Nishan Systems, IBM and Intel today announced that software for the IP Storage protocol, Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS), has been released as open source code.
In addition, Nishan announced that Intel Corporation will also support the
iSNS protocol by enabling the Intel PRO/1000 IP Storage Adapter, which
will be available later this year, to utilize iSNS information.
iSNS is a standards-track draft specification actively under consideration
within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) IP Storage Working
Group. IBM and Intel have been working with Nishan Systems to evaluate the
iSNS code and believe that it will provide enhanced, integrated IP Storage
solutions.
Co-authors of the iSNS standards-track specification include contributors
from Cisco Systems, IBM Research, Nishan Systems, Nortel Networks, Pirus
Networks, and Vixel Corporation.
According to the companies, iSNS is a comprehensive discovery and management protocol that provides the generic framework and naming service for storage entities in an IP Storage network. iSNS is designed to be a lightweight discovery protocol
that can be deployed in iSCSI adapters and target devices, iSNS servers,
and IP Storage switches. iSNS, which accommodates all IP Storage
protocols, minimizes the manual administration of IP Storage networks by
automating facilities for registration, discovery, zoning, and management
of IP Storage resources.