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    <title>Information About iSCSI </title>
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<a name="wp1056837"> </a><h1 class="pTitle">
Information About iSCSI

</h1>
<a name="wp1072829"> </a><p class="pBody">
Cisco MDS 9000 Family IP Storage (IPS) services extend the reach of Fibre Channel SANs by using 
open-standard, IP-based technology. The iSCSI feature consists of routing iSCSI requests and responses 
between iSCSI hosts in an IP network and Fibre Channel storage devices in the Fibre Channel SAN that 
are accessible from any Fibre Channel interface of the Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch. Using the iSCSI 
protocol, the iSCSI driver allows an iSCSI host to transport SCSI requests and responses over an IP 
network. To use the iSCSI feature, you must explicitly enable iSCSI on the required switches in the 
fabric.

</p>
<a name="wp1072833"> </a><p class="pBodyAutonumNoRule">
<strong>Note	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong> The iSCSI feature is not supported on the Cisco Fabric Switch for HP c-Class Bladesystem and Cisco 
Fabric Switch for IBM BladeCenter.

</p>
<a name="wp1072835"> </a><p class="pBody">
The iSCSI feature consists of routing iSCSI requests and responses between iSCSI hosts in an IP 
network and Fibre Channel storage devices in the Fibre Channel SAN that are accessible from any Fibre 
Channel interface of the Cisco MDS 9000 Family switch . 

</p>
<a name="wp1072846"> </a><p class="pBody">
Each iSCSI host that requires access to storage through the IPS module or MPS-14/2 module needs to 
have a compatible iSCSI driver installed. Using the iSCSI protocol, the iSCSI driver allows an iSCSI 
host to transport SCSI requests and responses over an IP network. From the host operating system 
perspective, the iSCSI driver appears to be an SCSI transport driver similar to a Fibre Channel driver in 
the host.

</p>
<a name="wp1072852"> </a><p class="pBody">
The IPS module or MPS-14/2 module provides transparent SCSI routing. IP hosts using the iSCSI 
protocol can transparently access targets on the Fibre Channel network. It provides an example of a 
typical configuration of iSCSI hosts connected to an IPS module or MPS-14/2 module through the IP 
network access Fibre Channel storage on the Fibre Channel SAN.

</p>
<a name="wp1072856"> </a><p class="pBody">
The IPS module or MPS-14/2 module create a separate iSCSI SAN view and Fibre Channel SAN view. 
For the iSCSI SAN view, the IPS module or MPS-14/2 module creates iSCSI virtual targets and then 
maps them to physical Fibre Channel targets available in the Fibre Channel SAN. They present the Fibre 
Channel targets to IP hosts as if the physical iSCSI targets were attached to the IP network . 

</p>
<a name="wp1072867"> </a><p class="pBody">
For the Fibre Channel SAN view, the IPS module or MPS-14/2 module presents iSCSI hosts as a virtual 
Fibre Channel host. The storage devices communicate with the virtual Fibre Channel host similar to 
communications performed with real Fibre Channel hosts . 

</p>
<a name="wp1072878"> </a><p class="pBody">
The IPS modules or MPS-14/2 modules transparently map the command between the iSCSI virtual target 
and the virtual Fibre Channel host . 

</p>
<a name="wp1072888"> </a><p class="pBody">
Routing SCSI from the IP host to the Fibre Channel storage device consists of the following main 
actions:

</p>
<div class="pSmartList1"><ul class="pSmartList1">
<a name="wp1072890"> </a><li class="pSmartList1">The iSCSI requests and responses are transported over an IP network between the hosts and the IPS 
module or MPS-14/2 module.
</li>
<a name="wp1072891"> </a><li class="pSmartList1">The SCSI requests and responses are routed between the hosts on an IP network and the Fibre 
Channel storage device (converting iSCSI to FCP and vice versa). The IPS module or MPS-14/2 
module performs this conversion and routing.
</li>
<a name="wp1072893"> </a><li class="pSmartList1">The FCP requests or responses are transported between the IPS module or MPS-14/2 module and 
the Fibre Channel storage devices. 
</li>
</ul></div>
<a name="wp1072894"> </a><p class="pBodyAutonumNoRule">
<strong>Note	&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</strong> FCP (the Fibre Channel equivalent of iSCSI) carries SCSI commands over a Fibre Channel SAN.<br />
Refer to the IETF standards for IP storage at <a href="http://www.ietf.org" target="_window">http://www.ietf.org </a>for information on the iSCSI protocol.

</p>
<hr /><br><p class="pBody">Copyright 2010-2013, Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved.</p> 

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