IP SANS: A Guide to iSCSI, iFCP, and FCIP Protocols for Storage Area Networks: A Guide to iSCSI, iFCP, and FCIP Protocols for Storage Area Networks 1st Edition

This book represents an important milestone in the development of IP Storage. Often times, technologies fail to take hold or succeed because they are never understood. Despite the benefits they offer consumers, many technologies fail because the targeted consumers were never educated about them and they never able to appreciate or take advantage of the benefits. IP Storage advocates have been working hard to ensure that consumers understand the technology and appreciate its benefits. This book is a comprehensive reference for the material needed by those working on IP Storage and those who will be using it.Like an artist trying to paint a picture of shifting sand dunes in the middle of a storm, the author covers the subject of IP Storage very well while being mindful of the changing nature of many aspects of the covered material. The book provides a solid review of the subjects needed to create a foundation for understanding IP Storage without dwelling on the specific protocol issues that are most susceptible to change. The result is a work that will withstand the anticipated changes in the protocols and that will remain valid and valuable as the IP Storage industry matures moving forward.IP Storage is a technology that builds on the rich heritage of the storage and networking industries. As a result, understanding IP Storage requires a good knowledge of the basics of both storage and networks. The book devotes several chapters to the task of building the knowledge foundation that is needed for one to understand and appreciate IP Storage technologies. Chapters two through seven cover the basics of storage, including SCSI and Fibre Channel (FC). The same chapters also cover the basics of networks, including gigabit Ethernet, Internet Protocol (IP) and Transmission Control Protocol (TCP). The material is presented in a simple and easy to read manner that makes it possible for non-technical people to absorb. Many diagrams are used to illustrate the presented material in a very helpful way. The diagrams supplement and strengthen the text rather than overwhelm it or substitute for it as often the case in similar books.After a good treatment of the basics of storage and networking, the book, in chapter eight, provides a good review of the three IP Storage technologies being considered by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). The technologies, Internet SCSI (iSCSI), Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), and Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP) are outlined in an easy to comprehend manner. Despite the dry nature of the subject, Tom Clark manages to find a way to make the material attractive and easy flowing.Chapters nine and ten treat two basic challenges facing IP Storage technologies: discovery and security. Discovery is the process, or mechanism used by initiators to locate storage resources, or targets, on the network. The process is necessary to establish communication sessions among initiators and targets. After reviewing the pioneering Discovery work in the area of Fibre Channel, the author covers IP Storage discovery focusing on Internet Storage Name Server (iSNS).No discussion of networking can be complete without covering data security. Chapter ten of the book is dedicated to security. The author does a good job in explaining the "physical security" used in FC. Using simple language, he clarifies the ambiguities of port zoning, world wide name zoning, and logical unit masking. Since IETF is still working on security matters related to IP Storage, the author talks about the security options in this area, including IP Security (IPSec). As the book was being printed, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) announced that Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) was approved on November 26, 2001 as an encryption standard for use by US government organizations to protect sensitive information. The decision should make it easier for the IP Storage community to reach an agreement of encryption and security. There is no doubt that future editions of the book will cover security more thoroughly.In order for any technology to succeed, it must find home in applications that provide compelling reasons for users to adopt it. Chapter thirteen examines several applications for IP Storage technologies. Mindful of the nature of technology transitions and adoption curves, the author gives examples of environments where IP Storage coexists with FC and SCSI, as one would expect the case to be in the near future. Focusing more on native IP solutions, the chapter explains using helpful diagrams several scenarios for IP storage deployment using LAN-free backup and server free backup applications. The benefits of IP Storage in storage consolidation are also reviewed. More attention is given to the most compelling aspect of IP Storage, its ability to extend the reach of Storage Area Networks (SAN) over remote distances. The benefits of remote access to storage are explained using several examples. Remote backup, remote tape vaulting, and remote mirroring are illustrated. Disaster recovery is an application that assumed great importance in light of recent events and is an application that will become a true reality with IP Storage. With the right levels of security and performance, IP Storage will bring to life digital content distribution and will change the way we distribute content today. Chapter thirteen is full of good examples that explain the popularity and great promise of IP Storage.The last chapter of the book is the one I recommend that you read first. Chapter fourteen offers a reality check for IP Storage and technology adoptions in general. The author states, "The value proposition of IP Storage networking is that it will simplify and lower the cost of acquisition, deployment, and management of shared storage solutions." He cautions against the hype that accompanies all technologies in their early stages of development. He points to the need for standardization, interoperability, and processor overhead as issues that need to be tackled to ensure the success of IP Storage. As all involved in IP Storage, the author correctly recognizes the energy surrounding it and notes that "Given the momentum behind IP networking and the engineering resources available to solve IP-related issues, it is largely a matter of when, not if, these issues will be resolved."IP SANs is a giant step towards building the information base for IP Storage technologies. It provides comprehensive reference material for the technologies contributing to IP Storage and issues surrounding it. The author provided as complete a picture of the state of the art as possible considering the ever-changing nature of the subject matter. We recommend the book to IT managers and participants in the storage industry at large. Readers will find IP SANs easy to read and follow and would appreciate the wealth of information that it offers.

While it purports to be about iSCSI, the book does such a good job of explaining the history of the technologies that lead up to iSCSI (SANs, Fibre Channel, etc.) that I feel confident recommending the book to people that are network geeks that want to learn what all this SAN and Fiber Channel stuff is about, and also want to learn about all this new iSCSI, iFCP and FCIP too.It doesn't go into vendor-specific information, it is _not_ a book about how to run a SAN or how to pick vendors. It is about the technology in general, how it works, what it does, and what it can't do.Someone that deals with SANs all day might read it and say, "Yeah, but I know all that already. I want to know what products work with what equipment, etc." People just getting involved in the technology, on the other hand, really need this book.I highly recommend it.

This is a really good book on the new area of Storage Area Networking using IP network technology. It starts with a background on SAN and Fibre Channel (FC), then gets into why IP SAN products are coming onto the market, and how they compare to the older FC products. It also covers SCSI, and has several chapters on IP, UDP and TCP, including how they apply to SANs. A large part of the book is devoted to the various protocols and approaches being used to support SANs over IP, including Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP), Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP), Metro Fibre Channel Protocol (mFCP), and Internet SCSI (iSCSI). There are also chapters on security and QoS.This book could be used by either a "storage head" or a "net head", as it has chapters to bring the reader up to speed in both storage and networking technology. Best of all, it is written in a very accessible, readable style that entirely avoids the dry textbook style some tech authors fall into. While the intro claims the book was written for IT personnel in various capacities, it would also be useful to development engineers and marketing types trying to come up to speed on the parts of IP SANs they are not familiar with.Highly recommended.

Clear explanation about the RAID, SCSI, FC and IP relations. Very good book. I found it very helpful.

great book