This document discusses the motivation for adding an NAA type format
as an iSCSI node naming format and defines this format in accordance
with the iSCSI naming conventions [RFC3720]. Defining this format
will enable SCSI storage devices containing both iSCSI ports and SAS
ports to use the same NAA-based SCSI device name.
A number of networked transports currently provide port abstractions
to the SCSI protocol. These transports all incorporate some form of
world-wide unique name construction format. The following table
summarizes the current protocols and their naming formats.
SCSI Transport Protocol Naming Format
-----------------------------------------------
| | EUI-64| NAA |IQN |
|----------------------------|-------|-----|----|
| iSCSI (Internet SCSI) | X | | X |
|----------------------------|-------|-----|----|
| FCP (Fibre Channel) | | X | |
|----------------------------|-------|-----|----|
| SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) | | X | |
|----------------------------|-------|-----|----|
| SRP (for InfiniBand) | X | | |
-----------------------------------------------
The INCITS T11 Framing and Signaling Specification [FC-FS] defines a
format called the Network Address Authority (NAA) format for
constructing worldwide unique identifiers that use various identifier
registration authorities. This identifier format is used by the
Fibre Channel and SAS SCSI transport protocols. As most existing
networked SCSI ports today are either FC or SAS, the NAA format is
the most commonly used identifier format for SCSI transports.
Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 3980 iSCSI NAA Naming Format February 2005
If iSCSI included a naming format that allowed direct representation
of an NAA-format name, it would facilitate construction of a target
device name that translates easily across multiple namespaces for a
SCSI storage device containing ports served by different transports.
This document defines an NAA type iSCSI naming format so that one NAA
identifier can be assigned as the basis for the SCSI device name for
a SCSI target with both SAS ports and iSCSI ports.
INCITS T10 SCSI has defined a string format SCSI target device name
in [SPC3] that is reported in the VPD page 83 device identifier page.
[SAM3] specifies that a SCSI device shall have no more than one
(i.e., zero or one) SCSI device name in the SCSI name string format
regardless of the number of SCSI transport protocols supported by the
SCSI device. Adding the INCITS T11-defined NAA format as a defined
type for iSCSI device names would make the iSCSI device naming format
more consistent across all current SCSI networked transports that
define an NAA format SCSI device name. This would facilitate the
creation of SCSI device names that are transport-independent. It
would also contribute to the creation of SCSI Logical Unit (LU) names
based on this SCSI device name.
This document defines an additional iSCSI name type:
type "naa." - the remainder of the string is an INCITS T11 defined
Network Address Authority identifier in ASCII-encoded
hexadecimal.
[FC-FS] defines a format for constructing globally unique
identifiers, referred to as the Network Address Authority (NAA)
format.
The iSCSI NAA naming format is "naa.", followed by an NAA identifier
represented in ASCII-encoded hexadecimal digits.
Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 3]
RFC 3980 iSCSI NAA Naming Format February 2005
An example of an iSCSI name with a 64-bit NAA value follows:
Type NAA identifier (ASCII-encoded hexadecimal)
+--++--------------+
| || |
naa.52004567BA64678D
An example of an iSCSI name with a 128-bit NAA value follows:
Type NAA identifier (ASCII-encoded hexadecimal)
+--++------------------------------+
| || |
naa.62004567BA64678D0123456789ABCDEF
The iSCSI NAA naming format might be used in an implementation when
the infrastructure for generating NAA worldwide unique names is
already in place because the device contains both SAS and iSCSI SCSI
ports.
The NAA identifier formatted in an ASCII-hexadecimal representation
has a maximum size of 32 characters (128 bit NAA format). As a
result, there is no issue with this naming format exceeding the
maximum size for iSCSI node names.
Serial Attached SCSI. The Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) standard
contains both a physical layer compatible with Serial ATA, and
protocols for transporting SCSI commands to SAS devices and ATA
commands to SATA devices [SAS].
Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 4]
RFC 3980 iSCSI NAA Naming Format February 2005
INCITS stands for InterNational Committee of Information Technology
Standards. The INCITS has a broad standardization scope within the
field of Information and Communications Technologies (ICT),
encompassing storage, processing, transfer, display, management,
organization, and retrieval of information. INCITS serves as ANSI's
Technical Advisory Group for the ISO/IEC Joint Technical Committee 1
(JTC 1). See http://www.incits.org.
A technical committee within INCITS that develops standards and
technical reports on I/O interfaces, particularly the series of SCSI
(Small Computer Systems Interface) standards. See
http://www.t10.org.
A technical committee within INCITS responsible for standards
development in the areas of Intelligent Peripheral Interface (IPI),
High-Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI) and Fibre Channel (FC).
See http://www.t11.org.
This iSCSI naming format does not introduce any new security concerns
for the iSCSI protocol beyond those of the other iSCSI naming
formats. Please refer to [RFC3720], Section 8, for information on
the security considerations for the iSCSI protocol.
Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 5]
RFC 3980 iSCSI NAA Naming Format February 2005
[RFC3720] Satran, J., Meth, K., Sapuntzakis, C., Chadalapaka, M.,
and E. Zeidner, "Internet Small Computer Systems Interface
(iSCSI)", RFC 3720, April 2004.
[FC-FS] INCITS 373-2003, Fibre Channel Framing and Signaling
Interface (FC-FS).
[SPC3] T10/1416-D, SCSI Primary Commands - 3 (SPC-3).
[SAM3] T10/1561-D, SCSI Architecture Model - 3 (SAM-3).
[IB] InfiniBand{tm} Architecture Specification, Vol. 1, Rel.
1.0.a, InfiniBand Trade Association
(http://www.infinibandta.org).
[SRP] INCITS 365-2002, SCSI RDMA Protocol (SRP).
[SAS] INCITS 376-2003, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS).
Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 6]
RFC 3980 iSCSI NAA Naming Format February 2005
Authors' Addresses
Marjorie Krueger
Hewlett-Packard Company
8000 Foothills Blvd.
Roseville, CA 95747-5668, USA
EMail: marjorie_krueger@hp.com
Mallikarjun Chadalapaka
Hewlett-Packard Company
8000 Foothills Blvd.
Roseville, CA 95747-5668, USA
EMail: cbm@rose.hp.com
Rob Elliott
Hewlett-Packard Company
MC 140801
PO Box 692000
Houston, TX 77269-2000, USA
EMail: elliott@hp.com
Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 7]
RFC 3980 iSCSI NAA Naming Format February 2005
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Krueger, et al. Standards Track [Page 8]