If you're interested in an industry perspective, I'm the CTO at an iSCSI SAN provider. Marketing fluff has been left out, leaving my two cents on AoE as I understand the technology.
TCP is a universally accepted transport that guarantees data delivery over any Quality of Service, along with many optimizations that switch and network accelerators use to optimize its performance on lossy networks. AoE will not work over lossy networks, therefore it's not a solution outside the data center (i.e. campus SANs or Remote Copy).
iSCSI has a built-in security model with IPSEC and CHAP. AoE SANs must be secured at the switch level, which introduces more management complexity with having to setup VLANs or other features on the switch, which may also require the purchase of higher cost Ethernet switches. If the switch is compromised the storage is completely exposed. An encryption and authentication model is also missing.
AoE doesn't support IP addressing & management. There is a compelling business case for IP convergence. IP offers one technology and management framework for the Internet, VOIP & iSCSI/Storage and the rest of the IT infrastructure.
This being said, AoE isn't all bad but it's not an iSCSI killer. It could offer a cost effect storage solution for small businesses or home offices.
John Spiers
Slashdot Mirror
If you're interested in an industry perspective, I'm the CTO at an iSCSI SAN provider. Marketing fluff has been left out, leaving my two cents on AoE as I understand the technology. TCP is a universally accepted transport that guarantees data delivery over any Quality of Service, along with many optimizations that switch and network accelerators use to optimize its performance on lossy networks. AoE will not work over lossy networks, therefore it's not a solution outside the data center (i.e. campus SANs or Remote Copy). iSCSI has a built-in security model with IPSEC and CHAP. AoE SANs must be secured at the switch level, which introduces more management complexity with having to setup VLANs or other features on the switch, which may also require the purchase of higher cost Ethernet switches. If the switch is compromised the storage is completely exposed. An encryption and authentication model is also missing. AoE doesn't support IP addressing & management. There is a compelling business case for IP convergence. IP offers one technology and management framework for the Internet, VOIP & iSCSI/Storage and the rest of the IT infrastructure. This being said, AoE isn't all bad but it's not an iSCSI killer. It could offer a cost effect storage solution for small businesses or home offices. John Spiers