Methods and apparatus for controlling devices within storage network

A computer system configured to control zoning in a plurality of devices from different vendors in a network, the computer system comprising:

• an input-output interface;
• a processor;
• and
• a memory system coupled to the processor and to the input-output interface and
• encoded with instructions that form a multi-zone management application that, when performed on the processor, cause the computer system to:
• receive, via the input-output interface, a generic zone control command;
• translate the generic zone control command to at least one vendor specific device command of a plurality of vendor specific device commands that respectively control zoning in a plurality of different vendor devices coupled to the input-output interface;
• and
• perform the at least one vendor device specific command to control zoning in a device coupled to the input-output interface;
• wherein the instructions that control zoning within the device, and when performed on the processor, cause the computer system to control which of multiple ports in the device shall be grouped together to form a zone through which servers are able to access a data storage system in a storage area network;
• and
• wherein the instructions that control which of multiple ports in the device shall be grouped together to form the zone, when performed on the processor, cause the computer system to configure multiple server ports and multiple data storage ports of the device to be in the zone, the multiple server ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between a server and the device, the multiple data storage ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between the device and the data storage system.

A computer program product having a computer-readable medium including computer program logic encoded thereon that when performed on a computer system provides a method for controlling zoning within a device, and wherein when the computer program logic is performed on a processor in the computer system, the computer program logic causes the processor to perform the operations of:

• receiving a generic zone control command;
• translating the generic zone control command to at least one vendor specific device command of a plurality of vendor specific device commands that respectively control zoning in a plurality of different vendor devices;
• and
• performing the at least one vendor specific device command to control which of multiple ports in the device are grouped together to form a zone through which servers are able to access a data storage system in a storage area network;
• and
• configuring multiple server ports and multiple data storage ports of the device to be in the zone, the multiple server ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between a server and the device, the multiple data storage ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between the device and the data storage system.

A management application that operates to control zoning in devices from different vendors in a data storage network, the management application comprising:

• a management application user interface that receives a generic zone control command;
• a multi-vendor application programming interface coupled to the multi-zone management application user interface, the multi-vendor application programming interface obtaining from a multi-zone command database, based on the generic zone control command, a vendor specific command set containing functions that control zoning in a device associated with the generic zone control command;
• a command mapping accessible by the multi-vendor application programming interface, the command mapping defining mappings between parameters from the generic zone control command to parameters required by the vendor specific commands within the vendor specific command set;
• the multi-vendor application programming interface using the command mapping to map the generic zone control command to at least one vendor specific command and performing the at least one vendor specific command to control zoning within a specific vendor device associated with the generic zone control command;
• wherein the management application controls which of multiple ports in the device shall be grouped together to form a zone through which servers are able to access a data storage system in a storage area network;
• and
• wherein the management application configures multiple server ports and multiple data storage ports of the device to be in the zone, the multiple server ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between a server and the device, the multiple data storage ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between the device and the data storage system.

In a network management application operating in a management station computer system controlling zoning of different vendor types of data switches in a network, a method comprising:

• receiving a generic zone control command;
• identifying at least two different vendor specific types of switch devices to which the generic zone control command pertains;
• translating the generic zone control command into corresponding vendor specific device commands for the at least two different vendor specific types of switch devices;
• transmitting the vendor specific device commands over the network to the at least two different vendor specific types of switch devices;
• wherein the receiving, identifying, translating and transmitting are executed by a management application that controls zoning within the at least two different vendor specific types of switch devices;
• wherein the management application controls which of multiple ports in the at least two different vendor specific types of switch devices shall be grouped together to form a zone through which servers are able to access a data storage system in a storage area network;
• and
• wherein the management application configures multiple server ports and multiple data storage ports of the switch devices to be in the zone, the multiple server ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between a server and the switch devices, the multiple data storage ports associated with the zone handling a transfer of data between the switch devices and the data storage system.