rdma-steering-tag · shipping · also STag, Steering Tag

RDMA steering tag

A steering tag identifies a tagged memory buffer for access under an RDMA protocol's validity and protection rules.

Related Observatory article: RDMA steering tag on hesela.com

Addressing: A peer advertises a tagged buffer using an STag, offset and length. The tag identifies memory, not a SCSI logical unit, disk address or authenticated user. [1]

Access lifetime: A valid tag does not authorize arbitrary memory access; bounds, access rights and the relevant protection context still apply. An invalidation removes remote access through that tag, not the buffer contents. [2]

In iSER: Normal completion carries a SHOULD recommendation to invalidate the task's advertised STags. Remote invalidation is optional. When an STag is expected to be invalid after task completion, the initiator must check success and invalidate locally if needed. Retaining valid cached tags extends the interval during which remote memory access is possible. [3]

Relations

related
iSCSI Extensions for RDMA (iSER), RDMA storage networking

Citations

  1. RFC 5040: tagged-buffer terminology and invalidation, sections 2.3-2.4 (accessed 2026-10-21)
  2. RFC 5042: buffer access and bounds enforcement, sections 5.4 and 6.2.1 (accessed 2026-10-21)
  3. RFC 7145: normal completion, invalidation and security, sections 1.5.1, 8.3.2 and 11 (accessed 2026-10-21)
Sources & caveats
  • The generic terminology follows RDMAP. Completion and remote-invalidation details here are scoped to iSER.

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Hesela team. RDMA steering tag. Hesela. 2026-10-21. https://hesela.dev/terms/rdma-steering-tag/