Re: iSCSI: v15 issue: iqn. name format inconsistencies

["Julian Satran" <Julian_Satran@il.ibm.com>]

Marjorie,

Here is a differential.
Please check (fast!).

Julo

Type "iqn." (iSCSI Qualified Name)

This iSCSI name type can be used by any organization which owns a domain name. This naming format is useful when an end user or ser-vice provider wishes to assign iSCSI names for targets and/or initia-tors.

To generate names of this type, the person or organization generat-ing the name must own a DNS domain name. This domain name does not have to be active, and does not have to resolve to an address; it just needs to be reserved to prevent others from generating iSCSI names using the same domain name.

Because a domain name can expire, be acquired by another entity, and might be used to generate iSCSI names by both owners, the domain name must be additionally qualified by a date during which the naming authority owned the domain name. A date code is provided as part of the "iqn." format for this reason.

The iSCSI qualified name string consists of:

- The string "iqn.", used to distinguish these names from "eui." formatted names.
- A date code, in yyyy-mm format. This date MUST be a date dur-ing which the naming authority owned the domain name used in this format, and SHOULD be the first month in which the domain name was owned by this naming authority at 00:01 GMT of the first day of the month. This date code uses the Grego-rian calendar. All four digits in the year must be present. Both digits of the month must be present, with January == "01" and December == "12". The dash must be included.
- A dot ".".
- The reversed domain name of the naming authority (person or organization) creating this iSCSI name.
- A colon ":".
- Any string, within the character set and length boundaries, that the owner of the domain name deems appropriate. This may contain product types, serial numbers, host identifiers, software keys, or anything else that makes sense to uniquely identify the initiator or target. Everything after the reversed domain name, followed by colon ":", can be assigned as desired by the owner of the domain name. It is the respon-sibility of the entity that is the naming authority to ensure that the iSCSI names it assigns are worldwide unique. For example, "ACME Storage Arrays, Inc.", might own the domain name "acme.com".
 
The following are examples of iSCSI qualified names that might be
generated by "ACME Storage Arrays, Inc."
               
          Organization    Subgroup Naming Authority
              Naming      and/or string defined by
Type  Date     Auth       "acme.com" Naming Authority
+--++-----+ +------+ +--------------------------------+
|  ||     | |      | |                                |
 
iqn.2001-04.com.acme:storage.diskarrays-sn-a8675309
iqn.2001-04.com.acme:storage.tape.sys1.xyz
iqn.2001-04.com.acme:storage.tape.sys1.xyz

"KRUEGER,MARJORIE (HP-Roseville,ex1)" <marjorie_krueger@hp.com> Sent by: owner-ips@ece.cmu.edu 07/17/2002 12:44 AM

To:        "Ips Reflector (E-mail)" <ips@ece.cmu.edu>         cc:                 Subject:        iSCSI: v15 issue: iqn. name format inconsistencies

There is currently an inconsistency in the way iSCSI "iqn."-formatted names are illustrated and described between the iSCSI protocol document and the iSCSI Naming and Discovery document.  In particular, the separator character between the reversed-domain name and the rest of the string is defined to be "." but some examples in the N&D document describe it as ":".

I remember discussion (among the N&D team) that this separator should be ":" in order to distinguish the reversed domain name from the rest of the string, but this got lost somewhere along the line.  If there are no objections to changing this in the main draft, this translates into changes for both the iSCSI main draft and the N&D draft in cleaning up the examples and making sure they are consistent (some use "." and some use ":").

Here are the changes I recommend to the main draft:
In section 2.2.6.3


     The iSCSI qualified name string consists of:
       -  The string "iqn."
       -  A date code, in yyyy-mm format.  This date MUST be a date
          during which the naming authority owned the domain name used
          in this format, and SHOULD be the date on which the domain
          name was acquired by this naming authority.  This date code
          uses the Gregorian calendar.  All four digits in the year must
          be present.  Both digits of the month must be present, with
          January == "01" and December == "12".  The dash must be
          included.
       -  A dot ".".
       -  The reversed domain name of the naming authority (person or
          organization) creating this iSCSI name.
       -  A colon ":".
       -  Any string, within the character set and length boundaries,
          that the owner of the domain name deems appropriate.  This may
          contain product types, serial numbers, host identifiers, soft-
          ware keys, or anything else that makes sense to uniquely iden-
          tify the initiator or target.  Everything after "<reversed
          domain name>:", can be assigned as desired by the owner of
          the domain name.  It is the responsibility of the entity that
          is the naming authority to ensure that the iSCSI names it
          assigns are world wide unique.

     For example, "ACME Storage Arrays, Inc.", might own the domain name
     "acme.com". The following are examples of iSCSI qualified names that
     might be generated by "ACME Storage Arrays, Inc."
                   
                    Organization   
                        Naming     String defined by
          Type  Date     Auth      "acme.com" naming authority
          +--++-----+ +------+ +--------------------------------+
          |  ||     | |      | |                                |
          
          iqn.2001-04.com.acme:storage.diskarrays-sn-a8675309
          iqn.2001-04.com.acme:server.megafast900.i95874

In section 11.4 TargetName

     Examples:

       TargetName=iqn.1993-11.com.diskvendor:diskarrays.sn.45678

In section 11.5 InitiatorName

     Examples:

       InitiatorName=iqn.1992-04.com.osvendor:plan9.cdrom.12345
       InitiatorName=iqn.2001-02.com.ssp:users.customer235.host90

<Julian, make sure to delete the last example in the current text, as it's invalid>

In appendix C

     In the first example, the initiator and target authenticate each other
     via Kerberos:

       I-> Login (CSG,NSG=0,1 T=1)
           InitiatorName=iqn.1999-07.com.os:hostid.77
           TargetName=iqn.1999-07.com.acme:diskarray.sn.88
           AuthMethod=KRB5,SRP,None

etc - all these Login examples that contain iSCSI names need to be fixed.

In appendix D

     Target sends a text response that contains:

       TargetName=iqn.1993-11.com.acme:diskarray.sn.8675309

etc - all TargetName examples need to be fixed.

Several examples in the Naming and Discovery draft need to be fixed - I'll address that in a separate email.
     
Marjorie Krueger
Networked Storage Architecture
Networked Storage Solutions
Hewlett-Packard