Re: iSCSI: Wrapping up SendTargets

[Mark Bakke <mbakke@cisco.com>]

I don't see any reason to disallow what Marjorie is asking
for.  However, we should also decide whether or not a SendTargets
response may contain a well-known/default/canonical target to
which the initiator is expected to recursively issue a
SendTargets command.

Supporting that feature is much more likely to be a problem
if we want implementations to transition to other discovery
mechanisms in the future, as well as creating requirements to
avoid loops.

Any thoughts?

--
Mark

Black_David@emc.com wrote:
> 
> I think Marj and I understand each other.  The issue
> comes down to exactly this Q&A at the end of
> Marj's previous email:
> 
> > > David
> > Marj
> 
> > > Do you see a
> > > need for a SendTargets issued to system X to
> > > return information about system Y?
> >
> > No, but I see no reason to prohibit this.
> 
> The potential reason to prohibit this is to limit the
> use of SendTargets to having a target system describe
> itself, which I thought was the sense of the discussion.
> If we don't limit SendTargets to that use, it will get
> used in the above fashion that has one target system
> describing others.
> 
> In my opinion, this is a decision that we get to make
> exactly once - if we allow use of SendTargets to describe
> other systems, we will not be able to change that at a
> subsequent stage of the IETF standards process because
> use of it in that fashion will be established practice
> among multiple implementations.  This may make transitioning
> away from SendTargets considerably more difficult.
> 
> So, let me acknowledge Marj's position that use of SendTargets
> to describe other systems should be allowed, and solicit
> other comments on this issue.  In particular, I'd like to
> hear from those who want to make sure that SendTargets
> will be able to be retired in the future.
> 
> Thanks,
> --David
> 
> ---------------------------------------------------
> David L. Black, Senior Technologist
> EMC Corporation, 42 South St., Hopkinton, MA  01748
> +1 (508) 435-1000 x75140     FAX: +1 (508) 497-8500
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-- 
Mark A. Bakke
Cisco Systems
mbakke@cisco.com
763.398.1054