Persistent repository for on-demand node creation for fabric devices

A host system, comprising:

• one or more adapter ports for coupling to a fabric, wherein a plurality of fabric devices attached to the fabric are visible to the host system through one of said adapter ports;
• a fabric driver configured to interface the host system to the fabric;
• an application configured to request the fabric driver to bring online a selected subset of the fabric devices for access from the host system;
• wherein the fabric driver is further configured to attempt to online the selected subset of fabric devices and indicate to the application which ones of the selected subset are successfully onlined;
• and
• wherein the application is further configured to store in a persistent repository an indication of the fabric devices that are successfully onlined.

A computer readable medium having stored thereon data representing sequences of instructions, wherein the sequence of instructions are executable by one or more processors to implement:

• storing in a persistent repository an indication of which of the fabric devices are online for the host system to be accessible from the host system;
• following a reboot of the host system, reading the persistent repository to determine which fabric devices were online prior to the reboot;
• and
• requesting the fabric devices that were online prior to the reboot to be brought online for the host system.