Patent ID: 7979656
Filing Date: 2011-07-12
Classification: G06F,H04L

Abstract:
1. A method, comprising: configuring a switch such that a write request to a primary storage device is transferred through a virtual initiator in the switch to the primary storage device and to a secondary storage device; configuring the switch such that a read request from a secondary initiator of data in the primary storage device appears as though the read request is coming from a physical initiator rather than the secondary initiator, such that at least one system protocol is bypassed because the switch intercepts a response having the data from the primary storage device through a virtual target which uses the virtual initiator of the switch to communicate the data to the secondary initiator rather than the physical initiator; minimizing configuration of nodes of a continuous-backup system through the configuration of the switch and the interception of the response in the switch; and wherein a binding between the primary storage device, the secondary storage device, the physical initiator, and the secondary initiator is created through a frame redirect zone in a switch fabric and through an application of a twenty-four bit Fiber Channel address of the physical initiator to the virtual initiator in the switch such that the virtual initiator appears to the primary storage devices as the physical initiator.