Re: FireWire/SBP2 Target mode

[Boaz Harrosh <bharrosh@panasas.com>]

On 02/01/2012 11:41 PM, Stefan Richter wrote:
> On Feb 01 Andy Grover wrote:
>> You're saying the sbp2 protocol can theoretically be used other places
>> besides firewire? I'd say put it all in the fabric module for now.
> 
> While SBP-2 is explicitly specified for IEEE 1394 a.k.a. FireWire only,
> it could be used on any bus architecture which implements IEEE 1212
> "Control and Status Registers (CSR) Architecture for Microcomputer
> Buses".  But IEEE 1394 a.k.a. FireWire is nowadays the only remaining IEEE
> 1212 implementation, as far as I know.
> 
> On the other hand, the transport protocol SBP-2 can be used to encapsulate
> various protocols besides SCSI.  A long time ago I heard that there were
> SBP-2 printers that weren't SCSI printers, but I may have confused
> something.
> 

Hmm Interesting. So what do the other FireWire protocols use, like
networking, DV video, audio? they have yet another encapsulating transport
other than SBP-2? What a mess

> The current version of the protocol, SBP-3 which extends SBP-2
> in an upwards compatible way, has been developed specifically in
> order to transport AV/C command sets.  (AV/C is a set of specifications
> from the 1394 Trade Association that build on top of IEC 61883 "Consumer
> audio/video equipment - Digital interface" and is used for camcorders,
> audio interfaces, studio-grade video equipment, TV set top boxes etc.)
> But I am not aware of any existing SBP-3 target or SBP-3 initiator which
> actually implements AV/C.
> 
> So in short,
>   - SBP-2/3 is only used on the FireWire bus.
>   - Potentially there could be SBP-2/3 targets or initiators that
>     implement something else than SCSI.  But stock SBP-2/3 initiator
>     drivers of popular OSs are SCSI initiators, and non-SCSI SBP-2/3
>     targets are extremely rare or don't exist actually.

Thanks that was informative
I'll have a deeper look

Boaz