(Internet Protocol storage) Using the IP protocol to connect storage area networks (SANs) in remote locations. For Fibre Channel (FC) SANs, protocols are used to tunnel FC frames within IP packets (FCIP) or convert frames to packets (iFCP) to ride over IP. For non-Fibre Channel SANs, the iSCSI protocol converts SCSI data to IP packets.
Fibre Channel Vs. iSCSI
Traditional SANs were developed using the Fibre Channel transport, because it provided gigabit speeds compared to Ethernet at 10 and 100 Mbps. When Gigabit Ethernet arrived, it became possible to interconnect FC switches over IP/Ethernet networks. For organizations without Fibre Channel, the iSCSI IP SAN provided a lower-cost alternative to Fibre Channel. In the large enterprise, both Fibre Channel SANs and iSCSI SANs (IP SANs) are used. See SAN.
IP Storage Switch
This Nishan Systems model 3000 SoIP (Storage Over IP) switch converts between Fibre Channel and IP. Interoperating with other Nishan Systems products, users can build SANs with SCSI, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, iFCP and mFCP devices, and SANs can be extended across the metropolitan area network (MAN) and wide area network (WAN) without distance limitations. (Image courtesy of Nishan Systems.)
Fibre Channel Vs. iSCSI
Traditional SANs were developed using the Fibre Channel transport, because it provided gigabit speeds compared to Ethernet at 10 and 100 Mbps. When Gigabit Ethernet arrived, it became possible to interconnect FC switches over IP/Ethernet networks. For organizations without Fibre Channel, the iSCSI IP SAN provided a lower-cost alternative to Fibre Channel. In the large enterprise, both Fibre Channel SANs and iSCSI SANs (IP SANs) are used. See SAN.
IP Storage Switch
This Nishan Systems model 3000 SoIP (Storage Over IP) switch converts between Fibre Channel and IP. Interoperating with other Nishan Systems products, users can build SANs with SCSI, Fibre Channel, iSCSI, iFCP and mFCP devices, and SANs can be extended across the metropolitan area network (MAN) and wide area network (WAN) without distance limitations. (Image courtesy of Nishan Systems.)
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2008 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Why Apple and Google need to get into the Netbook business
- This crappy photo-edit of a fairly standard netbook design illustrates the power of Apple branding. ZDNet Editor in Chief Larry Dignan recently picked up a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 Ubuntu Netbook and pinged me for tech support questions regarding his new toy --...
- Blog posts 2008-11-22
- iPhone vs. Android development: Day 5
- Today is the last day of a 5-day course on iPhone programming class led by Joe Conway from Big Nerd Ranch. During the course I've been taking notes on how development for the iPhone compares to development for Android. By the way, BNR also offers Android courses if you're interested....
- Blog posts 2008-11-21
- Cost cutting pays off for Dell; IT spending, demand 'challenging'
- Updated: Dell's third quarter was a mixed bag. Revenue was down amid weak demand, but earnings were better than expected by a wide margin. The outlook was "challenging" as expected. The company reported third quarter earnings of $727 million, or 37 cents a share, on revenue of...
- Blog posts 2008-11-20
- Wells Fargo team shares green tech tips for the data center
- In my quest to uncover practical information about what real data center managers are doing to decrease their energy consumption, for real, I recently spoke with two executives from Wells Fargo's Technology Information Group TIG. Scott Dillon, executive vice president and CTO for Enterprise Hosting...
- Blog posts 2008-11-20
- Under worm attack, US Army bans USB drives
- Under sustained attack from what is described as a rapidly spreading network worm, the U.S. army has banned the use of USB sticks, CDs, flash media cards, and all other removable data storage devices, according to internal e-mail messages seen by Wired's Noah Shachtman. According to the...
- Blog posts 2008-11-20
- What does the spam ISP shutdown really mean?
- It has been over a week since the takedown of an ISP responsible for directing a large portion of Internet's spam. While many groups immediately hailed a massive drop in spam, the true story was more nuanced. Everyone, save the spammers, hates spam, and this story...
- Blog posts 2008-11-19
- BladeCenter Visual Tour
- "Explore the benefits of the IBM BladeCenter S from the inside out. The perfect mix of performance and energy savings, the IBM BladeCenter S is ideal for the small to mid-sized office and the remote office. It neatly consolidates your storage, servers and networking into a single...
- Presentations 2008-11-19
- Changing business landscape makes identity and access management key to IT security
- To learn more about how enterprises can begin coordinated identity and access management strategies, BriefingsDirect's Dana Gardner spoke with Dan Rueckert, worldwide practice director for security and risk management in HP's Consulting and Integration group; Archie Reed, distinguished technologist in HP's security office in the Enterprise Storage and Server Group,...
- Blog posts 2008-11-18
- Parallels Desktop 4 for Mac or how I lost my socks
- Some demonstrations seem fated to be postponed time and again before the stars align and I'm finally able to sit back and enjoy the show some supplier wants to present. My meeting with the good folks from Parallels seemed to follow this pattern. Since I've known the executives of this...
- Blog posts 2008-11-18
- Webcast: Demo of Dell EqualLogic's award winning PS Family of intelligent, iSCSI-based storage solutions
- Join Dell for a one-hour live presentation and product demonstration of the award-winning PS Family of intelligent, iSCSI-based storage solutions. Upcoming dates and times include all times Eastern DT: Nov 18, 2008 12:00 pm Nov 20, 2008 3:00 pm Nov 25, 2008...
- Webcasts 2008-11-18
- Symantec names Salem new CEO
- Symantec has named Enrique Salem, currently chief operating officer, as its new CEO effective April 4. Salem will replace current chairman and CEO John Thompson, who will retire at the end of Symantec's fiscal year. Thompson will remain chairman as Salem takes over. Under...
- Blog posts 2008-11-17
- Greening the data center
- Rising costs of energy - along with limited availability of energy in some areas – are forcing the IT industry to take a new approach in designing and managing data centers, says IBM's Christopher O'Connor. Commentary--Energy efficiency is a significant global issue today, and is expected to be even...
- News items 2008-11-17
- Addressing virtualization's achilles heel
- The benefits of virtualization are quite obvious but when you start to really increase the density of virtual machines in order to maximize utilization suddenly it ain't such a simple proposition. The latest CPUs from AMD and Intel are more than up to the task of running 10-20 or more...
- Blog posts 2008-11-17
- News to know: Intel, Adobe; Kindle economics; OLPC
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily: Mary Jo Foley: New update of Microsoft codename tracker available now Larry Dignan: Intel launches Core i7; Who's buying? Paul Murphy: How Intel's Nehalem...
- Blog posts 2008-11-17
- OLPC is dead...What Kindlenomics taught us
- Fellow ZDNet blogger, Jason Perlow, wrote a neat piece suggesting that, if electronic versions of most college textbooks existed, it wouldn't take many semesters for the average undergraduate to pay for the Kindle on which to read them. In fact, with a fair amount of arm-waving, it wasn't too...
- Blog posts 2008-11-16
- $400 XOs and recessions
- The OLPC XO goes on sale through Amazon Monday via a redux of their Give One Get One (G1G1) program that turned into such a debacle last year. It's no secret that, despite my utter willingness to give props to OLPC for spurring an entire market of...
- Blog posts 2008-11-16
- Maxtor introduces Central Axis Business Edition 2TB network-attached-storage device
- Maxtor introduced the Central Axis as its flagship network-attached-storage NAS device a few months ago, and now it's trying to extend the brand to the small business segment with its Central Axis Business Edition, which will come packed with 2TB of storage and can automatically back up 20 computers on...
- Blog posts 2008-11-16
- Getting greener at home could be a gas
- Courtesy: Lehr The folks at Lehr say they have a better idea for many of your home machines: lawn mower, wire trimmer (turns out "weed whacker" is a copyrighted name for Kenmore;s wire trimmer), leaf blowers, etc. Lehr is going to be selling those...
- Blog posts 2008-11-16
- Storage Analytics meets Tufte
- The most powerfull thing about Sun's new line of storage appliances isn't its price, its capacity, or anything else involving the hardware - it's the general applicability of the command and control software that's really exciting to anyone who's ever had to guess how his data center was performing. by...
- Blog posts 2008-11-15
- Preparing for a Flickr Apocalypse (Updated, with Yahoo response)
- What would happen to my food blog and precious memories if suddenly all 12,000 of my photos were suddenly to disappear off Flickr? Tuesday's posts by ZDNet's Janice Chen and SAAS Blogger Phil Wainewright scared the living crap out of...
- Blog posts 2008-11-14
Neighboring Terms
Premier Vendor Content Whitepapers, webcasts & resources from our Power Center Sponsors
- Do more. Sacrifice less
-
"Intel® Xeon® processor-based servers are optimized for virtualization and allow IT to load more virtual machines without sacrificing speed. They can also help you save time and money while delivering great performance, flexibility, and headroom for growth.
- See the benefits of hardware-based virtualization >>
