WG Review: STORage Maintenance (storm)

[IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>]

A new IETF working group has been proposed in the Transport Area.  The
IESG has not made any determination as yet.  The following draft charter
was submitted, and is provided for informational purposes only.  Please
send your comments to the IESG mailing list ([e-mail]) by Tuesday,
June 30, 2009.


STORage Maintenance (storm) 
----------------------------------
Last Modified: 2009-06-18

Current Status: Proposed Working Group

Chairs:
- TBD 

Transport Area Director(s):
- Magnus Westerlund <[e-mail]>
- Lars Eggert <[e-mail]>

Transport Area Advisor:
- Lars Eggert <[e-mail]>

Mailing Lists:
General Discussion: [e-mail]
To Subscribe: https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/storm
Archive: http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/storm/index.html

Description of Working Group:

The IETF ips (IP Storage) and rddp (Remote Direct Data Placement)
working groups have produced a significant number of storage
protocols (e.g., iSCSI, iSER and FCIP) for which there is
significant usage. The time has come to reflect feedback from
implementation and usage into updated RFCs; this work may include:

- Implementation-driven revisions and updates to existing protocols
(i.e., updated RFCs that match the "running code").
- Interoperability reports as needed for the resulting revised
protocols that are appropriate for Draft Standard RFC status.
- Minor protocol changes or additions. Backwards compatibility
is required.

Significant changes to the existing protocol standards are out of
scope, including any work on version 2 of any of these protocols.
Security for these protocols is based on the functionality specified
in RFC 3723 (Securing Block Storage Protocols over IP); the working
group does not intend to make major changes or updates to that RFC.

Stability is critical to the usage of these protocols, making
backwards compatibility with existing implementations a requirement
for all protocol changes and additions. This is a requirement for
implementation compatibility - if all implementations of a protocol
have done something different than what the RFC specified, then it
is appropriate for a new RFC to document what the "running code"
actually does and deprecate the unimplemented original behavior.

Initial list of work items:
(1) iSCSI: Combine RFCs 3720 (iSCSI), 3980 (NAA names), 4850 (node
architecture key) and 5048 (corrections/clarifications) into
one draft (3720bis), removing features that are not implemented
in practice. This draft should be prepared so that it could
become a Draft Standard RFC, but it is up to the WG to decide
whether to advance it to Draft Standard.
(2) iSCSI: Add features to support at least SAM-4 (4th version of the
SCSI architecture) in a backwards-compatible fashion, as iSCSI
is currently based on SAM-2. This will be a separate draft
from the iSCSI update in the previous item. The Working
group may add additional minor useful iSCSI features
to this draft, including features from draft versions of
SAM-5. The iSCSI MIB (RFC 4544) should be updated to provide
SNMP support for new features as appropriate.
(3) FCIP: IP Protocol number 133 was allocated to a precursor of
the FCIP protocol in 2000, but that allocated number is not
used by FCIP. The working group will consider whether that
allocated number should be returned to IANA for future
reallocation.
(4) iFCP: The Address Translation mode of iFCP needs to be
deprecated (SHOULD NOT implement or use), as there are
significant technical problems with it as specified in RFC
4172, and moreover, only the Address Transparent mode of iFCP
is in use. This change is to be done via a short draft that
updates RFC 4172, as opposed to a complete rewrite of RFC 4172.
A combined draft is expected that encompasses items (3) and (4);
this draft should also update the iFCP MIB (RFC 4369) to
deprecate support for iFCP Address Translation mode.
(5) RDDP Connection Setup: Good support for MPI applications requires
a small update to MPA startup functionality to allow either end
of the connection to initiate. In addition, a couple of minor
changes to RDDP connection setup are needed based on
implementation experience.
(6) iSER: Experience with Infiniband implementations suggests a few
minor updates to reflect what has been done in practice.

The working group is expected to maintain good working relationships
with INCITS Technical Committee T10 (SCSI standards) and INCITS
Technical Committee T11 (Fibre Channel standards) via overlaps in
membership as opposed to appointment of formal liaisons. The
liaison process (including IAB appointment of a liaison or
liaisons) remains available for use if needed.

Recent changes in INCITS rules have removed public access to some
T10 and T11 standards documents that are expected to be needed for
the WG's program of work. Arrangements have been made with T10 and
T11 for IETF participants to obtain copies of specific standards
their personal use in IETF work as needed; contact the WG chair(s)
for details.

Goals and Milestones:

July 2009 First version of FCIP protocol number and iFCP Address
Translation mode draft.

Aug 2009 First version of iSCSI SAM-4 (and other) new features
draft.

Aug 2009 First version of RDDP MPA startup change draft

Sep 2009 Working Group Last Call on FCIP protocol number and
iFCP address change draft

Sep 2009 First version of combined iSCSI draft (3720bis)

Oct 2009 First version of iSER update draft

Oct 2009 Working Group Last Call on RDDP MPA startup change draft.

Dec 2009 Functionally complete iSCSI SAM-4 (and other) new
features draft, plus iSCSI MIB update draft.

Feb 2010 Working Group Last Call on iSER update draft

Mar 2010 Working Group Last Call on iSCSI SAM-4 (and other)
new features draft.

Apr 2010 Working Group decision on whether to seek Draft Standard
RFC status for the combined iSCSI draft (3720bis). [Note:
decision may be made significantly before this date.]

Sep 2010 Working Group Last Call on combined iSCSI draft (3720bis)
and iSCSI MIB update draft.