Evaluation of SCSI over TCP/IP and SCSI over fibre channel connections

This study explores the performance implications of an IP storage protocol (iSCSI) in a storage network. The results are compared with the characteristics of the fibre channel protocol. We set up a test-bed consisting of Linux PCs connected together with both fibre channel and Gigabit Ethernet adapters. We conducted experiments on user and kernel level TCP/IP communication and iSCSI data transfers over TCP/IP. By instrumenting the network and iSCSI device drivers on the initiator and target machines, we have collected performance data on various aspects of the protocols. Using a prototype SCSI target mode driver on the target machine, we were able to conduct similar experiments with the Fibre Channel protocol and interconnects. We present preliminary performance data for iSCSI and ways to improve the underlying TCP/IP bandwidth on Gigabit Ethernet.

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