Providing client access to devices over a network

A computing system within a computerized network environment that includes a client system, a network provider, and one or more devices that can be accessed locally or over a network, the computing system comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• one or more storage medium having stored instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement a method for providing the client system access to one or more of the devices over the network through the network provider, the method including:
• an act of identifying a set of the one or more partitions or files representing portions of devices that can be accessed locally or over a network, the set being based on one or more partitions or files having commonly authorized client access and consisting of only partitions or files to which the client has been assigned and to which the client is to be provided access, wherein the one or more partitions or files are on at least one device that is a virtual SCSI device accessible through an iSCSI protocol;
• an act of generating a target that identifies the set of the one or more partitions or files, and that includes at least one corresponding device identifier, wherein the set of one or more partitions or files is identified based on each of the devices having at least one common group of clients authorized to access the devices, and wherein the at least one corresponding device identifier is assignable to multiple different partitions and files, and which is given relevance only when associated with the device identifier;
• an act of associating client authorization information identified by the network provider with the target that identifies the set of the one or more partitions or files;
• and
• a step for dynamically exposing the set of the one or more partitions or files to the client through a specific one of a dynamically assigned network port, a WWN, and a portal, such that the client can access the set of the one or more partitions or files identified by the target when the client has access to the specific one of a dynamically assigned network port, a WWN, and portal, and when (the client presents the associated client authorization to the network provider.

A computing system within a computerized network environment that includes a client computer and a storage service provider on a storage area network that includes one or more storage devices:

• at least one processor;
• and
• one or more storage medium having stored instructions which, when executed by the at least one processor, implement a method of providing the client computer with access to one or more of the storage devices on the storage service provider, the method including:
• an act of identifying one or more device identifiers corresponding to one or more partitions or files representing storage devices on a storage service provider, wherein the partitions or files allow access to portions of the storage devices and enable a first device type to emulate a second device type, wherein the one or more device identifiers includes a target name and an identifier that has been assigned to the one or more partitions or files by a centralized directory service;
• an act of receiving from the centralized directory service a modifiable client resource that identifies client authorization to access the storage device, and a portion of the storage device that the client can access, wherein the centralized directory maintains authentication information for the client, and at least one of a work group identity, network location, and physical location, and further maintains identifier information for the one or more partitions or files and configuration information defining how the client accesses a partition or file representing a storage device, wherein the centralized directory service includes the same identifier assigned to multiple, different partitions or files, such that the same identifier has relevancy only within a particular target;
• an act of creating a target containing a plurality of logical unit numbers that have been assigned to the identified device identifiers, the target consisting of only logical units numbers to which the client has been assigned and to which the client is to be provided access, wherein the client can access only those storage devices represented by a logical unit number contained in the target using storage service provider, and wherein access to the target is provided according to the modifiable client resource;
• an act of providing the client computer access to the file or partition representing the storage device identified by the target through a client-restricted port on the storage service provider, wherein the client restricted port is dynamically assigned by the centralized directory service based on storage service provider load balancing and failover protection, such that when the client has knowledge of, access to, the client-restricted port, the client can access the storage device by providing the storage service provider with client authorization and a Uniform Resource Locator including the dynamically assigned port number.