Patent ID: 8392610

Claim:
A method to dynamically manage logical path resources in a storage system comprising a processor, the method comprising: receiving, by the processor, a request from a requestor to establish a new logical path; receiving, by the processor, a request from the requestor to designate a priority scheme to the new logical path, the designated priority scheme comprising one of a plurality of priorities comprising a critical priority, a normal priority, and a non-critical priority; determining, by the processor, an availability of a logical path based on a comparison of the designated priority scheme and a priority of a current logical path, said determining comprising: determining that the logical path resource is available if the designated priority scheme is the critical priority and the current logical path includes the non-critical priority, determining that the logical path resource is unavailable if the designated priority scheme is the non-critical priority or the normal priority, and determining that the logical path resource is unavailable if the current logical path includes the critical priority or the normal priority such that the logical path resource is unavailable to the new logical path when the designated priority is critical and the current logical path includes the critical priority or the normal priority; performing a path priority operation based on the availability of logical path resource; and updating information associated with logical path resources in a logical path resource table based on performing the path priority operation.