[Info-vax] iSCSI on OpenVMS ?

[Stephen Hoffman]

On 2013-01-08 23:48:58 +0000, Peter 'EPLAN' LANGSTOeGER said:

Quick review for those joining this show already in progress: The iSCSI 
Technology Demonstration Kit (TDK) was an iSCSI initiator package that 
was supported only with a particular HP iSCSI widget; the mpx100 
connectivity option for EVA controllers.

> Does anyone know the status of iSCSI on OpenVMS?

Per the HP OpenVMS V8.4 release notes "The iSCSI demo kit is no longer 
supported on OpenVMS Version 8.4. HP recommends that you do not use the 
iSCSI demo kit on OpenVMS Version 8.4."

The current OpenVMS roadmap <http://www.hp.com/go/openvms/roadmap> 
contains no references to iSCSI.

If you want the official statement, ring up HP and ask.

There's some related info here: 
<http://labs.hoffmanlabs.com/node/1211#comment-2502>

> Is it completed/documented/usable?

Probably no, <http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/iscsipro.pdf>, and "try it 
and see", respectively?

> Could I use it to add some more (virtual) disks to my XP1000?

I wouldn't bet on it working with any arbitrary iSCSI target or over 
any arbitrary patch or upgrade, but, well, try it and see.  This ties 
back to that discussion of clients on OpenVMS from another recent 
thread; NFS is about the only choice, for "file-oriented" services.  
sftp, ftp or the command-line SMB or such, but nothing akin to a 
Samba/CIFS

If you're inclined to port some code, have a look at 
<http://sourceforge.net/projects/intel-iscsi/>.   You'll need to 
scrounge some VCI documentation — and recode the I/O path — if you want 
a faster connection into the Ethernet stack on OpenVMS.

Wouldn't expect any of these approaches to be particularly fast, given 
whatever you choose here will need to wend its way through VCI into the 
Ethernet driver, and across an Ethernet link and back again.  I'd guess 
NFS speeds here, or — until tuned and tweaked — probably lower than 
that.


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