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Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1700
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 10:09 pm: | 
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Of limited interest here, I think.... but interesting nonetheless:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/tech/2006/052906-ata-over-ethernet.html?rlh=052 9tech1
Networking Technology Update, 05/29/06
Protocol weds Ethernet and ATA drives
By Brantley Coile
Applications need massive amounts of storage, but servers have limited disk space. Moving storage out of a server and putting it on a network makes expanding storage easy. The ATA-over-Ethernet storage protocol (AoE) combines Ethernet and low-cost disks to create a simple way to connect storage to a network.
Much like the Fibre Channel storage protocol, which uses SCSI disk commands over fiber optics, AoE is designed to transport ATA disk commands over standard Ethernet without using TCP/IP. Eliminating the complexities of TCP/IP and Fibre Channel makes AoE storage inexpensive and easy to use. AoE enables unlimited scalability, and disks can be shared by any servers on a network.
AoE is a command/response protocol that puts Ethernet connectors on diskdrives. AoE clients use a block device driver (initiator), which lets a very large number of AoE devices (targets) appear as local disks. The AoE protocol enables a driver to discover target devices using configuration information stored in those devices.
Two types of messages are transferred via AoE. One carries ATA disk commands, and the other is used for discovering AoE targets. The beginning of each message identifies a target's physical location, carries a correlation tag and defines the type of message. The physical location is recorded in a 16-bit major and an 8-bit minor address.
The major address is usually an assigned chassis, or shelf, number. The minor address is a disk slot in the chassis or, in the case of a RAID target, a logical unit number. A correlation tag is used by the initiator to uniquely identify each message. This allows multiple outstanding requests at any given time.
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Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14525
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 11:55 pm: |
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What's so costly about the overhead of tcp/ip?
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Monster©
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 3395
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 12:18 am: |
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diskless NAS server with unlimited capacity
diskless backup server with unlimited capacity
expand your RAID to an unlimited size |
Case
Citizen
Username: Case
Post Number: 1702
Registered: 2-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 8:19 am: |
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Good point - I'm guessing it is 'costly' when compared to Ethernet? Doesn't make much sense to me... |
Monster©
Supporter
Username: Monster
Post Number: 3397
Registered: 7-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 9:13 am: |
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purchase page, http://coraid.com/purchase.html |
Glock 17
Citizen
Username: Glock17
Post Number: 1027
Registered: 7-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 12:41 pm: |
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I have to find that article where they made a raid out of iPod shuffles.
http://www.wrightthisway.com/Articles/000154.html
found it. |
Tom Reingold
Supporter
Username: Noglider
Post Number: 14533
Registered: 1-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 1:04 pm: |
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That's fun, glock. I love stories like that.
I can't say for sure whether ATA over ethernet is going to prove useful. It won't span a router. And there is probably no security whatsoever. But you won't have to administer IP addresses. I just don't think tcp/ip is costly with bandwidth or labor any more.
Terms like unlimited are pretty useless when used so inaccurately. Expandable, OK.
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TomD
Citizen
Username: Tomd
Post Number: 454
Registered: 5-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 1:58 pm: |
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Netgear makes a wireless router that you can plug USB drivesdirectly into. Instant wireless network storage.
http://www.netgear.com/products/details/WGT634U.php
as well as several compaies making wired and wireless hard drives.
http://www.dealtime.com/xPP-network_storage--storage_type_hard_drive |
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