kvblade: a 2.6 linux kernel module
---

Kvblade is a kernel module implementing the target
side of the AoE protocol.  Users can command the
module through sysfs to export block devices on
specified network interfaces.  The loopback device
should be used as an intermediary for exporting
regular files with kvblade.

An exported target has a tuple that uniquely defines
it:
	{ major, minor, netif }

Major is the aoemajor / shelf address, minor is the
aoeminor / slot address, and netif is the name of
the interface the target is bound on.  It is illegal
to attempt to create more than one of these in kvblade.

Three shell scripts have been created to facilitate interfacing
with kvblade through sysfs: kvstat, kvadd, and kvdel.  Kvstat
prints the list of currently exported vblades.  Kvadd and
kvdel are used to manage the exported vblades.

This is alpha code.  It appears stable, but has limitations
that need to be addressed.  See the TODO file for a list of
things that you can help with.

Author:
	Sam Hopkins
	Coraid, Inc.

Address support requests to
aoetools-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net.

Thanks to Lelik P. Korchagin for writing the first
kernel vblade module.  It was quite helpful as a
reference implementation.