Communication path management system

A processing device adapted to perform the steps of:

• identifying one or more communication paths from a host computer to a data storage device;
• classifying each of said one or more communication paths as either a preferred communication path or a non-preferred communication path;
• creating a subset of preferred communications paths including each preferred communication path;
• creating a subset of non-preferred communication paths including each non-preferred communication path;
• setting the subset of preferred communication paths as an active set of communication paths if a valid communication path is present in the subset of preferred communication paths;
• and
• transmitting input/output requests from the host computer to the data storage device using one or more communication paths included in the active set of communication paths.

An article of manufacture including a data storage medium, said data storage medium including a set of machine-readable instructions that are executable by a processing device to implement an algorithm, said algorithm comprising the steps of:

• identifying one or more communication paths from the processing device to a data storage device;
• classifying each of said one or more communication paths as either a preferred communication path or a non-preferred communication path;
• creating a subset of preferred communications paths including each preferred communication path;
• creating a subset of non-preferred communication paths including each non-preferred communication path;
• setting the subset of preferred communication paths as an active set of communication paths if a valid communication path is present in the subset of preferred communication paths;
• and
• transmitting input/output requests from the host computer to the data storage device using one or more communication paths included in the active set of communication paths.