4405ch02 Architecture and technical overview.fm Draft Document for Review May 28, 2009 1:59 pm
46 IBM Power 570 Technical Overview and Introduction
Software Supported on standard Gigabit adapters, additional software (see
“IBM iSCSI software Host Support Kit” on page 46) must be installed.
The main processor is utilized for processing related to the iSCSI
protocol.
Initial iSCSI implementations are targeted at small to medium-sized businesses and
departments or branch offices of larger enterprises that have not deployed Fibre Channel
SANs. iSCSI is an affordable way to create IP SANs from a number of local or remote storage
devices. If Fibre Channel is present, which is typical in a data center, it can be accessed by
the iSCSI SANs (and vice versa) via iSCSI-to-Fibre Channel storage routers and switches.
iSCSI solutions always involve the following software and hardware components:
Initiators These are the device drivers and adapters that reside on the client.
They encapsulate SCSI commands and route them over the IP
network to the target device.
Targ ets The target software receives the encapsulated SCSI commands over
the IP network. The software can also provide configuration support
and storage-management support. The underlying target hardware
can be a storage appliance that contains embedded storage, and it
can also be a gateway or bridge product that contains no internal
storage of its own.
IBM iSCSI adapters
iSCSI adapters in IBM System p systems provide the advantage of increased bandwidth
through the hardware support of the iSCSI protocol. The 1 Gigabit iSCSI TOE (TCP/IP
Offload Engine) PCI-X adapters support hardware encapsulation of SCSI commands and
data into TCP and transports them over the Ethernet using IP packets. The adapter operates
as an iSCSI TOE. This offload function eliminates host protocol processing and reduces CPU
interrupts. The adapter uses a Small form factor LC type fiber optic connector or a copper
RJ45 connector.
Table 2-9 provides the orderable iSCSI adapters.
Table 2-9 Available iSCSI adapters
IBM iSCSI software Host Support Kit
The iSCSI protocol can also be used over standard Gigabit Ethernet adapters. To utilize this
approach, download the appropriate iSCSI Host Support Kit for your operating system from
the IBM NAS support Web site at:
http://www.ibm.com/storage/support/nas/
The iSCSI Host Support Kit on AIX and Linux acts as a software iSCSI initiator and allows
you to access iSCSI target storage devices using standard Gigabit Ethernet network
adapters. To ensure the best performance, enable the TCP Large Send, TCP send and
receive flow control, and Jumbo Frame features of the Gigabit Ethernet Adapter and the
iSCSI Target. Tune network options and interface parameters for maximum iSCSI I/O
throughput on the operating system.
Feature code Description Slot Size
5713 Gigabit iSCSI TOE on PCI-X on copper media adapter PCI-X Short
5714 Gigabit iSCSI TOE on PCI-X on optical media adapter PCI-X Short
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