iSCSI Protocol Architecture
The iSCSI Standard
iSCSI Implementations
Application
Server
NIC
Software
iSCSI
HBA
iSCSI
Client
Native iSCSI
IP WAN
Storage
FC
Native iSCSI
iSCSI
HBA
Tape Library
Gateway
Server
FC
SAN
SAN
FC Switch
FC Disk
Storage
So with iSCSI, when we looked at our host architectures we said we had
different ways that we could provide iSCSI solutions. We could provide a
software iSCSI client or a hardware based solution using an iSCSI HBA.
These 2 solutions are not mutually exclusive.
If you’ve got a CPU and you’re not processor bound, you can run it in
software (i.e. low cost).
If you are processor bound then you would put an iSCSI HBA in. But the
only thing it will give you back is CPU cycles.
You can also get native iSCSI targets, (iSCSI storage), for both disk and tape
based solutions.