Coraid Ethernet Storage Protocol Validated by ESG

As reported on The Register, Coraid's simpler-than-iSCSI Ethernet storage protocol has been validated by ESG which found it could install and use it in less than two minutes, and get better-than Fibre Channel performance at a fifth of the cost.

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"Coraid's EtherDrive SAN storage uses the lightweight ATA-over-Ethernet (AoE) protocol to link servers and storage arrays using standard Ethernet switches. This protocol ensures lossless delivery of data packets without involving upper level network stack processes such as the TCP/IP ones used by iSCSI.

"The ESG report (pdf) describes hands-on testing of the product in a virtualised server environment. It says 'AoE is a simpler and more direct protocol than either iSCSI or Fibre Channel. AoE is not built on IP, TCP, or SCSI; packets are addressed to devices using their Ethernet MAC addresses and sent across the network with a minimum of overhead.'"

Read the Full Story at The Register