Re: Integration of SCST in the mainstream Linux kernel

Jeff Garzik
2008-02-05T00:43:26Z

Linus Torvalds wrote:
> On Mon, 4 Feb 2008, Matt Mackall wrote:
>> But ATAoE is boring because it's not IP. Which means no routing,
>> firewalls, tunnels, congestion control, etc.
>
> The thing is, that's often an advantage. Not just for performance.
>
>> NBD and iSCSI (for all its hideous growths) can take advantage of these
>> things.
>
> .. and all this could equally well be done by a simple bridging protocol
> (completely independently of any AoE code).
>
> The thing is, iSCSI does things at the wrong level. It *forces* people to
> use the complex protocols, when it's a known that a lot of people don't
> want it.
>
> Which is why these AoE and FCoE things keep popping up.
>
> It's easy to bridge ethernet and add a new layer on top of AoE if you need
> it. In comparison, it's *impossible* to remove an unnecessary layer from
> iSCSI.
>
> This is why "simple and low-level is good". It's always possible to build
> on top of low-level protocols, while it's generally never possible to
> simplify overly complex ones.

Never discount "easy" and "just works", which is what IP (and TCP) gives
you...

Sure you can use a bridging protocol and all that jazz, but I wager, to
a network admin yet-another-IP-application is easier to evaluate, deploy
and manage on existing networks.

Jeff