What is Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI)?
Internet Small Computer System Interface is an IP-based storage networking standard for linking data storage facilities that has become widely accepted in the last couple of years. Many large enterprises deploy a tiered storage approach, and iSCSI fits in that scheme very well. It is used in addition to Fibre Channel, not as a replacement.
A lot of that has to do with the increased speed of Ethernet networks into the gigabit range. Because iSCSI runs over IP, it is somewhat easier to deploy over a wide area network. Also, most companies already have an IP network in place. This eliminates the need to run two different networks (Fibre Channel and IP), making it more attractive to deploy because it eliminates some of the complexity and lowers infrastructure costs.
Other technologies gaining ground in the unified storage world include FCoE (Fibre Channel over Ethernet) and cloud computing, which is Internet-based computing in which shared resources, software and information are provided to computers and other devices on demand, like a public utility.
The unifying technology with all of this is Ethernet. It’s been widely deployed in the local area network (LAN) for years and now we’re starting to see it as a wide area network (WAN) technology in the form of standards-based Metro Ethernet solutions.
What does Metro Ethernet offer?
Metro Ethernet provides an architecture that is highly available, has a high bandwidth, offers low latency and a low error rate, and that fits very well with storage applications and SAN. And again, since it’s Ethernet, most companies will feel comfortable deploying these solutions because they already have Ethernet networks in place as well as expertise in building and deploying them.
It’s just an extension across the wide area. Optical networks are capable of providing multigigabit speeds over the same infrastructure. In many cases, this can be accomplished with just a phone call to provision additional bandwidth.
Metro Ethernet is estimated to be 50 to 75 percent less expensive than Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET) or Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). It effectively addresses the key points of data transport for storage applications.
Metro Ethernet also helps deliver competitive advantages to corporations by enabling mission-critical and productivity-increasing applications to be easily and securely deployed in the network.
Glenn Collura is a Sales Engineer at Time Warner Cable Business Class. Reach him at (330) 572-4134 or [email protected].
