at the Target
Upon receiving the Send Message containing the Logout Request PDU,
the iSER layer at the target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the
target by invoking the Control_Notify Operational Primitive qualified
with the Logout Request PDU. The iSCSI layer completes the logout
process by invoking the Send_Control Operational Primitive qualified
with the Logout Response PDU. The iSER layer at the target MUST use
a Send Message to send the Logout Response PDU to the initiator. The
SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g.,
iWARP). After the iSCSI logout process is complete, the iSCSI layer
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at the target MUST request the iSER layer at the target to terminate
the RCaP Stream by invoking the Connection_Terminate Operational
Primitive.
As part of the termination process, the RCaP layer MUST close the
connection. When the RCaP layer notifies the iSER layer after the
RCaP Stream and the associated connection are terminated, the iSER
layer MUST deallocate all connection and task resources (if any)
associated with the connection, and invalidate the Local and Remote
Mappings (if any).
5.2.3. Termination without Logout Request/Response PDUs
5.2.3.1. Connection Termination Initiated by the iSCSI layer
The Connection_Terminate Operational Primitive MAY be invoked by the
iSCSI layer to request the iSER layer to terminate the RCaP Stream
without having previously exchanged the Logout Request and Logout
Response PDUs between the two iSCSI/iSER nodes. As part of the
termination process, the RCaP layer will close the connection. When
the RCaP layer notifies the iSER layer after the RCaP Stream and the
associated connection are terminated, the iSER layer MUST perform the
following actions.
If the Connection_Terminate Operational Primitive is invoked by the
iSCSI layer at the target, then the iSER layer at the target MUST
deallocate all connection and task resources (if any) associated with
the connection, and invalidate the Local and Remote Mappings (if
any).
If the Connection_Terminate Operational Primitive is invoked by the
iSCSI layer at the initiator, then the iSER layer at the initiator
MUST deallocate all connection and task resources (if any) associated
with the connection, and invalidate the Local Mappings (if any).
5.2.3.2. Connection Termination Notification to the iSCSI layer
If the iSCSI/iSER connection is terminated without the invocation of
Connection_Terminate from the iSCSI layer, the iSER layer MUST notify
the iSCSI layer that the iSCSI/iSER connection has been terminated by
invoking the Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive.
Prior to invoking Connection_Terminate_Notify, the iSER layer at the
target MUST deallocate all connection and task resources (if any)
associated with the connection, and invalidate the Local and Remote
Mappings (if any).
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Prior to invoking Connection_Terminate_Notify, the iSER layer at the
initiator MUST deallocate all connection and task resources (if any)
associated with the connection, and invalidate the Local Mappings (if
any).
If the remote iSCSI/iSER node initiated the closing of the connection
(e.g., by sending a TCP FIN or TCP RST), the iSER layer MUST notify
the iSCSI layer after the RCaP layer reports that the connection is
closed by invoking the Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational
Primitive.
Another example of a connection termination without a preceding
logout is when the iSCSI layer at the initiator does an implicit
logout (connection reinstatement).
6. Login/Text Operational Keys
Certain iSCSI login/text operational keys have restricted usage in
iSER, and additional keys are used to support the iSER protocol
functionality. All other keys defined in [iSCSI] and not discussed
in this section may be used on iSCSI/iSER connections with the same
semantics.
6.1. HeaderDigest and DataDigest
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=Yes
Negotiations resulting in RDMAExtensions=Yes for a session imply
HeaderDigest=None and DataDigest=None for all connections in that
session and override the settings, whether default or configured.
6.2. MaxRecvDataSegmentLength
For an iSCSI connection belonging to a session in which
RDMAExtensions=Yes was negotiated on the leading connection of the
session, MaxRecvDataSegmentLength need not be declared in the Login
Phase, and MUST be ignored if it is declared. Instead,
InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength (as described in Section 6.5) and
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength (as described in Section 6.4) keys are
negotiated. The values of the local and remote
MaxRecvDataSegmentLength are derived from the
InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength and TargetRecvDataSegmentLength keys.
In the Full Feature Phase, the initiator MUST consider the value of
its local MaxRecvDataSegmentLength (that it would have declared to
the target) as having the value of InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength,
and the value of the remote MaxRecvDataSegmentLength (that would have
been declared by the target) as having the value of
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TargetRecvDataSegmentLength. Similarly, the target MUST consider the
value of its local MaxRecvDataSegmentLength (that it would have
declared to the initiator) as having the value of
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength, and the value of the remote
MaxRecvDataSegmentLength (that would have been declared by the
initiator) as having the value of InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength.
Note that RFC 3720 requires that when a target receives a NOP-Out
request with a valid Initiator Task Tag, it responds with a NOP-In
with the same Initiator Task Tag that was provided in the NOP-Out
request. Furthermore, it returns the first MaxRecvDataSegmentLength
bytes of the initiator-provided Ping Data. Since there is no
MaxRecvDataSegmentLength common to the initiator and the target in
iSER, the length of the data sent with the NOP-Out request MUST NOT
exceed InitiatorMaxRecvDataSegmentLength.
The MaxRecvDataSegmentLength key is applicable only for iSCSI
control-type PDUs.
6.3. RDMAExtensions
Use: LO (leading only)
Senders: Initiator and Target
Scope: SW (session-wide)
RDMAExtensions=<boolean-value>
Irrelevant when: SessionType=Discovery
Default is No
Result function is AND
This key is used by the initiator and the target to negotiate the
support for iSER-assisted mode. To enable the use of iSER-assisted
mode, both the initiator and the target MUST exchange
RDMAExtensions=Yes. iSER-assisted mode MUST NOT be used if either
the initiator or the target offers RDMAExtensions=No.
An iSER-enabled node is not required to initiate the RDMAExtensions
key exchange if it prefers to operate in the Traditional iSCSI mode.
However, if the RDMAExtensions key is to be negotiated, an initiator
MUST offer the key in the first Login Request PDU in the
LoginOperationalNegotiation stage of the leading connection, and a
target MUST offer the key in the first Login Response PDU with which
it is allowed to do so (i.e., the first Login Response PDU issued
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after the first Login Request PDU with the C bit set to zero) in the
LoginOperationalNegotiation stage of the leading connection. In
response to the offered key=value pair of RDMAExtensions=yes, an
initiator MUST respond in the next Login Request PDU with which it is
allowed to do so, and a target MUST respond in the next Login
Response PDU with which it is allowed to do so.
Negotiating the RDMAExtensions key first enables a node to negotiate
the optimal value for other keys. Certain iSCSI keys such as
MaxBurstLength, MaxOutstandingR2T, ErrorRecoveryLevel, InitialR2T,
ImmediateData, etc., may be negotiated differently depending on
whether the connection is in Traditional iSCSI mode or iSER-assisted
mode.
6.4. TargetRecvDataSegmentLength
Use: IO (Initialize only)
Senders: Initiator and Target
Scope: CO (connection-only)
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=No
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength=<numerical-value-512-to-(2**24-1)>
Default is 8192 bytes
Result function is minimum
This key is relevant only for the iSCSI connection of an iSCSI
session if RDMAExtensions=Yes was negotiated on the leading
connection of the session. It is used by the initiator and the
target to negotiate the maximum size of the data segment that an
initiator may send to the target in an iSCSI control-type PDU in the
Full Feature Phase. For SCSI Command PDUs and SCSI Data-Out PDUs
containing non-immediate unsolicited data to be sent by the
initiator, the initiator MUST send all non-Final PDUs with a data
segment size of exactly TargetRecvDataSegmentLength whenever the PDUs
constitute a data sequence whose size is larger than
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength.
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6.5. InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength
Use: IO (Initialize only)
Senders: Initiator and Target
Scope: CO (connection-only)
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=No
InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength=<numerical-value-512-to-(2**24-1)>
Default is 8192 bytes
Result function is minimum
This key is relevant only for the iSCSI connection of an iSCSI
session if RDMAExtensions=Yes was negotiated on the leading
connection of the session. It is used by the initiator and the
target to negotiate the maximum size of the data segment that a
target may send to the initiator in an iSCSI control-type PDU in the
Full Feature Phase.
6.6. OFMarker and IFMarker
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=Yes
Negotiations resulting in RDMAExtensions=Yes for a session imply
OFMarker=No and IFMarker=No for all connections in that session and
override the settings, whether default or configured.
6.7. MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs
Use: LO (leading only), Declarative
Senders: Initiator and Target
Scope: SW (session-wide)
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=No
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs=
<numerical-value-from-2-to-(2**32-1) | 0>
Default is 0
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This key is used by the initiator and the target to declare the
maximum number of outstanding "unexpected" iSCSI control-type PDUs
that it can receive in the Full Feature Phase. It is intended to
allow the receiving side to determine the amount of buffer resources
needed beyond the normal flow control mechanism available in iSCSI.
An initiator or target should select a value such that it would not
impose an unnecessary constraint on the iSCSI layer under normal
circumstances. The value of 0 is defined to indicate that the
declarer has no limit on the maximum number of outstanding
"unexpected" iSCSI control-type PDUs that it can receive. See
Sections 8.1.1 and 8.1.2 for the usage of this key. Note that iSER
Hello and HelloReply Messages are not iSCSI control-type PDUs and are
not affected by this key.
For interoperability with implementations based on [RFC5046], this
key SHOULD be negotiated because the default value of 0 in [RFC5046]
is problematic for most implementations as it does not impose a bound
on resources consumable by unexpected PDUs.
6.8. MaxAHSLength
Use: LO (leading only), Declarative
Senders: Initiator and Target
Scope: SW (session-wide)
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=No
MaxAHSLength=<numerical-value-from-2-to-(2**32-1) | 0>
Default is 256
This key is used by the initiator and target to declare the maximum
size of AHS in an iSCSI control-type PDU that it can receive in the
Full Feature Phase. It is intended to allow the receiving side to
determine the amount of resources needed for receive buffering. An
initiator or target should select a value such that it would not
impose an unnecessary constraint on the iSCSI layer under normal
circumstances. The value of 0 is defined to indicate that the
declarer has no limit on the maximum size of AHS in iSCSI control-
type PDUs that it can receive.
For interoperability with implementations based on [RFC5046], an
initiator or target MAY terminate the connection if it anticipates
MaxAHSLength to be greater than 256 and the key is not understood by
its peer.
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6.9. TaggedBufferForSolicitedDataOnly
Use: LO (leading only), Declarative
Senders: Initiator
Scope: SW (session-wide)
RDMAExtensions=<boolean-value>
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=No
Default is No
This key is used by the initiator to declare to the target the usage
of the Write Base Offset in the iSER header of an iSCSI control-type
PDU. When set to No, the Base Offset is associated with an I/O
buffer that contains all the write data, including both unsolicited
and solicited data. When set to Yes, the Base Offset is associated
with an I/O buffer that only contains solicited data.
6.10. iSERHelloRequired
Use: LO (leading only), Declarative
Senders: Initiator
Scope: SW (session-wide)
RDMAExtensions=<boolean-value>
Irrelevant when: RDMAExtensions=No
Default is No
This key is relevant only for the iSCSI connection of an iSCSI
session if RDMAExtensions=Yes was negotiated on the leading
connection of the session. It is used by the initiator to declare to
the target whether the iSER Hello Exchange is required. When set to
Yes, the iSER layers MUST perform the iSER Hello Exchange as
described in Section 5.1.3. When set to No, the iSER layers MUST NOT
perform the iSER Hello Exchange.
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7. iSCSI PDU Considerations
When a connection is in the iSER-assisted mode, two types of message
transfers are allowed between the iSCSI layer (at the initiator) and
the iSCSI layer (at the target). These are known as the iSCSI data-
type PDUs and the iSCSI control-type PDUs, and these terms are
described in the following sections.
7.1. iSCSI Data-Type PDU
An iSCSI data-type PDU is defined as an iSCSI PDU that causes data
transfer, transparent to the remote iSCSI layer, to take place
between the peer iSCSI nodes in the Full Feature Phase of an
iSCSI/iSER connection. An iSCSI data-type PDU, when requested for
transmission by the iSCSI layer in the sending node, results in the
data's transfer without the participation of the iSCSI layers at the
sending and the receiving nodes. This is due to the fact that the
PDU itself is not delivered as-is to the iSCSI layer in the receiving
node. Instead, the data transfer operations are transformed into the
appropriate RDMA operations, which are handled by the RDMA-Capable
Controller. The set of iSCSI data-type PDUs consists of SCSI Data-In
PDUs and R2T PDUs.
If the invocation of the Operational Primitive by the iSCSI layer to
request the iSER layer to process an iSCSI data-type PDU is qualified
with Notify_Enable set, then upon completing the RDMA operation, the
iSER layer at the target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target by
invoking the Data_Completion_Notify Operational Primitive qualified
with the ITT and SN. There is no data completion notification at the
initiator since the RDMA operations are completely handled by the
RDMA-Capable Controller at the initiator and the iSER layer at the
initiator is not involved with the data transfer associated with
iSCSI data-type PDUs.
If the invocation of the Operational Primitive by the iSCSI layer to
request the iSER layer to process an iSCSI data-type PDU is qualified
with Notify_Enable cleared, then upon completing the RDMA operation,
the iSER layer at the target MUST NOT notify the iSCSI layer at the
target and MUST NOT invoke the Data_Completion_Notify Operational
Primitive.
If an operation associated with an iSCSI data-type PDU fails for any
reason, the contents of the Data Sink buffers associated with the
operation are considered indeterminate.
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7.2. iSCSI Control-Type PDU
Any iSCSI PDU that is not an iSCSI data-type PDU and also not a SCSI
Data-Out PDU carrying solicited data is defined as an iSCSI control-
type PDU. The iSCSI layer invokes the Send_Control Operational
Primitive to request the iSER layer to process an iSCSI control-type
PDU. iSCSI control-type PDUs are transferred using Send Messages of
RCaP. Specifically, it is to be noted that SCSI Data-Out PDUs
carrying unsolicited data are defined as iSCSI control-type PDUs.
See Section 7.3.4 on the treatment of SCSI Data-Out PDUs.
When the iSER layer receives an iSCSI control-type PDU, it MUST
notify the iSCSI layer by invoking the Control_Notify Operational
Primitive qualified with the iSCSI control-type PDU.
7.3. iSCSI PDUs
This section describes the handling of each of the iSCSI PDU types by
the iSER layer. The iSCSI layer requests the iSER layer to process
the iSCSI PDU by invoking the appropriate Operational Primitive. A
Connection_Handle MUST qualify each of these invocations. In
addition, the BHS and the optional AHS of the iSCSI PDU as defined in
[iSCSI] MUST qualify each of the invocations. The qualifying
Connection_Handle, the BHS, and the AHS are not explicitly listed in
the subsequent sections.
7.3.1. SCSI Command
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers (for SCSI Write or bidirectional command):
ImmediateDataSize, UnsolicitedDataSize, DataDescriptorOut
PDU-specific qualifiers (for SCSI Read or bidirectional command):
DataDescriptorIn
The iSER layer at the initiator MUST send the SCSI command in a Send
Message to the target. The SendSE Message should be used if
supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP).
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For a SCSI Write or bidirectional command, the iSCSI layer at the
initiator MUST invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive as
follows:
* If there is immediate data to be transferred for the SCSI write or
bidirectional command, the qualifier ImmediateDataSize MUST be
used to define the number of bytes of immediate unsolicited data
to be sent with the write or bidirectional command, and the
qualifier DataDescriptorOut MUST be used to define the initiator's
I/O Buffer containing the SCSI Write data.
* If there is unsolicited data to be transferred for the SCSI Write
or bidirectional command, the qualifier UnsolicitedDataSize MUST
be used to define the number of bytes of immediate and non-
immediate unsolicited data for the command. The iSCSI layer will
issue one or more SCSI Data-Out PDUs for the non-immediate
unsolicited data. See Section 7.3.4 on SCSI Data-Out.
* If there is solicited data to be transferred for the SCSI Write or
bidirectional command, as indicated when the Expected Data
Transfer Length in the SCSI Command PDU exceeds the value of
UnsolicitedDataSize, the iSER layer at the initiator MUST do the
following:
a. It MUST allocate a Write STag for the I/O Buffer defined by the
qualifier DataDescriptorOut. DataDescriptorOut describes the
I/O buffer starting with the immediate unsolicited data (if
any), followed by the non-immediate unsolicited data (if any)
and solicited data. When TaggedBufferForSolicitedDataOnly is
negotiated to No, the Base Offset is associated with this I/O
Buffer. When TaggedBufferForSolicitedDataOnly is negotiated to
Yes, the Base Offset is associated with an I/O Buffer that
contains only solicited data.
b. It MUST establish a Local Mapping that associates the Initiator
Task Tag (ITT) to the Write STag.
c. It MUST Advertise the Write STag and the Base Offset to the
target by sending them in the iSER header of the iSER Message
(the payload of the Send Message of RCaP) containing the SCSI
Write or bidirectional command PDU. The SendSE Message should
be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP). See
Section 9.2 on iSER Header Format for iSCSI Control-Type PDU.
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For a SCSI Read or bidirectional command, the iSCSI layer at the
initiator MUST invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive
qualified with DataDescriptorIn, which defines the initiator's I/O
Buffer for receiving the SCSI Read data. The iSER layer at the
initiator MUST do the following:
a. It MUST allocate a Read STag for the I/O Buffer and note the
Base Offset for this I/O Buffer.
b. It MUST establish a Local Mapping that associates the Initiator
Task Tag (ITT) to the Read STag.
c. It MUST Advertise the Read STag and the Base Offset to the
target by sending them in the iSER header of the iSER Message
(the payload of the Send Message of RCaP) containing the SCSI
Read or bidirectional command PDU. The SendSE Message should
be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP). See
Section 9.2 on iSER Header Format for iSCSI Control-Type PDU.
If the amount of unsolicited data to be transferred in a SCSI Command
exceeds TargetRecvDataSegmentLength, then the iSCSI layer at the
initiator MUST segment the data into multiple iSCSI control-type
PDUs, with the data segment length in all generated PDUs (except the
last one) having exactly the size TargetRecvDataSegmentLength. The
data segment length of the last iSCSI control-type PDU carrying the
unsolicited data can be up to TargetRecvDataSegmentLength.
When the iSER layer at the target receives the SCSI Command, it MUST
establish a Remote Mapping that associates the ITT to the Base
Offset(s) and the Advertised STag(s) in the iSER header. The Write
STag is used by the iSER layer at the target in handling the data
transfer associated with the R2T PDU(s) as described in Section
7.3.6. The Read STag is used in handling the SCSI Data-In PDU(s)
from the iSCSI layer at the target as described in Section 7.3.5.
7.3.2. SCSI Response
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorStatus
The iSCSI layer at the target MUST invoke the Send_Control
Operational Primitive qualified with DataDescriptorStatus, which
defines the buffer containing the sense and response information.
The iSCSI layer at the target MUST always return the SCSI status for
a SCSI command in a separate SCSI Response PDU. "Phase collapse" for
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transferring SCSI status in a SCSI Data-In PDU MUST NOT be used. The
iSER layer at the target sends the SCSI Response PDU according to the
following rules:
* If no STags were Advertised by the initiator in the iSER Message
containing the SCSI command PDU, then the iSER layer at the target
MUST send a Send Message containing the SCSI Response PDU. The
SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer
(e.g., iWARP).
* If the initiator Advertised a Read STag in the iSER Message
containing the SCSI Command PDU, then the iSER layer at the target
MUST send a Send Message containing the SCSI Response PDU. The
header of the Send Message MUST carry the Read STag to be
invalidated at the initiator. The Send with Invalidate Message,
if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP), can be used for the
automatic invalidation of the STag.
* If the initiator Advertised only the Write STag in the iSER
Message containing the SCSI command PDU, then the iSER layer at
the target MUST send a Send Message containing the SCSI Response
PDU. The header of the Send Message MUST carry the Write STag to
be invalidated at the initiator. The Send with Invalidate
Message, if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP), can be used
for the automatic invalidation of the STag.
When the iSCSI layer at the target invokes the Send_Control
Operational Primitive to send the SCSI Response PDU, the iSER layer
at the target MUST invalidate the Remote Mapping before transferring
the SCSI Response PDU to the initiator.
Upon receiving a Send Message containing the SCSI Response PDU from
the target, the iSER layer at the initiator MUST invalidate the
STag(s) specified in the header. (If a Send with Invalidate Message
is supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP) and is used to carry the
SCSI Response PDU, the RCaP layer at the initiator will invalidate
the STag. The iSER layer at the initiator MUST ensure that the
correct STag is invalidated. If both the Read and the Write STags
were Advertised earlier by the initiator, then the iSER layer at the
initiator MUST explicitly invalidate the Write STag upon receiving
the Send with Invalidate Message because the header of the Send with
Invalidate Message can only carry one STag (in this case, the Read
STag) to be invalidated.)
The iSER layer at the initiator MUST ensure the invalidation of the
STag(s) used in a command before notifying the iSCSI layer at the
initiator by invoking the Control_Notify Operational Primitive
qualified with the SCSI Response. This precludes the possibility of
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using the STag(s) after the completion of the command; such use would
cause data corruption.
When the iSER layer at the initiator receives a Send Message
containing the SCSI Response PDU, it SHOULD invalidate the Local
Mapping. The iSER layer MUST ensure that all local STag(s)
associated with the ITT are invalidated before notifying the iSCSI
layer of the SCSI Response PDU by invoking the Control_Notify
Operational Primitive qualified with the SCSI Response PDU.
7.3.3. Task Management Function Request/Response
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers (for TMF Request): DataDescriptorOut,
DataDescriptorIn
The iSER layer MUST use a Send Message to send the Task Management
Function Request/Response PDU. The SendSE Message should be used if
supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP).
For the Task Management Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN
function, the iSER layer at the initiator MUST do the following:
* It MUST use the ITT as specified in the Referenced Task Tag from
the Task Management Function Request PDU to locate the existing
STags (if any) in the Local Mappings.
* It MUST invalidate the existing STags (if any) and the Local
Mappings.
* It MUST allocate a Read STag for the I/O Buffer and note the Base
Offset associated with the I/O Buffer as defined by the qualifier
DataDescriptorIn if the Send_Control Operational Primitive
invocation is qualified with DataDescriptorIn.
* It MUST allocate a Write STag for the I/O Buffer and note the Base
Offset associated with the I/O Buffer as defined by the qualifier
DataDescriptorOut if the Send_Control Operational Primitive
invocation is qualified with DataDescriptorOut.
* If STags are allocated, it MUST establish new Local Mapping(s)
that associate the ITT to the allocated STag(s).
* It MUST Advertise the STags and the Base Offsets, if allocated, to
the target in the iSER header of the Send Message carrying the
iSCSI PDU, as described in Section 9.2. The SendSE Message should
be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP).
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For the Task Management Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN
function for a SCSI Read or bidirectional command, the iSCSI layer at
the initiator MUST set ExpDataSN to zero since the data transfer and
acknowledgements happen transparently to the iSCSI layer at the
initiator. This provides the flexibility to the iSCSI layer at the
target to request transmission of only the unacknowledged data as
specified in [iSCSI].
When the iSER layer at the target receives the Task Management
Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN function, it MUST do the
following:
* It MUST use the ITT as specified in the Referenced Task Tag from
the Task Management Function Request PDU to locate the Local and
Remote Mappings (if any).
* It MUST invalidate the local STags (if any) associated with the
ITT.
* It MUST replace the Base Offset(s) and the Advertised STag(s) in
the Remote Mapping with the Base Offset(s) and the Advertised
STag(s) in the iSER header. The Write STag is used in the
handling of the R2T PDU(s) from the iSCSI layer at the target as
described in Section 7.3.6. The Read STag is used in the handling
of the SCSI Data-In PDU(s) from the iSCSI layer at the target as
described in Section 7.3.5.
7.3.4. SCSI Data-Out
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorOut
The iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST invoke the Send_Control
Operational Primitive qualified with DataDescriptorOut, which defines
the initiator's I/O Buffer containing unsolicited SCSI Write data.
If the amount of unsolicited data to be transferred as SCSI Data-Out
exceeds TargetRecvDataSegmentLength, then the iSCSI layer at the
initiator MUST segment the data into multiple iSCSI control-type
PDUs, where the DataSegmentLength has the value of
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength in all generated PDUs except the last
one. The DataSegmentLength of the last iSCSI control-type PDU
carrying the unsolicited data can be up to
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength. The iSCSI layer at the target MUST
perform the reassembly function for the unsolicited data.
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For unsolicited data, the iSER layer at the initiator MUST use a Send
Message to send the SCSI Data-Out PDU. If the F bit is set to 1, the
SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g.,
iWARP).
Note that for solicited data, the SCSI Data-Out PDUs are not used
since R2T PDUs are not delivered to the iSCSI layer at the initiator;
instead, R2T PDUs are transformed by the iSER layer at the target
into RDMA Read operations. (See Section 7.3.6.)
7.3.5. SCSI Data-In
Type: data-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorIn
When the iSCSI layer at the target is ready to return the SCSI Read
data to the initiator, it MUST invoke the Put_Data Operational
Primitive qualified with DataDescriptorIn, which defines the SCSI
Data-In buffer. See Section 7.1 on the general requirement on the
handling of iSCSI data-type PDUs. SCSI Data-In PDU(s) are used in
SCSI Read data transfer as described in Section 9.5.2.
The iSER layer at the target MUST do the following for each
invocation of the Put_Data Operational Primitive:
1. It MUST use the ITT in the SCSI Data-In PDU to locate the remote
Read STag and the Base Offset in the Remote Mapping. The Remote
Mapping was established earlier by the iSER layer at the target
when the SCSI Read Command was received from the initiator.
2. It MUST generate and send an RDMA Write Message containing the
read data to the initiator.
a. It MUST use the remote Read STag as the Data Sink STag of the
RDMA Write Message.
b. It MUST add the Buffer Offset from the SCSI Data-In PDU to the
Base Offset from the Remote Mapping as the Data Sink Tagged
Offset of the RDMA Write Message.
c. It MUST use DataSegmentLength from the SCSI Data-In PDU to
determine the amount of data to be sent in the RDMA Write
Message.
3. It MUST associate the DataSN and ITT from the SCSI Data-In PDU
with the RDMA Write operation. If the Put_Data Operational
Primitive invocation was qualified with Notify_Enable set, then
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when the iSER layer at the target receives a completion from the
RCaP layer for the RDMA Write Message, the iSER layer at the
target MUST notify the iSCSI layer by invoking the
Data_Completion_Notify Operational Primitive qualified with the
DataSN and ITT. Conversely, if the Put_Data Operational Primitive
invocation was qualified with Notify_Enable cleared, then the iSER
layer at the target MUST NOT notify the iSCSI layer on completion
and MUST NOT invoke the Data_Completion_Notify Operational
Primitive.
When the A-bit is set to one in the SCSI Data-In PDU, the iSER layer
at the target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target when the data
transfer is complete at the initiator. To perform this additional
function, the iSER layer at the target can take advantage of the
operational ErrorRecoveryLevel if previously disclosed by the iSCSI
layer via an earlier invocation of the Notice_Key_Values Operational
Primitive. There are two approaches that can be taken:
1. If the iSER layer at the target knows that the operational
ErrorRecoveryLevel is 2, or if the iSER layer at the target does
not know the operational ErrorRecoveryLevel, then the iSER layer
at the target MUST issue a zero-length RDMA Read Request Message
following the RDMA Write Message. When the iSER layer at the
target receives a completion for the RDMA Read Request Message
from the RCaP layer, implying that the RDMA-Capable Controller at
the initiator has completed processing the RDMA Write Message due
to the completion ordering semantics of RCaP, the iSER layer at
the target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target by invoking
the Data_ACK_Notify Operational Primitive qualified with ITT and
DataSN (see Section 3.2.3).
2. If the iSER layer at the target knows that the operational
ErrorRecoveryLevel is 1, then the iSER layer at the target MUST do
one of the following:
a. It MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target by invoking the
Data_ACK_Notify Operational Primitive qualified with ITT and
DataSN (see Section 3.2.3) when it receives the local
completion from the RCaP layer for the RDMA Write Message.
This is allowed since digest errors do not occur in iSER (see
Section 10.1.4.2) and a CRC error will cause the connection to
be terminated and the task to be terminated anyway. The local
RDMA Write completion from the RCaP layer guarantees that the
RCaP layer will not access the I/O Buffer again to transfer the
data associated with that RDMA Write operation.
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b. Alternatively, it MUST use the same procedure for handling the
data transfer completion at the initiator as for
ErrorRecoveryLevel 2.
It should be noted that the iSCSI layer at the target cannot set the
A-bit to 1 if the ErrorRecoveryLevel=0.
SCSI status MUST always be returned in a separate SCSI Response PDU.
The S bit in the SCSI Data-In PDU MUST always be set to zero. There
MUST NOT be a "phase collapse" in the SCSI Data-In PDU.
Since the RDMA Write Message only transfers the data portion of the
SCSI Data-In PDU but not the control information in the header, such
as ExpCmdSN, if timely updates of such information are crucial, the
iSCSI layer at the initiator MAY issue NOP-Out PDUs to request the
iSCSI layer at the target to respond with the information using
NOP-In PDUs.
7.3.6. Ready To Transfer (R2T)
Type: data-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorOut
In order to send an R2T PDU, the iSCSI layer at the target MUST
invoke the Get_Data Operational Primitive qualified with
DataDescriptorOut, which defines the I/O Buffer for receiving the
SCSI Write data from the initiator. See Section 7.1 on the general
requirements on the handling of iSCSI data-type PDUs.
The iSER layer at the target MUST do the following for each
invocation of the Get_Data Operational Primitive:
1. It MUST ensure a valid local STag for the I/O Buffer and a valid
Local Mapping. This may involve allocating a valid local STag and
establishing a Local Mapping.
2. It MUST use the ITT in the R2T to locate the remote Write STag and
the Base Offset in the Remote Mapping. The Remote Mapping was
established earlier by the iSER layer at the target when the iSER
Message containing the Advertised Write STag, the Base Offset, and
the SCSI Command PDU for a SCSI Write or bidirectional command was
received from the initiator.
3. If the iSER-ORD value at the target is set to zero, the iSER layer
at the target MUST terminate the connection and free up the
resources associated with the connection (as described in Section
5.2.3) if it received the R2T PDU from the iSCSI layer at the
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target. Upon termination of the connection, the iSER layer at the
target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target by invoking the
Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive.
4. If the iSER-ORD value at the target is set to greater than 0, the
iSER layer at the target MUST transform the R2T PDU into an RDMA
Read Request Message. While transforming the R2T PDU, the iSER
layer at the target MUST ensure that the number of outstanding
RDMA Read Request Messages does not exceed the iSER-ORD value. To
transform the R2T PDU, the iSER layer at the target:
a. MUST derive the local STag and local Tagged Offset from the
DataDescriptorOut that qualified the Get_Data invocation.
b. MUST use the local STag as the Data Sink STag of the RDMA Read
Request Message.
c. MUST use the local Tagged Offset as the Data Sink Tagged Offset
of the RDMA Read Request Message.
d. MUST use the Desired Data Transfer Length from the R2T PDU as
the RDMA Read Message Size of the RDMA Read Request Message.
e. MUST use the remote Write STag as the Data Source STag of the
RDMA Read Request Message.
f. MUST add the Buffer Offset from the R2T PDU to the Base Offset
from the Remote Mapping as the Data Source Tagged Offset of the
RDMA Read Request Message.
5. It MUST associate the R2TSN and ITT from the R2T PDU with the RDMA
Read operation. If the Get_Data Operational Primitive invocation
was qualified with Notify_Enable set, then when the iSER layer at
the target receives a completion from the RCaP layer for the RDMA
Read operation, the iSER layer at the target MUST notify the iSCSI
layer by invoking the Data_Completion_Notify Operational Primitive
qualified with the R2TSN and ITT. Conversely, if the Get_Data
Operational Primitive invocation was qualified with Notify_Enable
cleared, then the iSER layer at the target MUST NOT notify the
iSCSI layer on completion and MUST NOT invoke the
Data_Completion_Notify Operational Primitive.
When the RCaP layer at the initiator receives a valid RDMA Read
Request Message, it will return an RDMA Read Response Message
containing the solicited write data to the target. When the RCaP
layer at the target receives the RDMA Read Response Message from the
initiator, it will place the solicited data in the I/O Buffer
referenced by the Data Sink STag in the RDMA Read Response Message.
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Since the RDMA Read Request Message from the target does not transfer
the control information in the R2T PDU such as ExpCmdSN, if timely
updates of such information are crucial, the iSCSI layer at the
initiator MAY issue NOP-Out PDUs to request the iSCSI layer at the
target to respond with the information using NOP-In PDUs.
Similarly, since the RDMA Read Response Message from the initiator
only transfers the data but not the control information normally
found in the SCSI Data-Out PDU, such as ExpStatSN, if timely updates
of such information are crucial, the iSCSI layer at the target MAY
issue NOP-In PDUs to request the iSCSI layer at the initiator to
respond with the information using NOP-Out PDUs.
7.3.7. Asynchronous Message
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorSense
The iSCSI layer MUST invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive
qualified with DataDescriptorSense, which defines the buffer
containing the sense and iSCSI event information. The iSER layer
MUST use a Send Message to send the Asynchronous Message PDU. The
SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g.,
iWARP).
7.3.8. Text Request and Text Response
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorTextOut (for Text
Request), DataDescriptorIn (for Text Response)
The iSCSI layer MUST invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive
qualified with DataDescriptorTextOut (or DataDescriptorIn), which
defines the Text Request (or Text Response) buffer. The iSER layer
MUST use Send Messages to send the Text Request (or Text Response
PDUs). The SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP
layer (e.g., iWARP).
7.3.9. Login Request and Login Response
During the login negotiation, the iSCSI layer interacts with the
transport layer directly, and the iSER layer is not involved. See
Section 5.1 on iSCSI/iSER Connection Setup. If the underlying
transport is TCP, the Login Request PDUs and the Login Response PDUs
are exchanged when the connection between the initiator and the
target is still in the byte stream mode.
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The iSCSI layer MUST NOT send a Login Request (or a Login Response)
PDU during the Full Feature Phase. A Login Request (or a Login
Response) PDU, if used, MUST be treated as an iSCSI protocol error.
The iSER layer MAY reject such a PDU from the iSCSI layer with an
appropriate error code. If a Login Request PDU is received by the
iSCSI layer at the target, it MUST respond with a Reject PDU with a
reason code of "protocol error".
7.3.10. Logout Request and Logout Response
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: None
The iSER layer MUST use a Send Message to send the Logout Request or
Logout Response PDU. The SendSE Message should be used if supported
by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP). Sections 5.2.1 and 5.2.2 describe
the handling of the Logout Request and the Logout Response at the
initiator and the target and the interactions between the initiator
and the target to terminate a connection.
7.3.11. SNACK Request
Since HeaderDigest and DataDigest must be negotiated to "None", there
are no digest errors when the connection is in iSER-assisted mode.
Also, since RCaP delivers all messages in the order they were sent,
there are no sequence errors when the connection is in iSER-assisted
mode. Therefore, the iSCSI layer MUST NOT send SNACK Request PDUs.
A SNACK Request PDU, if used, MUST be treated as an iSCSI protocol
error. The iSER layer MAY reject such a PDU from the iSCSI layer
with an appropriate error code. If a SNACK Request PDU is received
by the iSCSI layer at the target, it MUST respond with a Reject PDU
with a reason code of "protocol error".
7.3.12. Reject
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorReject
The iSCSI layer MUST invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive
qualified with DataDescriptorReject, which defines the Reject buffer.
The iSER layer MUST use a Send Message to send the Reject PDU. The
SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g.,
iWARP).
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7.3.13. NOP-Out and NOP-In
Type: control-type PDU
PDU-specific qualifiers: DataDescriptorNOPOut (for NOP-Out),
DataDescriptorNOPIn (for NOP-In)
The iSCSI layer MUST invoke the Send_Control Operational Primitive
qualified with DataDescriptorNOPOut (or DataDescriptorNOPIn), which
defines the Ping (or Return Ping) data buffer. The iSER layer MUST
use Send Messages to send the NOP-Out (or NOP-In) PDU. The SendSE
Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP).
8. Flow Control and STag Management
8.1. Flow Control for RDMA Send Messages
Send Messages in RCaP are used by the iSER layer to transfer iSCSI
control-type PDUs. Each Send Message in RCaP consumes an Untagged
Buffer at the Data Sink. However, neither the RCaP layer nor the
iSER layer provides an explicit flow control mechanism for the Send
Messages. Therefore, the iSER layer SHOULD provision enough Untagged
buffers for handling incoming Send Messages to prevent buffer
exhaustion at the RCaP layer. If buffer exhaustion occurs, it may
result in the termination of the connection.
An implementation may choose to satisfy the buffer requirement by
using a common buffer pool shared across multiple connections, with
usage limits on a per-connection basis and usage limits on the buffer
pool itself. In such an implementation, exceeding the buffer usage
limit for a connection or the buffer pool itself may trigger
interventions from the iSER layer to replenish the buffer pool and/or
to isolate the connection causing the problem.
iSER also provides the MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs key to be used by
the initiator and the target to declare the maximum number of
outstanding "unexpected" control-type PDUs that it can receive. It
is intended to allow the receiving side to determine the amount of
buffer resources needed beyond the normal flow control mechanism
available in iSCSI.
The buffer resources required at both the initiator and the target as
a result of control-type PDUs sent by the initiator are described in
Section 8.1.1. The buffer resources required at both the initiator
and target as a result of control-type PDUs sent by the target are
described in Section 8.1.2.
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8.1.1. Flow Control for Control-Type PDUs from the Initiator
The control-type PDUs that can be sent by an initiator to a target
can be grouped into the following categories:
1. Regulated: Control-type PDUs in this category are regulated by
the iSCSI CmdSN window mechanism, and the immediate flag is not
set.
2. Unregulated but Expected: Control-type PDUs in this category are
not regulated by the iSCSI CmdSN window mechanism but are expected
by the target.
3. Unregulated and Unexpected: Control-type PDUs in this category
are not regulated by the iSCSI CmdSN window mechanism and are
"unexpected" by the target.
8.1.1.1. Control-Type PDUs from the Initiator in the Regulated Category
Control-type PDUs that can be sent by the initiator in this category
are regulated by the iSCSI CmdSN window mechanism, and the immediate
flag is not set.
The queuing capacity required of the iSCSI layer at the target is
described in Section 4.2.2.1 of [iSCSI]. For each of the control-
type PDUs that can be sent by the initiator in this category, the
initiator MUST provision for the buffer resources required for the
corresponding control-type PDU sent as a response from the target.
The following is a list of the PDUs that can be sent by the initiator
and the PDUs that are sent by the target in response:
a. When an initiator sends a SCSI Command PDU, it expects a SCSI
Response PDU from the target.
b. When the initiator sends a Task Management Function Request
PDU, it expects a Task Management Function Response PDU from
the target.
c. When the initiator sends a Text Request PDU, it expects a Text
Response PDU from the target.
d. When the initiator sends a Logout Request PDU, it expects a
Logout Response PDU from the target.
e. When the initiator sends a NOP-Out PDU as a ping request with
ITT != 0xffffffff and TTT = 0xffffffff, it expects a NOP-In PDU
from the target with the same ITT and TTT as in the ping
request.
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The response from the target for any of the PDUs enumerated here may
alternatively be in the form of a Reject PDU sent before the task is
active, as described in Section 7.3 of [iSCSI].
8.1.1.2. Control-Type PDUs from the Initiator in the Unregulated but
Expected Category
For the control-type PDUs in the Unregulated but Expected category,
the amount of buffering resources required at the target can be
predetermined. The following is a list of the PDUs in this category:
a. SCSI Data-Out PDUs are used by the initiator to send
unsolicited data. The amount of buffer resources required by
the target can be determined using FirstBurstLength. Note that
SCSI Data-Out PDUs are not used for solicited data since the
R2T PDU, which is used for solicitation, is transformed into
RDMA Read operations by the iSER layer at the target. See
Section 7.3.4.
b. A NOP-Out PDU with TTT != 0xffffffff is sent as a ping response
by the initiator to the NOP-In PDU sent as a ping request by
the target.
8.1.1.3. Control-Type PDUs from the Initiator in the Unregulated and
Unexpected Category
PDUs in the Unregulated and Unexpected category are PDUs with the
immediate flag set. The number of PDUs that are in this category and
can be sent by an initiator is controlled by the value of
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs declared by the target. (See Section
6.7.) After a PDU in this category is sent by the initiator, it is
outstanding until it is retired. At any time, the number of
outstanding unexpected PDUs MUST NOT exceed the value of
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs declared by the target.
The target uses the value of MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs that it
declared to determine the amount of buffer resources required for
control-type PDUs in this category that can be sent by an initiator.
For the initiator, for each of the control-type PDUs that can be sent
in this category, the initiator MUST provision for the buffer
resources if required for the corresponding control-type PDU that can
be sent as a response from the target.
An outstanding PDU in this category is retired as follows. If the
CmdSN of the PDU sent by the initiator in this category is x, the PDU
is outstanding until the initiator sends a non-immediate control-type
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PDU on the same connection with CmdSN = y (where y is at least x) and
the target responds with a control-type PDU on any connection where
ExpCmdSN is at least y+1.
When the number of outstanding unexpected control-type PDUs equals
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs, the iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST
NOT generate any unexpected PDUs, which otherwise it would have
generated, even if the unexpected PDU is intended for immediate
delivery.
8.1.2. Flow Control for Control-Type PDUs from the Target
Control-type PDUs that can be sent by a target and are expected by
the initiator are listed in the Regulated category. (See Section
8.1.1.1.)
For the control-type PDUs that can be sent by a target and are
unexpected by the initiator, the number is controlled by
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs declared by the initiator. (See Section
6.7.) After a PDU in this category is sent by a target, it is
outstanding until it is retired. At any time, the number of
outstanding unexpected PDUs MUST NOT exceed the value of
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs declared by the initiator. The
initiator uses the value of MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs that it
declared to determine the amount of buffer resources required for
control-type PDUs in this category that can be sent by a target. The
following is a list of the PDUs in this category and the conditions
for retiring the outstanding PDU:
a. For an Asynchronous Message PDU with StatSN = x, the PDU is
outstanding until the initiator sends a control-type PDU with
ExpStatSN set to at least x+1.
b. For a Reject PDU with StatSN = x, which is sent after a task is
active, the PDU is outstanding until the initiator sends a
control-type PDU with ExpStatSN set to at least x+1.
c. For a NOP-In PDU with ITT = 0xffffffff and StatSN = x, the PDU
is outstanding until the initiator responds with a control-type
PDU on the same connection where ExpStatSN is at least x+1.
But if the NOP-In PDU is sent as a ping request with
TTT != 0xffffffff, the PDU can also be retired when the
initiator sends a NOP-Out PDU with the same ITT and TTT as in
the ping request. Note that when a target sends a NOP-In PDU
as a ping request, it must provision a buffer for the NOP-Out
PDU sent as a ping response from the initiator.
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When the number of outstanding unexpected control-type PDUs equals
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs, the iSCSI layer at the target MUST NOT
generate any unexpected PDUs, which otherwise it would have
generated, even if its intent is to indicate an iSCSI error condition
(e.g., Asynchronous Message, Reject). Task timeouts, as in the
initiator's waiting for a command completion or other connection and
session-level exceptions, will ensure that correct operational
behavior will result in these cases despite not generating the PDU.
This rule overrides any other requirements elsewhere that require
that a Reject PDU MUST be sent.
(Implementation note: SCSI task timeout and recovery can be a
lengthy process and hence SHOULD be avoided by proper provisioning of
resources.)
(Implementation note: To ensure that the initiator has a means to
inform the target that outstanding PDUs have been retired, the target
should reserve the last unexpected control-type PDU allowable by the
value of MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs declared by the initiator for
sending a NOP-In ping request with TTT != 0xffffffff to allow the
initiator to return the NOP-Out ping response with the current
ExpStatSN.)
8.2. Flow Control for RDMA Read Resources
If iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes", then the total number of
RDMA Read operations that can be active simultaneously on an
iSCSI/iSER connection depends on the amount of resources allocated as
declared in the iSER Hello exchange described in Section 5.1.3.
Exceeding the number of RDMA Read operations allowed on a connection
will result in the connection being terminated by the RCaP layer.
The iSER layer at the target maintains the iSER-ORD to keep track of
the maximum number of RDMA Read Requests that can be issued by the
iSER layer on a particular RCaP Stream.
During connection setup (see Section 5.1), iSER-IRD is known at the
initiator and iSER-ORD is known at the target after the iSER layers
at the initiator and the target have respectively allocated the
connection resources necessary to support RCaP, as directed by the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive from the iSCSI
layer before the end of the iSCSI Login Phase. In the Full Feature
Phase, if iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes", then the first
message sent by the initiator is the iSER Hello Message (see Section
9.3), which contains the value of iSER-IRD. In response to the iSER
Hello Message, the target sends the iSER HelloReply Message (see
Section 9.4), which contains the value of iSER-ORD. The iSER layer
at both the initiator and the target MAY adjust (lower) the resources
associated with iSER-IRD and iSER-ORD, respectively, to match the
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iSER-ORD value declared in the HelloReply Message. The iSER layer at
the target MUST control the flow of the RDMA Read Request Messages so
that it does not exceed the iSER-ORD value at the target.
If iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "No", then the maximum number
of RDMA Read operations that can be active is negotiated via other
means outside the scope of this document. For example, in
InfiniBand, iSER connection setup uses InfiniBand Connection Manager
(CM) Management Datagrams (MADs), with additional iSER information
exchanged in the private data.
8.3. STag Management
An STag is an identifier of a Tagged Buffer used in an RDMA
operation. If the STags are exposed on the wire by being Advertised
in the iSER header or declared in the header of an RCaP Message, then
the allocation and the subsequent invalidation of the STags are as
specified in this document.
8.3.1. Allocation of STags
When the iSCSI layer at the initiator invokes the Send_Control
Operational Primitive to request the iSER layer at the initiator to
process a SCSI Command, zero, one, or two STags may be allocated by
the iSER layer. See Section 7.3.1 for details. The number of STags
allocated depends on whether the command is unidirectional or
bidirectional and whether or not solicited write data transfer is
involved.
When the iSCSI layer at the initiator invokes the Send_Control
Operational Primitive to request the iSER layer at the initiator to
process a Task Management Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN
function, besides allocating zero, one, or two STags, the iSER layer
MUST invalidate the existing STags (if any) associated with the ITT.
See Section 7.3.3 for details.
The iSER layer at the target allocates a local Data Sink STag when
the iSCSI layer at the target invokes the Get_Data Operational
Primitive to request the iSER layer to process an R2T PDU. See
Section 7.3.6 for details.
8.3.2. Invalidation of STags
The invalidation of the STags at the initiator at the completion of a
unidirectional or bidirectional command when the associated SCSI
Response PDU is sent by the target is described in Section 7.3.2.
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When a unidirectional or bidirectional command concludes without the
associated SCSI Response PDU being sent by the target, the iSCSI
layer at the initiator MUST request the iSER layer at the initiator
to invalidate the STags by invoking the Deallocate_Task_Resources
Operational Primitive qualified with ITT. In response, the iSER
layer at the initiator MUST locate the STags (if any) in the Local
Mapping. The iSER layer at the initiator MUST invalidate the STags
(if any) and the Local Mapping.
For an RDMA Read operation used to realize a SCSI Write data
transfer, the iSER layer at the target SHOULD invalidate the Data
Sink STag at the conclusion of the RDMA Read operation referencing
the Data Sink STag (to permit the immediate reuse of buffer
resources).
For an RDMA Write operation used to realize a SCSI Read data
transfer, the Data Source STag at the target is not declared to the
initiator and is not exposed on the wire. Invalidation of the STag
is thus not specified.
When a unidirectional or bidirectional command concludes without the
associated SCSI Response PDU being sent by the target, the iSCSI
layer at the target MUST request the iSER layer at the target to
invalidate the STags by invoking the Deallocate_Task_Resources
Operational Primitive qualified with ITT. In response, the iSER
layer at the target MUST locate the local STags (if any) in the Local
Mapping. The iSER layer at the target MUST invalidate the local
STags (if any) and the Local Mapping.
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9. iSER Control and Data Transfer
For iSCSI data-type PDUs (see Section 7.1), the iSER layer uses RDMA
Read and RDMA Write operations to transfer the solicited data. For
iSCSI control-type PDUs (see Section 7.2), the iSER layer uses Send
Messages of RCaP.
9.1. iSER Header Format
An iSER header MUST be present in every Send Message of RCaP. The
iSER header is located in the first 28 bytes of the message payload
of the Send Message of RCaP, as shown in Figure 2.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Opcode| Opcode Specific Fields |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Opcode Specific Fields (32 bits) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Opcode Specific Fields (64 bits) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Opcode Specific Fields (32 bits) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Opcode Specific Fields (64 bits) |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 2: iSER Header Format
Opcode - Operation Code: 4 bits
The Opcode field identifies the type of iSER Messages:
0001b = iSCSI control-type PDU
0010b = iSER Hello Message
0011b = iSER HelloReply Message
All other Opcodes are unassigned.
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9.2. iSER Header Format for iSCSI Control-Type PDU
The iSER layer uses Send Messages of RCaP to transfer iSCSI control-
type PDUs (see Section 7.2). The message payload of each of the Send
Messages of RCaP used for transferring an iSER Message contains an
iSER Header followed by an iSCSI control-type PDU.
The iSER header in a Send Message of RCaP carrying an iSCSI control-
type PDU MUST have the format as described in Figure 3.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |W|R| |
| 0001b |S|S| Reserved |
| |V|V| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Write STag |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Write Base Offset |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Read STag |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Read Base Offset |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 3: iSER Header Format for iSCSI Control-Type PDU
WSV - Write STag Valid flag: 1 bit
This flag indicates the validity of the Write STag field and the
Write Base Offset field of the iSER Header. If set to one, the
Write STag field and the Write Base Offset field in this iSER
Header are valid. If set to zero, the Write STag field and the
Write Base Offset field in this iSER Header MUST be ignored at the
receiver. The Write STag Valid flag is set to one when there is
solicited data to be transferred for a SCSI Write or bidirectional
command, or when there are non-immediate unsolicited and solicited
data to be transferred for the referenced task specified in a Task
Management Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN function.
RSV - Read STag Valid flag: 1 bit
This flag indicates the validity of the Read STag field and the
Read Base Offset field of the iSER Header. If set to one, the
Read STag field and the Read Base Offset field in this iSER Header
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are valid. If set to zero, the Read STag field and the Read Base
Offset field in this iSER Header MUST be ignored at the receiver.
The Read STag Valid flag is set to one for a SCSI Read or
bidirectional command, or a Task Management Function Request with
the TASK REASSIGN function.
Write STag - Write Steering Tag: 32 bits
This field contains the Write STag when the Write STag Valid flag
is set to one. For a SCSI Write or bidirectional command, the
Write STag is used to Advertise the initiator's I/O Buffer
containing the solicited data. For a Task Management Function
Request with the TASK REASSIGN function, the Write STag is used to
Advertise the initiator's I/O Buffer containing the non-immediate
unsolicited data and solicited data. This Write STag is used as
the Data Source STag in the resultant RDMA Read operation(s).
When the Write STag Valid flag is set to zero, this field MUST be
set to zero and ignored on receive.
Write Base Offset: 64 bits
This field contains the Base Offset associated with the I/O Buffer
for the SCSI Write command when the Write STag Valid flag is set
to one. When the Write STag Valid flag is set to zero, this field
MUST be set to zero and ignored on receive.
Read STag - Read Steering Tag: 32 bits
This field contains the Read STag when the Read STag Valid flag is
set to one. The Read STag is used to Advertise the initiator's
Read I/O Buffer of a SCSI Read or bidirectional command, or a Task
Management Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN function. This
Read STag is used as the Data Sink STag in the resultant RDMA
Write operation(s). When the Read STag Valid flag is zero, this
field MUST be set to zero and ignored on receive.
Read Base Offset: 64 bits
This field contains the Base Offset associated with the I/O Buffer
for the SCSI Read command when the Read STag Valid flag is set to
one. When the Read STag Valid flag is set to zero, this field
MUST be set to zero and ignored on receive.
Reserved:
Reserved fields MUST be set to zero on transmit and MUST be
ignored on receive.
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9.3. iSER Header Format for iSER Hello Message
An iSER Hello Message MUST only contain the iSER header, which MUST
have the format as described in Figure 4. If iSERHelloRequired is
negotiated to "Yes", then iSER Hello Message is the first iSER
Message sent on the RCaP Stream from the iSER layer at the initiator
to the iSER layer at the target.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| | | | | |
| 0010b | Rsvd | MaxVer| MinVer| iSER-IRD |
| | | | | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 4: iSER Header Format for iSER Hello Message
MaxVer - Maximum Version: 4 bits
This field specifies the maximum version of the iSER protocol
supported. It MUST be set to 10 to indicate the version of the
specification described in this document.
MinVer - Minimum Version: 4 bits
This field specifies the minimum version of the iSER protocol
supported. It MUST be set to 10 to indicate the version of the
specification described in this document.
iSER-IRD: 16 bits
This field contains the value of the iSER-IRD at the initiator.
Reserved (Rsvd):
Reserved fields MUST be set to zero on transmit and MUST be
ignored on receive.
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9.4. iSER Header Format for iSER HelloReply Message
An iSER HelloReply Message MUST only contain the iSER header, which
MUST have the format as described in Figure 5. If iSERHelloRequired
is negotiated to "Yes", then the iSER HelloReply Message is the first
iSER Message sent on the RCaP Stream from the iSER layer at the
target to the iSER layer at the initiator.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| | |R| | | |
| 0011b |Rsvd |E| MaxVer| CurVer| iSER-ORD |
| | |J| | | |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 5: iSER Header Format for iSER HelloReply Message
REJ - Reject flag: 1 bit
This flag indicates whether the target is rejecting this
connection. If set to one, the target is rejecting the
connection.
MaxVer - Maximum Version: 4 bits
This field specifies the maximum version of the iSER protocol
supported. It MUST be set to 10 to indicate the version of the
specification described in this document.
CurVer - Current Version: 4 bits
This field specifies the current version of the iSER protocol
supported. It MUST be set to 10 to indicate the version of the
specification described in this document.
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iSER-ORD: 16 bits
This field contains the value of the iSER-ORD at the target.
Reserved (Rsvd):
Reserved fields MUST be set to zero on transmit and MUST be
ignored on receive.
9.5. SCSI Data Transfer Operations
The iSER layer at the initiator and the iSER layer at the target
handle each SCSI Write, SCSI Read, and bidirectional operation as
described below.
9.5.1. SCSI Write Operation
The iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST invoke the Send_Control
Operational Primitive to request the iSER layer at the initiator to
send the SCSI Write Command. The iSER layer at the initiator MUST
request the RCaP layer to transmit a Send Message with the message
payload consisting of the iSER header followed by the SCSI Command
PDU and immediate data (if any). The SendSE Message should be used
if supported by the RCaP layer (e.g., iWARP). If there is solicited
data, the iSER layer MUST Advertise the Write STag and the Base
Offset in the iSER header of the Send Message, as described in
Section 9.2. Upon receiving the Send Message, the iSER layer at the
target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target by invoking the
Control_Notify Operational Primitive qualified with the SCSI Command
PDU. See Section 7.3.1 for details on the handling of the SCSI Write
Command.
For the non-immediate unsolicited data, the iSCSI layer at the
initiator MUST invoke a Send_Control Operational Primitive qualified
with the SCSI Data-Out PDU. Upon receiving each Send Message
containing the non-immediate unsolicited data, the iSER layer at the
target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the target by invoking the
Control_Notify Operational Primitive qualified with the SCSI Data-Out
PDU. See Section 7.3.4 for details on the handling of the SCSI Data-
Out PDU.
For the solicited data, when the iSCSI layer at the target has an I/O
Buffer available, it MUST invoke the Get_Data Operational Primitive
qualified with the R2T PDU. See Section 7.3.6 for details on the
handling of the R2T PDU.
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When the data transfer associated with this SCSI Write operation is
complete, the iSCSI layer at the target MUST invoke the Send_Control
Operational Primitive when it is ready to send the SCSI Response PDU.
Upon receiving a Send Message containing the SCSI Response PDU, the
iSER layer at the initiator MUST notify the iSCSI layer at the
initiator by invoking the Control_Notify Operational Primitive
qualified with the SCSI Response PDU. See Section 7.3.2 for details
on the handling of the SCSI Response PDU.
9.5.2. SCSI Read Operation
The iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST invoke the Send_Control
Operational Primitive to request the iSER layer at the initiator to
send the SCSI Read Command. The iSER layer at the initiator MUST
request the RCaP layer to transmit a Send Message with the message
payload consisting of the iSER header followed by the SCSI Command
PDU. The SendSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP
layer (e.g., iWARP). The iSER layer at the initiator MUST Advertise
the Read STag and the Base Offset in the iSER header of the Send
Message, as described in Section 9.2. Upon receiving the Send
Message, the iSER layer at the target MUST notify the iSCSI layer at
the target by invoking the Control_Notify Operational Primitive
qualified with the SCSI Command PDU. See Section 7.3.1 for details
on the handling of the SCSI Read Command.
When the requested SCSI data is available in the I/O Buffer, the
iSCSI layer at the target MUST invoke the Put_Data Operational
Primitive qualified with the SCSI Data-In PDU. See Section 7.3.5 for
details on the handling of the SCSI Data-In PDU.
When the data transfer associated with this SCSI Read operation is
complete, the iSCSI layer at the target MUST invoke the Send_Control
Operational Primitive when it is ready to send the SCSI Response PDU.
The SendInvSE Message should be used if supported by the RCaP layer
(e.g., iWARP). Upon receiving the Send Message containing the SCSI
Response PDU, the iSER layer at the initiator MUST notify the iSCSI
layer at the initiator by invoking the Control_Notify Operational
Primitive qualified with the SCSI Response PDU. See Section 7.3.2
for details on the handling of the SCSI Response PDU.
9.5.3. Bidirectional Operation
The initiator and the target handle the SCSI Write and the SCSI Read
portions of this bidirectional operation the same as described in
Sections 9.5.1 and 9.5.2, respectively.
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10. iSER Error Handling and Recovery
RCaP provides the iSER layer with reliable in-order delivery.
Therefore, the error management needs of an iSER-assisted connection
are somewhat different than those of a Traditional iSCSI connection.
10.1. Error Handling
iSER error handling is described in the following sections,
classified loosely based on the sources of errors:
1. Those originating at the transport layer (e.g., TCP).
2. Those originating at the RCaP layer.
3. Those originating at the iSER layer.
4. Those originating at the iSCSI layer.
10.1.1. Errors in the Transport Layer
If the transport layer is TCP, then TCP packets with detected errors
are silently dropped by the TCP layer and result in retransmission at
the TCP layer. This has no impact on the iSER layer. However,
connection loss (e.g., link failure) and unexpected termination
(e.g., TCP graceful or abnormal close without the iSCSI Logout
exchanges) at the transport layer will cause the iSCSI/iSER
connection to be terminated as well.
10.1.1.1. Failure in the Transport Layer Before RCaP Mode is Enabled
If the connection is lost or terminated before the iSCSI layer
invokes the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive, the
login process is terminated and no further action is required.
If the connection is lost or terminated after the iSCSI layer has
invoked the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive, then
the iSCSI layer MUST request the iSER layer to deallocate all
connection resources by invoking the Deallocate_Connection_Resources
Operational Primitive.
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10.1.1.2. Failure in the Transport Layer After RCaP Mode is Enabled
If the connection is lost or terminated after the iSCSI layer has
invoked the Enable_Datamover Operational Primitive, the iSER layer
MUST notify the iSCSI layer of the connection loss by invoking the
Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive. Prior to invoking
the Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive, the iSER layer
MUST perform the actions described in Section 5.2.3.2.
10.1.2. Errors in the RCaP Layer
The RCaP layer does not have error recovery operations built in. If
errors are detected at the RCaP layer, the RCaP layer will terminate
the RCaP Stream and the associated connection.
10.1.2.1. Errors Detected in the Local RCaP Layer
If an error is encountered at the local RCaP layer, the RCaP layer
MAY send a Send Message to the Remote Peer to report the error if
possible. (For iWARP, see [RDMAP] for the list of errors where a
Terminate Message is sent.) The RCaP layer is responsible for
terminating the connection. After the RCaP layer notifies the iSER
layer that the connection is terminated, the iSER layer MUST notify
the iSCSI layer by invoking the Connection_Terminate_Notify
Operational Primitive. Prior to invoking the
Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive, the iSER layer
MUST perform the actions described in Section 5.2.3.2.
10.1.2.2. Errors Detected in the RCaP Layer at the Remote Peer
If an error is encountered at the RCaP layer at the Remote Peer, the
RCaP layer at the Remote Peer may send a Send Message to report the
error if possible. If it is unable to send a Send Message, the
connection is terminated. This is treated the same as a failure in
the transport layer after RDMA is enabled, as described in Section
10.1.1.2.
If an error is encountered at the RCaP layer at the Remote Peer and
it is able to send a Send Message, the RCaP layer at the Remote Peer
is responsible for terminating the connection. After the local RCaP
layer notifies the iSER layer that the connection is terminated, the
iSER layer MUST notify the iSCSI layer by invoking the
Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive. Prior to invoking
the Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive, the iSER layer
MUST perform the actions described in Section 5.2.3.2.
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10.1.3. Errors in the iSER Layer
The error handling due to errors at the iSER layer is described in
the following sections.
10.1.3.1. Insufficient Connection Resources to Support RCaP at
Connection Setup
After the iSCSI layer at the initiator invokes the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive during the iSCSI
login negotiation phase, if the iSER layer at the initiator fails to
allocate the connection resources necessary to support RCaP, it MUST
return a status of failure to the iSCSI layer at the initiator. The
iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST terminate the connection as
described in Section 5.2.3.1.
After the iSCSI layer at the target invokes the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive during the iSCSI
login negotiation phase, if the iSER layer at the target fails to
allocate the connection resources necessary to support RCaP, it MUST
return a status of failure to the iSCSI layer at the target. The
iSCSI layer at the target MUST send a Login Response with a Status-
Class of 0x03 (Target Error), and a Status-Code of 0x02 (Out of
Resources). The iSCSI layers at the initiator and the target MUST
terminate the connection as described in Section 5.2.3.1.
10.1.3.2. iSER Negotiation Failures
If iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes" and the RCaP or iSER
related parameters declared by the initiator in the iSER Hello
Message are unacceptable to the iSER layer at the target, the iSER
layer at the target MUST set the Reject (REJ) flag, as described in
Section 9.4, in the iSER HelloReply Message. The following are the
cases when the iSER layer MUST set the REJ flag to 1 in the
HelloReply Message:
* The initiator-declared iSER-IRD value is greater than 0, and the
target-declared iSER-ORD value is 0.
* The initiator-supported and the target-supported iSER protocol
versions do not overlap.
After requesting the RCaP layer to send the iSER HelloReply Message,
the handling of the error situation is the same as that for iSER
format errors as described in Section 10.1.3.3.
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10.1.3.3. iSER Format Errors
The following types of errors in an iSER header are considered format
errors:
* Illegal contents of any iSER header field
* Inconsistent field contents in an iSER header
* Length error for an iSER Hello or HelloReply Message (see Sections
9.3 and 9.4)
When a format error is detected, the following events MUST occur in
the specified sequence:
1. The iSER layer MUST request the RCaP layer to terminate the RCaP
Stream. The RCaP layer MUST terminate the associated connection.
2. The iSER layer MUST notify the iSCSI layer of the connection
termination by invoking the Connection_Terminate_Notify
Operational Primitive. Prior to invoking the
Connection_Terminate_Notify Operational Primitive, the iSER layer
MUST perform the actions described in Section 5.2.3.2.
10.1.3.4. iSER Protocol Errors
If iSERHelloRequired is negotiated to "Yes", then the first iSER
Message sent by the iSER layer at the initiator MUST be the iSER
Hello Message (see Section 9.3). In this case the first iSER Message
sent by the iSER layer at the target MUST be the iSER HelloReply
Message (see Section 9.4). Failure to send the iSER Hello or
HelloReply Message, as indicated by the wrong Opcode in the iSER
header, is a protocol error. Conversely, if the iSER Hello Message
is sent by the iSER layer at the initiator when iSERHelloRequired is
negotiated to "No", the iSER layer at the target MAY treat this as a
protocol error or respond with an iSER HelloReply Message. The
handling of iSER protocol errors is the same as that for iSER format
errors as described in Section 10.1.3.3.
If the sending side of an iSER-enabled connection acts in a manner
not permitted by the negotiated or declared login/text operational
key values as described in Section 6, this is a protocol error and
the receiving side MAY handle this the same as for iSER format errors
as described in Section 10.1.3.3.
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10.1.4. Errors in the iSCSI Layer
The error handling due to errors at the iSCSI layer is described in
the following sections. For error recovery, see Section 10.2.
10.1.4.1. iSCSI Format Errors
When an iSCSI format error is detected, the iSCSI layer MUST request
the iSER layer to terminate the RCaP Stream by invoking the
Connection_Terminate Operational Primitive. For more details on
connection termination, see Section 5.2.3.1.
10.1.4.2. iSCSI Digest Errors
In the iSER-assisted mode, the iSCSI layer will not see any digest
error because both the HeaderDigest and the DataDigest keys are
negotiated to "None".
10.1.4.3. iSCSI Sequence Errors
For Traditional iSCSI, sequence errors are caused by dropped PDUs due
to header or data digest errors. Since digests are not used in iSER-
assisted mode and the RCaP layer will deliver all messages in the
order they were sent, sequence errors will not occur in iSER-assisted
mode.
10.1.4.4. iSCSI Protocol Error
When the iSCSI layer handles certain protocol errors by dropping the
connection, the error handling is the same as that for iSCSI format
errors as described in Section 10.1.4.1.
When the iSCSI layer uses the iSCSI Reject PDU and response codes to
handle certain other protocol errors, no special handling at the iSER
layer is required.
10.1.4.5. SCSI Timeouts and Session Errors
This is handled at the iSCSI layer, and no special handling at the
iSER layer is required.
10.1.4.6. iSCSI Negotiation Failures
For negotiation failures that happen during the Login Phase at the
initiator after the iSCSI layer has invoked the
Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive and before the
Enable_Datamover Operational Primitive has been invoked, the iSCSI
layer MUST request the iSER layer to deallocate all connection
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resources by invoking the Deallocate_Connection_Resources Operational
Primitive. The iSCSI layer at the initiator MUST terminate the
connection.
For negotiation failures during the Login Phase at the target, the
iSCSI layer can use a Login Response with a Status-Class other than 0
(success) to terminate the Login Phase. If the iSCSI layer has
invoked the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive and
has not yet invoked the Enable_Datamover Operational Primitive, the
iSCSI layer at the target MUST request the iSER layer at the target
to deallocate all connection resources by invoking the
Deallocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive. The iSCSI
layer at both the initiator and the target MUST terminate the
connection.
During the iSCSI Login Phase, if the iSCSI layer at the initiator
receives a Login Response from the target with a Status-Class other
than 0 (Success) after the iSCSI layer at the initiator has invoked
the Allocate_Connection_Resources Operational Primitive, the iSCSI
layer MUST request the iSER layer to deallocate all connection
resources by invoking the Deallocate_Connection_Resources Operational
Primitive. The iSCSI layer MUST terminate the connection in this
case.
For negotiation failures during the Full Feature Phase, the error
handling is left to the iSCSI layer and no special handling at the
iSER layer is required.
10.2. Error Recovery
Error recovery requirements of iSCSI/iSER are the same as that of
Traditional iSCSI. All three ErrorRecoveryLevels as defined in
[iSCSI] are supported in iSCSI/iSER.
* For ErrorRecoveryLevel 0, session recovery is handled by iSCSI and
no special handling by the iSER layer is required.
* For ErrorRecoveryLevel 1, see Section 10.2.1 on PDU Recovery.
* For ErrorRecoveryLevel 2, see Section 10.2.2 on Connection
Recovery.
The iSCSI layer may invoke the Notice_Key_Values Operational
Primitive during connection setup to request the iSER layer to take
note of the value of the operational ErrorRecoveryLevel, as described
in Sections 5.1.1 and 5.1.2.
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10.2.1. PDU Recovery
As described in Sections 10.1.4.2 and 10.1.4.3, digest and sequence
errors will not occur in the iSER-assisted mode. If the RCaP layer
detects an error, it will close the iSCSI/iSER connection, as
described in Section 10.1.2. Therefore, PDU recovery is not useful
in the iSER-assisted mode.
The iSCSI layer at the initiator SHOULD disable iSCSI timeout-driven
PDU retransmissions.
10.2.2. Connection Recovery
The iSCSI layer at the initiator MAY reassign connection allegiance
for non-immediate commands that are still in progress and are
associated with the failed connection by using a Task Management
Function Request with the TASK REASSIGN function. See Section 7.3.3
for more details.
When the iSCSI layer at the initiator does a task reassignment for a
SCSI Write command, it MUST qualify the Send_Control Operational
Primitive invocation with DataDescriptorOut, which defines the I/O
Buffer for both the non-immediate unsolicited data and the solicited
data. This allows the iSCSI layer at the target to use recovery R2Ts
to request data originally sent as unsolicited and solicited from the
initiator.
When the iSCSI layer at the target accepts a reassignment request for
a SCSI Read command, it MUST request the iSER layer to process SCSI
Data-In for all unacknowledged data by invoking the Put_Data
Operational Primitive. See Section 7.3.5 on the handling of SCSI
Data-In.
When the iSCSI layer at the target accepts a reassignment request for
a SCSI Write command, it MUST request the iSER layer to process a
recovery R2T for any non-immediate unsolicited data and any solicited
data sequences that have not been received by invoking the Get_Data
Operational Primitive. See Section 7.3.6 on the handling of Ready To
Transfer (R2T).
The iSCSI layer at the target MUST NOT issue recovery R2Ts on an
iSCSI/iSER connection for a task for which the connection allegiance
was never reassigned. The iSER layer at the target MAY reject such a
recovery R2T received via the Get_Data Operational Primitive
invocation from the iSCSI layer at the target, with an appropriate
error code.
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The iSER layer at the target will process the requests invoked by the
Put_Data and Get_Data Operational Primitives for a reassigned task in
the same way as for the original commands.
11. Security Considerations
When iSER is layered on top of an RCaP layer and provides the RDMA
extensions to the iSCSI protocol, the security considerations of iSER
are the same as that of the underlying RCaP layer. For iWARP, this
is described in [RDMAP] and [RDDPSEC], plus the updates to both of
those RFCs that are contained in [IPSEC-IPS].
Since iSER-assisted iSCSI protocol is still functionally iSCSI from a
security considerations perspective, all of the iSCSI security
requirements as described in [iSCSI] apply. If iSER is layered on
top of a non-IP-based RCaP layer, all the security protocol
mechanisms applicable to that RCaP layer are also applicable to an
iSCSI/iSER connection. If iSER is layered on top of a non-IP
protocol, the IPsec mechanism as specified in [iSCSI] MUST be
implemented at any point where the iSER protocol enters the IP
network (e.g., via gateways), and the non-IP protocol SHOULD
implement (optional to use) a packet-by-packet security protocol
equal in strength to the IPsec mechanism specified by [iSCSI].
In order to protect target RCaP connection resources from possible
resource exhaustion attacks, allocation of such resources for a new
connection MUST be delayed until it is reasonably certain that the
new connection is not part of a resource exhaustion attack (e.g.,
until after the SecurityNegotiation stage of Login); see Section
5.1.2.
A valid STag exposes I/O Buffer resources to the network for access
via the RCaP. The security measures for the RCAP and iSER described
in the above paragraphs can be used to protect data in an I/O buffer
from undesired disclosure or modification, and these measures are of
heightened importance for implementations that retain (e.g., cache)
STags for use in multiple tasks (e.g., iSCSI I/O operations) because
the resources are exposed to the network for a longer period of time.
A complementary means of controlling I/O Buffer resource exposure is
invalidation of the STag after completion of the associated task, as
specified in Section 1.5.1. The use of Send with Invalidate messages
(which cause remote STag invalidation) is OPTIONAL, therefore the
iSER layer MUST NOT rely on use of a Send with Invalidate by its
Remote Peer to cause local STag invalidation. If an STag is expected
to be invalid after completion of a task, the iSER layer MUST check
the STag and invalidate it if it is still valid.
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12. IANA Considerations
IANA has added the following entries to the "iSCSI Login/Text Keys"
registry:
MaxAHSLength, RFC 7145
TaggedBufferForSolicitedDataOnly, RFC 7145
iSERHelloRequired, RFC 7145
IANA has updated the following entries in the "iSCSI Login/Text Keys"
registry to reference this RFC.
InitiatorRecvDataSegmentLength
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs
RDMAExtensions
TargetRecvDataSegmentLength
IANA has also changed the reference to RFC 5046 for the "iSCSI
Login/Text Keys" registry to refer to this RFC.
IANA has updated the registrations of the iSER Opcodes 1-3 in the
"iSER Opcodes" registry to reference this RFC. IANA has also changed
the reference to RFC 5046 for the "iSER Opcodes" registry to refer to
this RFC.
13. References
13.1. Normative References
[RFC5046] Ko, M., Chadalapaka, M., Hufferd, J., Elzur, U., Shah,
H., and P. Thaler, "Internet Small Computer System
Interface (iSCSI) Extensions for Remote Direct Memory
Access (RDMA)", RFC 5046, October 2007.
[iSCSI] Chadalapaka, M., Satran, J., Meth, K., and D. Black,
"Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI)
Protocol (Consolidated)", RFC 7143, April 2014.
[RDMAP] Recio, R., Metzler, B., Culley, P., Hilland, J., and D.
Garcia, "A Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol
Specification", RFC 5040, October 2007.
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RFC 7145 iSER Specification April 2014
[DDP] Shah, H., Pinkerton, J., Recio, R., and P. Culley,
"Direct Data Placement over Reliable Transports", RFC
5041, October 2007.
[MPA] Culley, P., Elzur, U., Recio, R., Bailey, S., and J.
Carrier, "Marker PDU Aligned Framing for TCP
Specification", RFC 5044, October 2007.
[RDDPSEC] Pinkerton, J. and E. Deleganes, "Direct Data Placement
Protocol (DDP) / Remote Direct Memory Access Protocol
(RDMAP) Security", RFC 5042, October 2007.
[TCP] Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol", STD 7, RFC
793, September 1981.
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[IPSEC-IPS] Black, D. and P. Koning, "Securing Block Storage
Protocols over IP: RFC 3723 Requirements Update for IPsec
v3", RFC 7146, April 2014.
13.2. Informative References
[SAM5] INCITS Technical Committee T10, "SCSI Architecture Model
- 5 (SAM-5)", T10/BSR INCITS 515 rev 04, Committee Draft.
[iSCSI-SAM] Knight, F. and M. Chadalapaka, "Internet Small Computer
System Interface (iSCSI) SCSI Features Update", RFC 7144,
April 2014.
[DA] Chadalapaka, M., Hufferd, J., Satran, J., and H. Shah,
"DA: Datamover Architecture for the Internet Small
Computer System Interface (iSCSI)", RFC 5047, October
2007.
[IB] InfiniBand Architecture Specification Volume 1 Release
1.2, October 2004
[IPoIB] Chu, J. and V. Kashyap, "Transmission of IP over
InfiniBand (IPoIB)", RFC 4391, April 2006.
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Appendix A. Summary of Changes from RFC 5046
All changes are backward compatible with RFC 5046 except for item #8,
which reflects all known implementations of iSER, each of which has
implemented this change, despite its absence in RFC 5046. As a
result, a hypothetical implementation based on RFC 5046 will not
interoperate with an implementation based on this version of the
specification.
1. Removed the requirement that a connection be opened in "normal"
TCP mode and transitioned to zero-copy mode. This allows the
specification to conform to existing implementations for both
InfiniBand and iWARP. Changes were made in Sections 1, 3.1.6,
4.2, 5.1, 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 10.1.3.4, and 11.
2. Added a clause in Section 6.2 to clarify that
MaxRecvDataSegmentLength must be ignored if it is declared in the
Login Phase.
3. Added a clause in Section 6.2 to clarify that the initiator must
not send more than InitiatorMaxRecvDataSegmentLength worth of
data when a NOP-Out request is sent with a valid Initiator Task
Tag. Since InitiatorMaxRecvDataSegmentLength can be smaller than
TargetMaxRecvDataSegmentLength, returning the original data in
the NOP-Out request in this situation can overflow the receive
buffer unless the length of the data sent with the NOP-Out
request is less than InitiatorMaxRecvDataSegmentLength.
4. Added a SHOULD negotiate recommendation for
MaxOutstandingUnexpectedPDUs in Section 6.7.
5. Added MaxAHSLength key in Section 6.8 to set a limit on the AHS
Length. This is useful when posting receive buffers in knowing
what the maximum possible message length is in a PDU that
contains AHS.
6. Added TaggedBufferForSolicitedDataOnly key in Section 6.9 to
indicate how the memory region will be used. An initiator can
treat the memory regions intended for unsolicited and solicited
data differently and can use different registration modes. In
contrast, RFC 5046 treats the memory occupied by the data as a
contiguous (or virtually contiguous, by means of scatter-gather
mechanisms) and homogenous region. Adding a new key will allow
different memory models to be accommodated. Changes were also
made in Section 7.3.1.
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7. Added iSERHelloRequired key in Section 6.10 to allow an initiator
to allocate connection resources after the login process by
requiring the use of the iSER Hello messages before sending iSCSI
PDUs. The default is "No" since iSER Hello messages have not
been implemented and are not in use. Changes were made in
Sections 5.1.1, 5.1.2, 5.1.3, 8.2, 9.3, 9.4, 10.1.3.2, and
10.1.3.4.
8. Added two 64-bit fields in iSER header in Section 9.2 for the
Read Base Offset and the Write Base Offset to accommodate a non-
zero Base Offset. This allows one implementation such as the
Open Fabrics Enterprise Distribution (OFED) stack to be used in
both the InfiniBand and the iWARP environment.
Changes were made in the definitions of Base Offset,
Advertisement, and Tagged Buffer. Changes were also made in
Sections 1.5.1, 1.6, 1.7, 7.3.1, 7.3.3, 7.3.5, 7.3.6, 9.1, 9.3,
9.4, 9.5.1, and 9.5.2. This change is not backward compatible
with RFC 5046, but it was part of all known implementations of
iSER at the time this document was developed.
9. Remove iWARP-specific behavior. Changes were made in the
definitions of RDMA Operation and Send Message Type.
Clarifications were added in Section 1.5.2 on the use of SendSE
and SendInvSE. These clarifications reflect a removal of the
requirements in RFC 5046 for the use of these messages, as
implementations have not followed RFC 5046 in this area. Changes
affecting Send with Invalidate were made in Sections 1.5.1, 1.6,
1.7, 4.1, and 7.3.2. Changes affecting Terminate were made in
Sections 10.1.2.1 and 10.1.2.2. Changes were made in Appendix B
to remove iWARP headers.
10. Removed denial-of-service descriptions for the initiator in
Section 5.1.1 since they are applicable for the target only.
11. Clarified in Section 1.5.1 that STag invalidation is the
initiator's responsibility for security reasons, and the
initiator cannot rely on the target using an Invalidate version
of Send. Added text in Section 11 on Stag invalidation.
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Appendix B. Message Format for iSER
This section is for information only and is NOT part of the standard.
B.1. iWARP Message Format for iSER Hello Message
The following figure depicts an iSER Hello Message encapsulated in an
iWARP SendSE Message.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| MPA Header | DDP Control | RDMA Control |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| (Send) Queue Number |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| (Send) Message Sequence Number |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| (Send) Message Offset |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| 0010b | Zeros | 0001b | 0001b | iSER-IRD |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
| MPA CRC |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 6: SendSE Message Containing an iSER Hello Message
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RFC 7145 iSER Specification April 2014
B.2. iWARP Message Format for iSER HelloReply Message
The following figure depicts an iSER HelloReply Message encapsulated
in an iWARP SendSE Message. The Reject (REJ) flag is set to zero.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| MPA Header | DDP Control | RDMA Control |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Reserved |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| (Send) Queue Number |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| (Send) Message Sequence Number |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| (Send) Message Offset |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| 0011b |Zeros|0| 0001b | 0001b | iSER-ORD |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| MPA CRC |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 7: SendSE Message Containing an iSER HelloReply Message
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RFC 7145 iSER Specification April 2014
B.3. iSER Header Format for SCSI Read Command PDU
The following figure depicts a SCSI Read Command PDU embedded in an
iSER Message. For this particular example, in the iSER header, the
Write STag Valid flag is set to zero, the Read STag Valid flag is set
to one, the Write STag field is set to all zeros, the Write Base
Offset field is set to all zeros, the Read STag field contains a
valid Read STag, and the Read Base Offset field contains a valid Base
Offset for the Read Tagged Buffer.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| 0001b |0|1| All zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Read STag |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Read Base Offset |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| SCSI Read Command PDU |
// //
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 8: iSER Header Format for SCSI Read Command PDU
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RFC 7145 iSER Specification April 2014
B.4. iSER Header Format for SCSI Write Command PDU
The following figure depicts a SCSI Write Command PDU embedded in an
iSER Message. For this particular example, in the iSER header, the
Write STag Valid flag is set to one, the Read STag Valid flag is set
to zero, the Write STag field contains a valid Write STag, the Write
Base Offset field contains a valid Base Offset for the Write Tagged
Buffer, the Read STag field is set to all zeros since it is not used,
and the Read Base Offset field is set to all zeros.
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| 0001b |1|0| All zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| Write STag |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| Write Base Offset |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| SCSI Write Command PDU |
// //
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 9: iSER Header Format for SCSI Write Command PDU
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B.5. iSER Header Format for SCSI Response PDU
The following figure depicts a SCSI Response PDU embedded in an iSER
Message:
0 1 2 3
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0 1
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| 0001b |0|0| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| |
| All Zeros |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
| SCSI Response PDU |
// //
| |
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
Figure 10: iSER Header Format for SCSI Response PDU
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Appendix C. Architectural Discussion of iSER over InfiniBand
This section explains how an InfiniBand network (with Gateways) would
be structured. It is informational only and is intended to provide
insight on how iSER is used in an InfiniBand environment.
C.1. Host Side of iSCSI and iSER Connections in InfiniBand
Figure 11 defines the topologies in which iSCSI and iSER will be able
to operate on an InfiniBand Network.
+---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +---------+ +--- -----+
| Host | | Host | | Host | | Host | | Host |
| | | | | | | | | |
+---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+ +---+-+---+
|HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA| |HCA|
+-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+ +-v-+
|----+------|-----+-----|-----+-----|-----+-----|-----+---> To IB
IB| IB | IB | IB | IB | SubNet2 SWTCH
+-v-----------v-----------v-----------v-----------v---------+
| InfiniBand Switch for Subnet1 |
+---+-----+--------+-----+--------+-----+------------v------+
| TCA | | TCA | | TCA | |
+-----+ +-----+ +-----+ | IB
/ IB \ / IB \ / \ +--+--v--+--+
| iSER | | iSER | | IPoIB | | | TCA | |
| Gateway | | Gateway | | Gateway | | +-----+ |
| to | | to | | to | | Storage |
| iSCSI | | iSER | | IP | | Controller|
| TCP | | iWARP | |Ethernet | +-----+-----+
+---v-----| +---v-----| +----v----+
| EN | EN | EN
+--------------+---------------+----> to IP based storage
Ethernet links that carry iSCSI or iWARP
Figure 11: iSCSI and iSER on IB
In Figure 11, the Host systems are connected via the InfiniBand Host
Channel Adapters (HCAs) to the InfiniBand links. With the use of IB
switch(es), the InfiniBand links connect the HCA to InfiniBand Target
Channel Adapters (TCAs) located in gateways or Storage Controllers.
An iSER-capable IB-IP Gateway converts the iSER Messages encapsulated
in IB protocols to either standard iSCSI, or iSER Messages for iWARP.
An [IPoIB] Gateway converts the InfiniBand [IPoIB] protocol to IP
protocol, and in the iSCSI case, permits iSCSI to be operated on an
IB Network between the Hosts and the [IPoIB] Gateway.
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C.2. Storage Side of iSCSI and iSER Mixed Network Environment
Figure 12 shows a storage controller that has three different portal
groups: one supporting only iSCSI (TPG-4), one supporting iSER/iWARP
or iSCSI (TPG-2), and one supporting iSER/IB (TPG-1). Here, "TPG"
stands for "Target Portal Group".
| | |
| | |
+--+--v--+----------+--v--+----------+--v--+--+
| | IB | |iWARP| | EN | |
| | | | TCP | | NIC | |
| |(TCA)| | RNIC| | | |
| +-----| +-----+ +-----+ |
| TPG-1 TPG-2 TPG-4 |
| 9.1.3.3 9.1.2.4 9.1.2.6 |
| |
| Storage Controller |
| |
+---------------------------------------------+
Figure 12: Storage Controller with TCP, iWARP, and IB Connections
The normal iSCSI portal group advertising processes (via the Service
Location Protocol (SLP), Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), or
SendTargets) are available to a Storage Controller.
C.3. Discovery Processes for an InfiniBand Host
An InfiniBand Host system can gather portal group IP addresses from
SLP, iSNS, or the SendTargets discovery processes by using TCP/IP via
[IPoIB]. After obtaining one or more remote portal IP addresses, the
Initiator uses the standard IP mechanisms to resolve the IP address
to a local outgoing interface and the destination hardware address
(Ethernet MAC or InfiniBand Global Identifier (GID) of the target or
a gateway leading to the target). If the resolved interface is an
[IPoIB] network interface, then the target portal can be reached
through an InfiniBand fabric. In this case, the Initiator can
establish an iSCSI/TCP or iSCSI/iSER session with the Target over
that InfiniBand interface, using the hardware address (InfiniBand
GID) obtained through the standard Address Resolution Protocol (ARP)
processes.
If more than one IP address is obtained through the discovery
process, the Initiator should select a Target IP address that is on
the same IP subnet as the Initiator, if one exists. This will avoid
a potential overhead of going through a gateway when a direct path
exists.
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In addition, a user can configure manual static IP route entries if a
particular path to the target is preferred.
C.4. IBTA Connection Specifications
It is outside the scope of this document, but it is expected that the
InfiniBand Trade Association (IBTA) has or will define:
* The iSER ServiceID
* A means for permitting a Host to establish a connection with a
peer InfiniBand end-node, and that peer indicating when that end-
node supports iSER, so the Host would be able to fall back to
iSCSI/TCP over [IPoIB].
* A means for permitting the Host to establish connections with IB
iSER connections on storage controllers or IB iSER-connected
Gateways in preference to IPoIB-connected Gateways/Bridges or
connections to Target Storage Controllers that also accept iSCSI
via [IPoIB].
* A means for combining the IB ServiceID for iSER and the IP port
number such that the IB Host can use normal IB connection
processes, yet ensure that the iSER target peer can actually
connect to the required IP port number.
Appendix D. Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the following individuals for identifying
implementation issues and/or suggesting resolutions to the issues
clarified in this document: Robert Russell, Arne Redlich, David
Black, Mallikarjun Chadalapaka, Tom Talpey, Felix Marti, Robert
Sharp, Caitlin Bestler, Hemal Shah, Spencer Dawkins, Pete Resnick,
Ted Lemon, Pete McCann, and Steve Kent. Credit also goes to the
authors of the original iSER Specification [RFC5046], including
Michael Ko, Mallikarjun Chadalapaka, John Hufferd, Uri Elzur, Hemal
Shah, and Patricia Thaler. This document benefited from all of their
contributions.
Ko & Nezhinsky Standards Track [Page 90]
RFC 7145 iSER Specification April 2014
Authors' Addresses
Michael Ko
EMail: mkosjc@gmail.com
Alexander Nezhinsky
Mellanox Technologies
13 Zarchin St.
Raanana 43662
Israel
Phone: +972-74-712-9000
EMail: alexandern@mellanox.com, nezhinsky@gmail.com
Ko & Nezhinsky Standards Track [Page 91]
ERRATA
