[citation needed] It is utilized in several Linux distributions and is a popular choice for cloud environments due to its integration with tools like QEMU/KVM, libvirt, and OpenStack.

[citation needed] The LIO project is maintained by Datera, Inc.,[dubious – discuss] a Silicon Valley-based storage solutions provider.

A SCSI target is the endpoint that waits for initiator commands and executes the required I/O data transfers.

LIO implements a modular and extensible architecture around a parallelised SCSI command processing engine.

The LIO SCSI target engine implements a comprehensive SPC-3/SPC-4[10] feature set with support for high-end features, including SCSI-3/SCSI-4 Persistent Reservations (PRs), SCSI-4 Asymmetric Logical Unit Assignment (ALUA), VMware vSphere APIs for Array Integration (VAAI),[11] T10 DIF, etc.

Conceptually, the SCSI target provides a generic block storage service or server in this scenario.

The most important back-store media types are: As a result, LIO provides a generalised model to export block storage.

Fabric modules implement the front-end of the SCSI target by encapsulating and abstracting the properties of the various supported interconnect.

The specification, supported by a large number of network and storage vendors, is part of the Technical Committee T11 FC-BB-5 standard.

[18][20] The Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) fabric module allows the transport of SCSI traffic across standard IP networks.

By carrying SCSI sessions across IP networks, iSCSI is used to facilitate data transfers over intranets and manage storage over long distances.

USB was designed in the mid-1990s to standardize the connection of computer peripherals, and has also become common for data storage devices.

[25] targetcli is a user space single-node management command line interface (CLI) for LIO.