Subject: RE: [Ips] iSCSI- duplicate initiator name

From: "Inbal Zilbershmidt" <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:34:18 +0200

Is it possible to have 2 leading connections from the same initiator?
Isn't a session implies an IT nexus?
As I understood, it is possible to have multiple connections in a single
session.
My question was regarding to a 2nd leading connection from a certain
initiator name. I caused such situation by giving two different
initiators the same name.
I wanted to know how should I deal with such case.

Thanks,

Inbal ,

Voltaire Ltd.

________________________________

From: John Hufferd [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:01 AM
To: Inbal Zilbershmidt; [email-masked]
Subject: RE: [Ips] iSCSI- duplicate initiator name

The important question is how do you know it is another initiator.  If
it has the same name it could be from any portal on the Initiator
system.  The initiator name applies to the Whole OS.  In fact it can
also apply to a whole cluster that acts as a system coupled system.  So
if it passes the authentication tests, it is assumed to be from that OS,
and multiple Sessions from the same OS is OK.  

.

.

.

John L Hufferd

Sr. Executive Director of Technology

Brocade Communications Systems, Inc

[email-masked]

Office Phone: (408) 333-5244; eFAX: (408) 904-4688

Alt Office Phone: (408) 997-6136; Cell: (408) 627-9606

________________________________

From: Inbal Zilbershmidt [mailto:[email-masked]] 
Sent: Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:54 PM
To: [email-masked]
Subject: [Ips] iSCSI- duplicate initiator name

Hello,

Maybe someone can help me:

I wanted to know how a target should react in a case when an initiator
trying to connect to it, has the same name as other initiator already
connected.

Thanks,

Inbal ,

Voltaire Ltd.

_______________________________________________
Ips mailing list
[email-masked]
https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ips

---

From: Paul von Behren <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 07:42:27 -0700

There are differences between path management via iSCSI session and path 
management via SCSI standards (SPC ALUA/TPGS) or SCSI-based, 
vendor-specific path management.  Outside of iSCSI, multipathing is 
typically done at the SCSI layer, providing per-LUN configuration 
options from the host drivers (e.g., customer wants path A dedicated to 
LUN 7 and LUNs 0-6 all share path B).  A host/driver implmentation may 
want to contiue providing that capability even in iSCSI.  iSCSI sessions 
hide the per-LUN paths.  You could set up separate target nodes for each 
LUN and get the same effect in iSCSI, but you can also opt for 
consistency with other SCSI transports.  This is one scenario where the 
same initiator may want multiple connections to the same target.

Paul

Inbal Zilbershmidt wrote:

> As I understood, it is possible to have multiple connections in a 
> single session.
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* John Hufferd [mailto:[email-masked]]
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 22, 2006 9:01 AM
> *To:* Inbal Zilbershmidt; [email-masked]
> *Subject:* RE: [Ips] iSCSI- duplicate initiator name
>
> also apply to a whole cluster that acts as a system coupled system. 
>  So if it passes the authentication tests, it is assumed to be from 
> that OS, and multiple Sessions from the same OS is OK. 
>
>  
>
> .
>
> .
>
> .
>
> John L Hufferd
>
> [email-masked] <mailto:[email-masked]>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> *From:* Inbal Zilbershmidt [mailto:[email-masked]]
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 21, 2006 10:54 PM
> *To:* [email-masked]
> *Subject:* [Ips] iSCSI- duplicate initiator name
>
>  
>
> Hello,
>
>  
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>

---

From: William Studenmund <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 22 Mar 2006 17:35:16 -0600

On Mar 22, 2006, at 7:34 AM, Inbal Zilbershmidt wrote:

> Is it possible to have 2 leading connections from the same  
> initiator? Isn't a session implies an IT nexus?
> My question was regarding to a 2nd leading connection from a  
> certain initiator name. I caused such situation by giving two  
> different initiators the same name.

If something is logging in with the same initiator name and ISID as  
an existing session, and it further passes the security phase (either  
you are configured for no security or the new initiator successfully  
authenticated), then IT IS THE SAME INITIATOR.

You are supposed to follow the session reinstatement operations  
described in RFC 3720.

Doing anything else would have a number of other, severe, consequences.

We (Wasabi) have had customers end up with end-systems that all had  
the same initiator name and ISID. Since we have to do session  
reinstatement, we ended up having systems keep logging each other out.

Our solution was to add the IP address of a logging-in initiator to  
our log messages. Thus if you see 192.168.1.2 and 192.168.1.3 both  
using the same name over & over, you know what the problem is.

Take care,

Bill

---

From: "Mallikarjun C." <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 24 Mar 2006 18:38:14 -0800 (PST)

Between John and Bill, the questions were already
answered.  Just to be very clear, a couple of
comments.

Two leading connections from the same initiator to a
target node (and even to the same TPG) are legal.

If they both quote the same ISID, the target must
perform session reinstatement - i.e. drop the first
session.  It's legal.

If they quote different ISIDs, they must be considered
as two different I_T nexii from the same initiator
node.  Again legal.

Log messages with IP addresses as Bill pointed out
could prove useful.  But note that the diagnosis
really depends on system configuration - e.g. one
initiator node might use the same initiator node name
across multiple IP addresses.

Mallikarjun

> https://www1.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ips

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