(pNFS) SCSI Layout Type to access storage devices using the NVMe
protocol family.
+
+
--- middle
# Introduction {#sec:intro}
reads and writes.
These other means of performing file reads and writes are defined by
-individual mapping types which often have their own specifications. The
-SCSI Layout Type, defined in RFC8154, describes how I/O is to be done
-directly to block storage devices.
+individual mapping types which often have their own specifications.
-The pNFS Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) layout {{RFC8154}} is a layout type
-that allows NFS clients to directly perform I/O to block storage devices
+The pNFS Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) layout {{RFC8154}} is a layout
+type that allows NFS clients to directly perform I/O to block storage devices
while bypassing the Metadata Server (MDS). It is specified by using
-concepts from the SCSI protocol family for the data path to the storage
-devices.
+concepts from the SCSI protocol family for the data path to the storage devices.
+
+NVM Express (NVMe), or the Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface
+Specification, is a set of specifications to talk to storage devices over
+a number of protocols such as PCI Express (PCIe), Fibre Channel (FC) and
+TCP/IP or Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA) networking. NVMe is currently
+the by far dominant protocol used to access PCIe Solid State Disks (SSDs),
+and increasingly adopted for remote storage access where it replaces
+SCSI-based protocols such as iSCSI.
This document defines how NVMe Namespaces using the NVM Command Set {{NVME-NVM}}
exported by NVMe Controllers implementing the
storage devices using the SCSI Layout Type.
The definition is independent of the underlying transport used by the
NVMe Controller and thus supports Controllers implementing a wide variety
-of transports, including PCI Express, RDMA, TCP and FibreChannel.
+of transports, including PCI Express, RDMA, TCP and Fibre Channel.
This document does not amend the existing SCSI layout document. Rather,
it