Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals

by James Long

A comparative analysis of Ethernet, TCP/IP, and Fibre Channel in the context of SCSI

Introduces network administrators to the requirements of storage protocols Explains the operation of network protocols to storage administrators Compares and contrasts the functionality of Ethernet, TCP/IP, and Fibre Channel Documents the details of the major protocol suites, explains how they operate, and identifies common misunderstandings References the original standards and specifications so you can get a complete understanding of each protocol Helps you understand the implications of network design choices Discusses advanced network functionality such as QoS, security, management, and protocol analysis  Corporations increasingly depend on computer and communication technologies to remain competitive in the global economy. Customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, and e-mail are a few of the many applications that generate new data every day. Effectively storing, managing, and accessing that data is a primary business challenge in the information age. Storage networking is a crucial component of the solution to meet that challenge.

 

Written for both storage administrators who need to learn more about networking and network administrators who need to learn more about storage, Storage Networking Protocol Fundamentals is a concise introduction to storage networking protocols. The book picks up where Storage Networking Fundamentals left off by focusing on the networking protocols that underlie modern open block-oriented storage networks.

 

The first part of the book introduces you to the field of storage networking and the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) reference model. The second part compares networked storage technologies, including iSCSI (Small Computer Systems Interface over IP) and Fibre Channel. It also examines in detail each of the major protocol suites layer-by-layer within the OSI reference model. The third part discusses advanced functionalities of these technologies, such as quality of service (QoS), load-balancing functions, security, management, and protocol analysis. You can read this book cover to cover or use it as a reference, directly accessing the particular topics of interest to you.

 

“Storage networking is a critical concept for today’s businesses, and this book provides a unique and helpful way to better understand it. Storage networking is also continuously evolving, and as such this book may be seen as an introduction to the information technology infrastructures of the future.”

—from the foreword by Claudio DeSanti, vice-chairman of the ANSI INCITS T11 Technical Committee

872 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2006

About the author

Aka Will Davenport

James Long was a BBC TV news correspondent until the end of the 1980s. After two years starting and running an international TV station out of Zurich, he returned to England to concentrate on writing, which had always been his first love. He wrote four thrillers, then went back to a story he had begun many years earlier and which grew into Ferney. The book was originally born from his disappointment at being unable to buy a derelict cottage he had found near the village of Penselwood and that house became the centre of the story. Many more novels followed, including two written under the pseudonym 'Will Davenport.' He moved into historical non-fiction in 2007 with The Plot against Pepys, co-written with his oldest son, Ben. Since then, he has co-written a play with his middle son, Harry. He lives with his wife, Annie and daughter Matilda in Totnes, Devon. His interests range from archaeology to motor racing. He is actively involved in the creative writing charity, the Arvon Foundation and tutors from time to time on Arvon courses. He is also a patron and adviser to the Dartington Literary Festival, 'Ways with Words.'

Reviews

[Bill Parr · Rating 2 out of 5]

I only got halfway through because it made my eyes bleed. I only give it 2 stars because it is thorough. The T10, T11 and T13 standards read almost the same as this book.

[Meirav Rath · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very thorough book, and structured very well, chapter-order wise.
There was one thing that made this book very, very difficult to read, though. It's a long book and a big book (lots of text in each page I mean). Technology names, technical names, protocol names, names of technical papers in which technology was defined, names od commitees that came up or regulated a specific protocol - all get mentiones once in full wording and later only appear as an abbreviation.
And, boy, does the writer enjoy using abbreviations! So, you read about something in page 35 and after 50 pages the abbreviation of it appearse (after 30 other names and abbreviations joined the long list of things to remember) and you're sitting there trying to remember what THAT specific abbreviation means.
There is an appendix with every abbreviation and term in it, yes, but it's a hassle to stop and go look things up in it every other minute.

So, it's very thorough and professional but it's not an easy read at all.

[Vasil Kolev · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is outdated and bad now, and was bad even when it was published. It doesn't match a lot of what is and was used in storage networks, and even though it has some useful information on SCSI, in general most of the book is somewhat useless and could've been replaced with "go read this and this", without trying to explain things in a useless way.