Patent ID: 8224944

Claim:
A method for managing a plurality of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) domains each including a set of network devices, wherein the set of network devices includes device data for identifying the network devices, the method comprising the steps of: comparing, by a controller of a domain management apparatus coupled to the plurality of SAS domains, device data within at least one data set that defines an existing domain overlay with device data that identifies the network devices in at least one SAS domain, said domain overlay includes user constructs or data sets that form a veneer through which a user views and interacts with the domains each bound by a respective overlay, said comparing includes comparing the device data within the existing domain overlay and the device data within the SAS domains for device data that identifies a common network device, and populating a binding matrix for existing domain overlays and SAS domains having device data that identifies a common network device, and searching the binding matrix for unique associations between a single domain overlay and a single SAS domain; binding, by the controller of the domain management apparatus, the existing domain overlay to an SAS domain when the at least one data set of the existing domain overlay is uniquely associated with the SAS domain; and creating, by the controller of the domain management apparatus, for any SAS domain that is not bound to an existing domain overlay, a new domain overlay when the at least one data set is uniquely associated with the SAS domain that is not bound to an existing domain overlay.