Network Working Group
Request for Comments: 3980
Updates: 3720
Category: Standards Track

M. Krueger
M. Chadalapaka
R. Elliott
Hewlett-Packard Corp.
February 2005

T11 Network Address Authority (NAA) Naming Format

for iSCSI Node Names

Status of this Memo

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Abstract

Internet Small Computer Systems Interface (iSCSI) is a SCSI transport protocol that maps the SCSI family of protocols onto TCP/IP. This document defines an additional iSCSI node name type format to enable use of the "Network Address Authority" (NAA) worldwide naming format defined by the InterNational Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS) T11 - Fibre Channel (FC) protocols and used by Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). This document updates RFC 3720.

   1.  Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   2.  Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
   3.  Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
   4.  iSCSI NAA Name Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
       4.1.  Type "naa." - Network Address Authority. . . . . . . . .  3
   5.  Terminology  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       5.1.  IQN. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       5.2.  SRP. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       5.3.  SAS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
       5.4.  NAA. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       5.5.  InfiniBand . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       5.6.  INCITS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       5.7.  T10. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
       5.8.  T11. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   
   6.  Security Considerations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
   7.  References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       7.1.  Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
       7.2.  Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
   Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
   Full Copyright Statement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8

1. Introduction

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.

2. Background

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.

3. Motivation

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.

4. iSCSI NAA Name Structure

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.

4.1. Type "naa." - Network Address Authority

[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.

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.

5. Terminology

5.1. IQN

iSCSI qualified name, an identifier format defined by the iSCSI protocol [RFC3720].

5.2. SRP

SCSI RDMA Protocol. SRP defines a SCSI protocol mapping onto the InfiniBand (tm) Architecture and/or functionally similar cluster protocols [SRP].

5.3. SAS

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].

5.4. NAA

Network Address Authority, a naming format defined by the INCITS T11 Fibre Channel protocols [FC-FS].

5.5. InfiniBand

An I/O architecture originally intended to replace PCI and to address high performance server interconnectivity [IB].

5.6. INCITS

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.

5.7. T10

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.

5.8. T11

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.

6. Security Considerations

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.

7. References

7.1. Normative References

   [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).

7.2. Informative References

   [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).

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

Full Copyright Statement

This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.

This document and the information contained herein are provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Intellectual Property

The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in this document or the extent to which any license under such rights might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has made any independent effort to identify any such rights. Information on the IETF's procedures with respect to rights in IETF Documents can be found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement this standard. Please address the information to the IETF at ietf- ipr@ietf.org.

Acknowledgement

Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society.