What role does the iSCSI initiator play in establishing a connection to an iSCSI target?

What will be an ideal response?

The iSCSI initiator on the host hypervisor system connects to the iSCSI storage target across the TCP/IP network. The iSCSI initiator can be either a hardware-based host bus adapter (HBA) or a software initiator. The iSCSI initiator transmits iSCSI commands across the TCP/IP network to find an iSCSI target. The target then presents one or more LUNs to the initiator and the initiator makes a connection to the iSCSI target. The connection process often involves using CHAP (Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol) to create a secure connection by encrypting the logon process using a private or secret key. After the connection is established, the initiator can send SCSI commands to read and write data to the iSCSI data store in much the same way it would access a local SCSI drive.