Originating Author: David Floyer
One of the organizational issues that will need to be addressed over time is the management of iSCSI SANs. Network administrators will have a great deal of skill and experience to offer, especially if they have already successfully employed Voice-over-IP (both iSCSI and VoIP are very sensitive to quality of service).
It is sensible to restrict the scope of iSCSI SANs initially, and limit them to being within the data center and on a separate network. These limitations are advisable for security and performance reasons (all block based protocols are 'chatty' and do not like long distances). It makes sense for the initial management of iSCSI SAN to be led by the storage group, with significant assistance from the network group.
Long term, iSCSI SANs will operate over longer distances, especially if distance replication works technically and makes sense from a business perspective for an organization. At that point, it will be advisable for the Network staff to treat the storage network just like any other network, and take over the management and monitoring of the network component of the SAN. The management of storage logical and physical volumes should remain with the storage group, as should the decisions of what is the appropriate network and protocol to support applications.
Action Item: IT executive management should allow the storage group to take the lead in implementing iSCSI. Longer term, the storage group should manage storage, and the network group should manage the iSCSI SAN network, ensuring that they have the tools and processes to provide effective control over quality of service.