Re: iSCSI: Case-sensitivity in iSCSI names

[Mark Bakke <mbakke@cisco.com>]

Julian Satran wrote:
> 
> Sensible decision. Case insensitive makes it hard for I18N on most
> languages (or simpler in the one
> like mine that has no case :-)) . And why is the recomendation 2 necessary?
> (just to kill iSCSI ? :-))

Sorry about that, I know you like "iSCSI" better than "iscsi".
I wasn't really thinking about the default target (which we may
have removed the need for).

The second recommendation was only what I felt would be a
best practise for those who are generating iSCSI names.  If
(even case-sensitive) names are generated such that, if they
were all converted to the same case, some of them would match,
this would only cause confusion.  I was simply pointing out
that such schemes ought to be avoided.

BTW, the lower-case thing was only a SHOULD, so you can still
use "iSCSI".  :-)

Anyway, I think that this will work fairly well.

Mark

> 
> Julo
> 
> Mark Bakke <mbakke@cisco.com> on 19-07-2001 00:18:23
> 
> Please respond to Mark Bakke <mbakke@cisco.com>
> 
> To:   Julian Satran/Haifa/IBM@IBMIL
> cc:   John Hufferd/San Jose/IBM@IBMUS, "IPS <ips"
> Subject:  Re: iSCSI: Case-sensitivity in iSCSI names
> 
> Here are the new rules:
> 
> - iSCSI names are case-sensitive.
> - iSCSI names are UTF-8 encoded.
> - iSCSI names are compared byte-for-byte; there is no need
>   to translate them to upper or lower case.
> 
> The above will keep iSCSI implementations simpler.
> 
> Now, from the user side, we don't want to see conflicts like
> 
>   iqn.0.com.acme.foo42
> 
> and
> 
>   iqn.0.com.acme.Foo42
> 
> The above are technically not the same name to an iSCSI
> implementation.
> 
> However, it would not be in anyone's best interest for
> acme.com to assign two names that are identical if they
> were both translated to lower case.
> 
> So we need a few MUSTs, or at least SHOULDs, to make this
> easier on anyone having to type these in:
> 
> - An iSCSI name MUST NOT be generated such that if converted
>   to lower case, it conflicts with any other iSCSI name
>   converted to lower case.
> 
> - iSCSI names SHOULD be generated to use lower case of their
>   appropriate character set.
> 
> - An iSCSI implementation MAY accept an iSCSI name that, if
>   converted to lower case, matches another iSCSI name that it
>   recognized.
> 
> The third rule depends on the first being implemented, and
> gives implementations the flexibility to do case-insensitive
> comparisons if they so choose.
> 
> What do you think?
> 
> Mark
> 
> Julian Satran wrote:
> >
> > John,
> >
> > Case insesitive is bad for I18N
> >
> > Julo
> >
> > "John Hufferd" <hufferd@us.ibm.com> on 18-07-2001 08:53:56
> >
> > Please respond to "John Hufferd" <hufferd@us.ibm.com>
> >
> > To:   Mark Bakke <mbakke@cisco.com>
> > cc:   IPS <ips@ece.cmu.edu>
> > Subject:  Re: iSCSI: Case-sensitivity in iSCSI names
> >
> > Mark,
> > You are talking about things that are entered by administrators.  They
> will
> > have a lot of finger checks.  I do not see why we would like to encourage
> > admin problems by making these things Case Sensitive.  Imagine, one
> > administrator trying to tell another over the phone, what the name should
> > be used.
> >
> > I would vote for Case insensitive names.
> >
> > .
> > .
> > .
> > John L. Hufferd
> > Senior Technical Staff Member (STSM)
> > IBM/SSG San Jose Ca
> > Main Office (408) 256-0403, Tie: 276-0403,  eFax: (408) 904-4688
> > Home Office (408) 997-6136
> > Internet address: hufferd@us.ibm.com
> >
> > Mark Bakke <mbakke@cisco.com>@ece.cmu.edu on 07/17/2001 01:28:52 PM
> >
> > Sent by:  owner-ips@ece.cmu.edu
> >
> > To:   IPS <ips@ece.cmu.edu>
> > cc:
> > Subject:  iSCSI: Case-sensitivity in iSCSI names
> >
> > We are attempting to wrap up all of the issues surrounding
> > the creation and comparison of iSCSI initiator and target
> > names.  One of these is whether the names are case-sensitive.
> >
> > The last naming & discovery draft stated that the names are
> > case-insensitive; this was to allow better transcribability
> > in cases where names were communicated outside the automated
> > discovery processes.
> >
> > This comes at some expense, particularly since these names
> > are defined to allow UTF-8 encoding of international character
> > sets.  Initiators and targets would have to include code to
> > compare these sets.
> >
> > To simplify implementation and interoperability, it has been
> > recommended that we make iSCSI names case-sensitive instead.
> >
> > I am fine with doing this, and I think that we could even
> > get some of the usability back by adding these rules:
> >
> > - iSCSI names MUST be case-sensitive, and compared strictly
> >   byte-for-byte.
> >
> > - iSCSI names SHOULD be generated in a case-insensitive
> >   manner.
> >
> > I'm not sure how to properly word the latter, but the intent
> > is that someone generating the names would not produce both:
> >
> >   iqn.9.com.cisco.myiscsithing
> >
> > and
> >
> >   iqn.9.com.cisco.MyIscsiThing
> >
> > since a user would be likely to confuse these.  Again, it doesn't
> > affect the protocol itself, just its usability.
> >
> > Any thoughts?  Will it hurt anyone's plans if iSCSI names were
> > case-sensitive?
> >
> > --
> > Mark A. Bakke
> > Cisco Systems
> > mbakke@cisco.com
> > 763.398.1054
> 
> --
> Mark A. Bakke
> Cisco Systems
> mbakke@cisco.com
> 763.398.1054

-- 
Mark A. Bakke
Cisco Systems
mbakke@cisco.com
763.398.1054