Patent ID: 7451354

Claim:
A method to configure, format, and test, a data storage subsystem product, comprising the steps of: supplying a configuration appliance comprising appliance memory and a plurality of data storage devices; supplying an operable data storage subsystem comprising a storage configuration; interconnecting said configuration appliance with said operable data storage subsystem; creating on said configuration appliance storage configuration data comprising said storage configuration; supplying (N) data storage subsystem products, wherein each of said (N) data storage subsystem products comprises one or more host computer ports, a processor, one or more data storage device ports, and one or more data storage devices interconnected to said one or more data storage device ports wherein (N) is greater than 1; selecting an (i)th data storage subsystem product, wherein (i) is greater than or equal to 1 and less than equal to (N); connecting said configuration appliance to one of said one or more host computer ports disposed in the (i)th data storage subsystem product; powering said (i)th data storage subsystem product; importing said storage configuration data into said (i)th data storage subsystem product; formatting said one or more data storage devices; verifying the input/output data transfer rates of said (i)th data storage subsystem product, wherein said formatting step and said verifying step are initiated concurrently; wherein said one or more data storage devices are formatted only one time; disconnecting said configuration appliance from said (i)th data storage subsystem product; shutting down said (i)th data storage subsystem product; determining if (i) equals (N); operative if (i) is less than (N), incrementing (i) by unity and repeating said selecting, connecting, powering, importing, formatting, verifying, disconnecting, shutting down, and determining steps.