iSCSI Extensions for RDMA

The iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER) is a computer network protocol that extends the Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) protocol to use Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA).

[2] The protocol specifications were published as drafts in September 2004 in the Internet Engineering Task Force and issued as RFCs in October 2007.

[5] The motivation for iSER is to use RDMA to avoid unnecessary data copying on the target and initiator.

The Datamover Architecture (DA) defines an abstract model in which the movement of data between iSCSI end nodes is logically separated from the rest of the iSCSI protocol; iSER is one Datamover protocol.

All iSCSI control-type PDUs contain an iSER header, which allows the initiator to advertise the STags that were generated during buffer registration.