Re: profiles - a way to simplify iSCSI

[Santosh Rao <santoshr@cup.hp.com>]

Julian,

I am in favor of developing an iSCSI profile document along the lines of
FC-PLDA and FC-FLA. This will go a long way in ensuring smoother
interoperability. I had suggested over 4 months ago, that such a profile
of features is useful for iSCSI and should be specified. (ex :
http://ips.pdl.cs.cmu.edu/mail/msg03276.html).

I'm not certain on what one gains by having 2 profiles. Basically, a
profile should only state the requirement for each feature as one of :
R - required
P - Prohibited
A - Allowed
I - Invokable

The mandatory (R) features of the profile constitute the minimal
protocol conformance required. Implementation of the Allowed/Invokable
(A, I) features constitues maximal conformance to the protocol.

There should not be a need for 2 profile documents (?). 

Regards,
Santosh


julian_satran@il.ibm.com wrote:
> 
> Dear colleagues,
> 
> iSCSI keeps getting richer in negotiable parameters/features.
> Although flexibility is a great thing every new negotiable
> parameter/feature get us all worrying about:
> 
>    what it will break when used in combination with other
>    parameters/features
>    how are we going to test that all our combinations work as we think that
>    they are specified
>    are we understanding/specifying the combinations the same way as anybody
>    else
> 
> I assume that many of you are wondering, as I do, if all this flexibility
> is really worth it's price.
> Would the community not be better served by specifying profiles that are a
> complete-and-invariable combination of features and very small set of
> numerical parameters?
> 
> I would start with 2 profiles:
> 
>    the minimal profile (only basic features)
>    the maximum profile (all the features)
> 
> and then (only if we are strongly convinced it is needed) add a middle
> point.
> 
> Please comment,
> Julo
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