iSCSI Management API (IMA)

The iSCSI Management API defines a standard interface that applications can use to perform iSCSI management independent of the vendor of the iSCSI HBA. The IMA was designed to be implemented using a combination of a library and plugins.

An IMA library provides the interface that applications use to perform iSCSI management. Among other things, the library is responsible for loading plugins and dispatching requests from a management application to the appropriate plugin(s). Plugins are provided by iSCSI HBA vendors to manage their hardware. Typically, a plugin will take a request in the generic format provided by the library and then translate that request into a vendor specific format and forward the request onto the vendor’s device driver. In practice, a plugin may use a DLL or shared object library to communicate with the device driver. Also, it may communicate with multiple device drivers. Ultimately, the method a plugin uses to accomplish its work is entirely vendor specific.