System and method for failover using virtual ports in clustered systems

A computer readable medium including program instructions when executed operable to:

• detecting a failure of a primary virtual port on a physical port of a first server, wherein the primary virtual port has an identity;
• activating a secondary virtual port on the physical port of the first server, the physical port configured to support two or more virtual ports that share the physical port;
• configuring the secondary virtual port with the identity of the failed primary virtual port by setting a node name of the secondary virtual port to a node name of the primary virtual port, wherein the node name is unique to the first server, and setting a port name of the secondary virtual port to a port name of the primary virtual port;
• and
• servicing one or more storage devices owned by the first server through the secondary virtual port on the first server.

A storage server, comprising

• a physical port configured to communicate with a client over a network;
• a plurality virtual ports associated with the physical port, wherein there is at least one primary virtual port and a secondary virtual port;
• and
• a storage operating system executed by a processor, the processor configured to:
• (i) detect a failure in the primary virtual port, the primary virtual port having an identity, (ii) in response to detecting the failure, activate the secondary virtual port, (iii) configure the secondary virtual port with the identity of the failed primary virtual port by setting a node name of the secondary virtual port to a node name of the primary virtual port, wherein the node name is unique to the first server, and setting a port name of the secondary virtual port to a port name of the primary virtual port, and (iv) service one or more storage devices owned by the storage server through the secondary virtual port on the storage server.