ATA over Ethernet (AoE) is an open source
network protocol
designed to connect storage devices and servers in a storage area network (SAN). ATA (Advanced
Technology Attachment) is a standard interface for communication between storage devices; it is
known in the computer industry as Integrated Drive Electronics, or IDE. In AoE, the
ATA commands are transported directly over Ethernet. That
makes AoE an inexpensive alternative to Fibre Channel
SANs, which require costly dedicated networks.
AoE is also a simple alternative to iSCSI SANs,
which must use significant processing power and TCP/IP offload
engines to administer commands. In addition, because AoE is not routable, storage devices do
not require IP
addresses. Administrators can create Ethernet subnets that
connect servers and their storage devices exclusively to greatly reduce security risks.
AoE is included with Linux 2.6 and drivers are
available for the Linux 2.4, FreeBSD and Solaris
operating systems. The protocol was developed by Sam Hopkins and Brantley Coile, programmers at
Coraid Inc., a manufacturer of storage devices.
This was last updated in September 2005
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