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

From: "John Hufferd" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 00:51:47 -0700

Marjorie,
I think it is OK to make some of the example changes you have indicated,
but it is not required to always use the ":"  It depends on the way your
company manages their sub domain names.   It is still valid to use an all
dotted name.

The ":" was needed since a company can hand out subdomains with names like
"mother" and "mother.wonder" to different departments and therefore it
would be possible for both departments to create a name like
"com.ajax.mother.wonder.mydiskarray".  The use of ":" permits the
departments to make their names unique by placing the ":" following their
subdomain portions.  That is, they can use the same characters but
separated with a colon as follows "com.ajax.mother:wonder.mydiskarray" and
"com.ajax.mother.wonder:mydiskarray".

Therefore, I do not think that all examples should include a colon.

.
.
.
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, Cell: (408) 499-9702
Internet address: [email-masked]

"KRUEGER,MARJORIE (HP-Roseville,ex1)" <[email-masked]>@ece.cmu.edu
on 07/16/2002 02:44:37 PM

Sent by:    [email-masked]

To:    "Ips Reflector (E-mail)" <[email-masked]>
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

     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

     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

---

From: Paul Koning <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 10:51:16 -0400

> "com.ajax.mother.wonder:mydiskarray".

I would rather have a mandatory colon, rather than have it depend on
some particular organization's naming conventions of the day.

     paul