Patent ID: 7702655

Claim:
A method to identify a resource in a network, the method comprising: receiving component data associated with a resource in a storage area network, receiving the component data further including: communicating with a storage area network (SAN) management application to obtain storage area network configuration data that contains component data collected by the SAN management application for resources operating in the storage area network; matching the component data to entries in a user-created component matching database to determine a specific identity of the resource in the storage area network to which the component data is associated, matching the component data to entries in a user-created component matching database further comprising: parsing component data associated with individual resources operating in the storage area network, as identified in the storage area network configuration data, to create filtered component data for the resource to be matched against entries in the user-created component matching database; and comparing the filtered component data to entries in the user-created component matching database that were previously created by a user to identify if the user previously associated that filtered component data to a specific identity of a specific resource in the storage area network; providing the specific identity of the resource in the storage area network to which the component data is associated; and maintaining the user-created component matching database by allowing a user to create matches between individual resources for which component data is received to specific identities of those resources as determined by the user, matching further comprising: determining when an automated match cannot be made from the comparing; presenting a set of possible specific identities based on a portion of the component data based on previously associated component data and resources; receiving a mapping of the component data to the specific identity of the resource to identify an association; and storing, in the user-created component matching database, the identified association for future matching of resources to specific identities using the mapped component data.