Iscsi Software And Hardware; Software Initiators; Hardware Initiators - IBM TotalStorage DS300 Best Practices Manual

3.7 iSCSI software and hardware

The following sections describe software and hardware that support and
implements iSCSI transport between xSeries and BladeCenter servers and the
TotalStorage DS300. See 2.6, "iSCSI initiators" on page 24 for more information
about iSCSI initiators.

3.7.1 Software initiators

Software initiators are available for Windows 2000, Windows 2003, and Linux
using both the 2.4 and 2.6 kernel levels.
The Microsoft iSCSI Software initiator is available in two versions: V1.06 and
V2.0. V2.0 has been tested only with DS300/DS400 firmware level V6.21 and
higher.
Cisco Systems Inc. Linux software initiator 3.4.3 and 3.4.4 are also supported.
Note: At the time this book was written, iSCSI software initiators for both
Windows and Linux were available from Cisco Systems, Inc. Consult with
Cisco Systems to verify availability in you location.

3.7.2 Hardware initiators

Hardware initiators are available, but less prevalent than software initiators.
IBM iSCSI Server Adapter 73P3601
The IBM iSCSI Server Adapter enables block-oriented storage data to be carried
by Ethernet IP networks. It is a hardware-based iSCSI Initiator for IBM Eserver
xSeries servers to connect to iSCSI target devices, such as the IBM
TotalStorage DS300 external storage enclosure. It provides remote boot
capability. This option reduces CPU workloads by moving all protocol I/O
processing off the host.
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IBM TotalStorage DS300 and DS400 Best Practices Guide