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Concluded WG STORage Maintenance (storm)

Note: The data for concluded WGs is occasionally incorrect.

WG Name STORage Maintenance
Acronym storm
Area Transport Area (tsv)
State Concluded
Charter charter-ietf-storm-05 Approved
Document dependencies
Additional resources Issue tracker, Wiki
Personnel Chairs David L. Black, Tom Talpey
Area Director Martin Stiemerling
Mailing list Address storm@ietf.org
To subscribe https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/storm
Archive https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/storm/

Final Charter for Working Group

The IETF IPS (IP Storage) and RDDP (Remote Direct Data Placement)
working groups have produced a significant number of storage protocols
(e.g., iSCSI, iSER and FCIP) for which there is significant usage. The
time has come to reflect feedback from implementation and usage into
updated RFCs; this work may include:

  • Implementation-driven revisions and updates to existing protocols
    (i.e., updated RFCs that match the "running code").

  • Interoperability reports as needed for the resulting revised protocols
    that are appropriate for Draft Standard RFC status.

  • Minor protocol changes or additions. Backwards compatibility is required.

Significant changes to the existing protocol standards are out of scope,
including any work on version 2 of any of these protocols. Security for
these protocols is based on the functionality specified in RFC 3723
(Securing Block Storage Protocols over IP); the working group does not
intend to make major changes or updates to that RFC.

Stability is critical to the usage of these protocols, so backwards
compatibility with existing implementations will be a requirement
imposed on for all protocol changes and additions. Note that this is a
requirement for implementation compatibility - if it is the case that
all implementations of a protocol have done something different than
what the RFC specifies, it is appropriate for a new RFC to document what
the "running code" actually does and deprecate the unused original behavior.

List of work items:

(1) iSCSI: Combine RFCs 3720 (iSCSI), 3980 (NAA names), 4850 (node
architecture key) and 5048 (corrections/clarifications) into one draft
(3720bis), removing features that are not implemented in practice. This
draft should be prepared so that it could become a Draft Standard RFC,
but the Working Group has decided not to advance it to Draft Standard
status.

(2) iSCSI: Add features to support at least SAM-4 (4th version of the
SCSI architecture) in a backwards-compatible fashion, as iSCSI is
currently based on SAM-2. This will be a separate draft from the iSCSI
update in the previous item. The Working Group may add additional minor
useful iSCSI features to this draft, including features from draft
versions of SAM-5. The iSCSI MIB (RFC 4544) should be updated to provide
SNMP support for new features as appropriate.

(3) FCIP: IP Protocol number 133 was allocated to a precursor of the
FCIP protocol in 2000, but this allocated number is not used by FCIP.
The Working Group has documented the deployed pre-standard use of this
protocol number in RFC 6172, and IANA has updated the registry entry
to reference RFC 6172.

(4) iFCP: The Address Translation mode of iFCP needs to be deprecated
(SHOULD NOT implement or use), as there are significant technical
problems with its specification, and moreover, only the Address
Transparent mode of iFCP is in use. This will be done via a short draft
that updates RFC 4172, and not via a complete rewrite of RFC 4172.
The Working Group has deprecated iFCP Address Translation mode in
RFC 6172 and made the corresponding changes to the iFCP MIB (originally
RFC 4369) in RFC 6173.

(5) RDDP MPA: Good support for MPI applications requires a small update
to the startup functionality to allow either end of the connection to
initiate. In addition, a couple of minor changes to RDDP connection
setup are needed based on implementation experience.

(6) iSER: Experience with Infiniband implementations suggest a few minor
updates to reflect what has been done in practice.

(7) RDMA Protocol: Experience with the rddp (iWARP) RDMA Protocol
(RFC 5040) suggests that some minor extensions are needed, specifically,
the addition of immediate data support and remote atomic operations.

The Working Group is expected to maintain good working relationships
with INCITS Technical Committee T10 (SCSI standards) and INCITS
Technical Committee T11 (Fibre Channel standards) via overlaps in
membership as opposed to appointment of formal liaisons. The liaison
process (including IAB appointment of a liaison or liaisons) remains
available for use if needed.

Recent changes in INCITS rules have removed public access to some T10
and T11 standards documents that are expected to be needed for the WG's
program of work. Arrangements have been made with T10 and T11 for IETF
participants to obtain copies of specific standards their personal use
in IETF work as needed; contact the WG chair(s) for details.

Done milestones

Date Milestone Associated documents
Done Submit RDMA Protocol Extensions draft to IESG for consideration as a Standards Track document
Done Working Group Last Call on RDMA Protocol Extensions draft
Done Submit iSER draft to IESG for consideration as a Standards Track document
Done Submit iSCSI MIB draft to IESG for consideration as a Standards Track document
Done Submit combined iSCSI draft and iSCSI new features draft to IESG for consideration as Standards Track documents
Done Working Group Last Call on iSCSI MIB update draft
Done Working Group Last Call on iSER update draft
Done Working Group Last Call on RDDP registries draft
Done Submit RDDP registries draft to IESG for consideration as a Standards Track document
Done Working Group Last Call on combined iSCSI draft (3720bis) plus iSCSI SAM-4 (and other) new features draft
Done First version of iSCSI MIB update draft
Done Working Group decision on whether to seek Draft Standard RFC status for the combined iSCSI draft (3720bis). [Note: decision may be made significantly before this date.]
Done Functionally complete iSCSI SAM-4 (and other) new features draft
Done Working Group Last Call on RDDP MPA startup change draft
Done Working Group Last Call on FCIP protocol number and iFCP address change draft
Done First version of iSER update draft
Done First version of FCIP protocol number and iFCP Address Translation mode draft
Done First version of RDDP MPA startup change draft
Done First version of combined iSCSI draft (3720bis)
Done First version of iSCSI SAM-4 (and other) new features draft