[Openib-windows] File transfer performance options

[Mirko Benz]

IB/SRP is block level storage like iSCSI and FC. A storage system can 
export multiple volumes.
However, every exported volume can only be exclusively used by an 
initiator (server accessing the storage) unless you use a cluster file 
system.

If you need to access the same volume from multiple initiators at the 
same time SRP is not an option. NFS o IB would be – but there are no 
Windows clients available.

CIFS over SDP might be doable and could provide the performance and NAS 
style you may need.
But I don't know if this is possible right now.

Q: Is it possible to configure SDP to intercept kernel TCP sessions from 
the Windows SMB client?

Regards,
Mirko Benz

Fabian Tillier schrieb:
> Hi Paul,
>
> On 9/6/06, Paul Baxter <paul.baxter at dsl.pipex.com> wrote:
>   
>> Lots of good advice and info snipped for brevity, but thanks Fab!
>>
>>     
>>> Anyhow, using SRP will likely require a cluster file system of some
>>> sort if you plan on having multiple hosts share the target.  This adds
>>> another dimension as cluster file systems can depend on specific HBA
>>> functionality which may or may not exist in various SRP target
>>> implementations.
>>>       
>> We have a single windows application wanting to read from four independent
>> Linux nodes each with their RAID array available to the windows app.
>>     
>
> Will the Linux nodes be writing to the RAID array too, or will the
> disk access be limited to only that single Windows host?  If only the
> Windows host will read the disk, you should be fine using SRP.  Each
> Linux node would show up as an individual target.
>
>   
>> Hopefully this means I shouldn't need a cluster file system.
>>     
>
> You should be fine without as long as the Linux nodes won't try to
> write to the RAID array while the Windows host is using it.
>
>   
>> I'm not sure whether this makes the windows machine the SRP initiator and
>> the four Linux nodes SRP targets or vice versa.
>>     
>
> In this case, the Windows machine is the initiator - it issues all
> requests for data, and the Linux nodes are the targets - they perform
> the I/O requests.
>
>   
>> Pointers to SRP documentation gratefully received.
>>     
>
> Here's a link to the spec.  This might lower level than what you
> wanted.  I don't know if there are a lot of better docs out there.
>
> http://www.t10.org/ftp/t10/drafts/srp2/srp2r00a.pdf
>
> - Fab
>
> _______________________________________________
> openib-windows mailing list
> openib-windows at openib.org
> http://openib.org/mailman/listinfo/openib-windows
>