<s>
In	O
computer	B-General_Concept
data	I-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
,	O
a	O
SCSI	B-Device
initiator	I-Device
is	O
the	O
endpoint	O
that	O
initiates	O
a	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
session	O
,	O
that	O
is	O
,	O
sends	O
a	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
command	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
,	O
a	O
SCSI	B-Device
target	I-Device
is	O
the	O
endpoint	O
that	O
does	O
not	O
initiate	O
sessions	O
,	O
but	O
instead	O
waits	O
for	O
initiators	O
 '	O
commands	O
and	O
provides	O
required	O
input/output	B-General_Concept
data	O
transfers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Typically	O
,	O
a	O
computer	O
is	O
an	O
initiator	O
and	O
a	O
data	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
device	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
target	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
in	O
a	O
client	B-Operating_System
–	I-Operating_System
server	I-Operating_System
architecture	I-Operating_System
,	O
an	O
initiator	O
is	O
analogous	O
to	O
the	O
client	O
,	O
and	O
a	O
target	O
is	O
analogous	O
to	O
the	O
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Each	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
address	O
(	O
each	O
identifier	O
on	O
a	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
bus	B-General_Concept
)	O
displays	O
behavior	O
of	O
initiator	O
,	O
target	O
,	O
or	O
(	O
rarely	O
)	O
both	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
nothing	O
in	O
the	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
protocol	O
that	O
prevents	O
an	O
initiator	O
from	O
acting	O
as	O
a	O
target	O
or	O
vice	O
versa	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
SCSI	B-Device
initiators	I-Device
are	O
sometimes	O
wrongly	O
called	O
controllers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Initiator	O
and	O
target	O
terms	O
are	O
applicable	O
not	O
only	O
to	O
traditional	O
parallel	O
SCSI	B-Architecture
,	O
but	O
also	O
to	O
Fibre	B-Architecture
Channel	I-Architecture
Protocol	I-Architecture
(	O
FCP	O
)	O
,	O
iSCSI	B-Protocol
(	O
see	O
iSCSI	B-Protocol
target	O
)	O
,	O
HyperSCSI	B-Protocol
,	O
(	O
in	O
some	O
sense	O
)	O
SATA	O
,	O
ATA	O
over	O
Ethernet	O
(	O
AoE	O
)	O
,	O
InfiniBand	B-Architecture
,	O
DSSI	O
and	O
many	O
other	O
storage	O
networking	O
protocols	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Even	O
when	O
using	O
multipath	B-General_Concept
I/O	I-General_Concept
to	O
achieve	O
fault	B-General_Concept
tolerance	I-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
device	B-Application
driver	I-Application
switches	O
between	O
different	O
targets	O
or	O
initiators	O
statically	O
bound	O
on	O
physical	O
ports	O
,	O
instead	O
of	O
sharing	O
a	O
static	O
address	O
between	O
physical	O
ports	O
.	O
</s>
