We are pleased to announce that Principled Technologies has acquired Demartek.
Demartek iSCSI Deployment Guide
31 May 2011
By Dennis Martin, Demartek President
This guide is designed to provide basic information about iSCSI and practical guidance for planning and deploying iSCSI technology and products. Although this guide contains some iSCSI marketplace information and discusses specific vendor products, it is primarily a technical document. It focuses on iSCSI primarily, but not exclusively, in a Microsoft Windows environment and is an updated version of the 150-page Microsoft iSCSI Storage Deployment White Paper that we published for Microsoft in June 2007, which is available on our website.
Because iSCSI includes server, networking, and storage technologies, this guide provides information and guidance in each area. A basic understanding of each of these areas is needed to successfully deploy iSCSI technology.
This guide is intended to be used as a reference and is divided into sections including iSCSI marketplace data, iSCSI technology areas, and specific vendor products in the area of network adapters (1Gbps and 10Gbps) and storage targets. There are screen shots and information from actual deployments of these products. Most of the work was performed in the Demartek lab in Arvada, Colorado, USA.
The table of contents entries are listed below the diagram.
Update 14 July 2011 — During the first 30 days that this report was available, we had more than 1000 downloads of this report.
|
View the Demartek iSCSI Deployment Guide (PDF, 4255 KB) 
Demartek Video - The iSCSI Initiator 
Demartek Video - The iSCSI Initiator (Outtakes) 
Demartek iSCSI Deployment Guide 2011 |
- OVERVIEW
- Audience
- Objectives of this Guide
- About Demartek
- BASIC STORAGE ARCHITECTURES
- Direct-Attached Storage (DAS)
- Network-Attached Storage (NAS)
- Storage Area Network (SAN)
- Unified Storage
- ISCSI MARKETPLACE
- iSCSI
- 10Gbps Ethernet
- Protocols by Annual Sum of Customer Revenue (USM$)
- Protocols by Annual Sum of Terabytes (TB)
- ISCSI TECHNOLOGY AND DEFINITIONS
- Initiators
- Targets
- iSCSI Qualified Name
- iSCSI Session
- Multi-Path I/O (MPIO)
- Multiple Connections
- Challenge Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP)
- IPsec
- NETWORKING TECHNOLOGIES
- Line Speed including 1GbE and 10GbE
- Cabling including copper and fiber optic
- Network Adapters and Features
- Jumbo Frames
- Receive-Side Scaling (RSS)
- Partial Offload Functions
- TCP Chimney Offload
- Virtual Machine Queue
- iSCSI Offload
- NetDMA
- Scalable Networking Pack
- ISCSI INITIATORS
- Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
- Quick Connect
- Standard iSCSI Login Process
- Hardware Initiators
- Hardware Initiators that use the Microsoft Initiator Interface
- Hardware Initiators that use their own Native Interface
- ISCSI TARGETS
- Hardware Targets
- Software Targets
- Microsoft iSCSI Software Target
- INTERNET STORAGE NAME SERVICE (ISNS)
- Windows Storage Explorer
- VIRTUALIZATION AND ISCSI
- Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V
- Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Method
- Pass-through Method
- Direct from Guest Method
- VMware vSphere 4.1
- Virtual Hard Disk (VHD) Method
- Pass-through Method
- Direct from Guest Method
- MEASURING ISCSI PERFORMANCE
- Windows Performance Monitor (Perfmon)
- Exchange Jetstress Performance Testing
- Network Adapter Performance Tests
- ISCSI BEST PRACTICES
- Networking
- Applications
- Multi-Path I/O
- TEST ENVIRONMENT FOR THIS GUIDE
- Vendor Products Tested for this Guide
- Network Adapters
- Storage Targets
- Initiator Specifications
- Target Specifications
- Network Infrastructure
- ADAPTERS: BROADCOM BCM5709 (1Gb) and BCM57712 (10Gb)
- Broadcom Advanced Control Suite
- iSCSI Offload
- Performance
- ADAPTERS: CHELSIO S320E-CR (10Gb)
- Chelsio Hardware Initiator
- Performance
- ADAPTERS: EMULEX OCe11102-N (10Gb) and OCe11102-I (10Gb)
- Topology View
- Firmware Updates
- VMware vSphere Support
- Performance
- ADAPTERS: INTEL Gigabit ET (1Gb) and X520 (10Gb)
- Management
- Performance
- ADAPTERS: QLOGIC QLE4062C (1Gb) and QLE8242 (10Gb)
- SANsurfer
- QConvergeConsole (QCC)
- Performance
- STORAGE TARGETS: HEWLETT-PACKARD (HP)
- Performance
- HP X1600 G2 Network Storage System
- HP P2000 G3 iSCSI MSA Array
- HP P4000 SAN Solutions
- STORAGE TARGETS: NETAPP Unified Storage, FAS2040, FAS3040
- Performance Results
- FAS3040
- STORAGE TARGETS: XIOTECH ISE
- Target Configuration Summary
- Initiator Configuration Summary
- Performance Results
- Test 1: First Generation ISE DataPac (20 hard disk drives)
- Test 2: Hybrid ISE DataPac (10 hard disk drives plus 10 SSDs)
- LEGAL AND TRADEMARKS