International Business Machines Corporation

Ron H Clark

Duane Mark Baldwin

Gregory John Tevis

David Lynn Merbach

Daniel Graham Douglas

Michael L Lamb

William Roy Yonker

Allen Robert Heitman

Raymond M Swank

Gregory John Knight

Douglas Paul Dunham

David W Groves

Paul Lawrence Bradshaw

Nancy Lott Hobbs

Vincent Jomartin Hoang

Lisa Anne Huston

Vinh-Thuan Nguyen-Phuc

Alireza Razzaghi Daryan

Barbara J Camacho

Roman David Druker

Amir Nakhforoush

Novel storage area networks (SANs) and methods of operation thereof utilize a plurality of hosts coupled via an interconnect with one or more storage units. A manager device, process or other functionality in communication with a plurality of agent processes, devices or other functionality, each of which is associated with a host. The agents identify attributes of (i) their associated hosts, (ii) interconnect to which that host is coupled, and/or (iii) storage units to which that host is coupled via the interconnect. The manager responds to these attributes identified by the agents to manage the SAN. The manager can be implemented on a first digital data processor and the hosts on further digital data processors. These digital data processors can be coupled via a first network, e.g., an IP or other network, to support communications between the manager and the agents. A second network, e.g., SCSI and/or fiber channel based fabric, separate from the first network, can be utilized as the interconnect between the hosts and the storage devices.

Storage area network methods and apparatus with centralized management

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Ron H Clark