Storage area network methods and apparatus with virtual SAN recognition
US6920494B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Oct 5, 2001 |
| Grant date | Jul 19, 2005 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Jun 20, 2022 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04L67/1008
- WIPO fieldComputer technology
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A storage area network (SAN) has one or more host digital data processors are coupled to one or more storage devices (e.g., LUNs) by an interconnect, e.g., a fiber channel-based fabric. Switches or switch-like interfaces on the interconnect fabric define zones or regions in which certain hosts can access certain storage devices, but not other storage devices. Scanners, e.g., operating within agents associated with the hosts, collect information regarding the regions and, more particularly, the hosts, storage devices and interconnect elements that make them up. A manager operating, for example, on a further digital data processor disambiguates information from the regions and discerns the topology of the portion of the SAN spanned by the regions. Thus, it identifies as a virtual SAN elements from regions that have at least one common storage device with at least one other region.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.