Patent ID: 8495323

Claim:
A method for implementing Input/Output (I/O) fencing in a virtual machine cluster, the method comprising: creating a first private region in a volume, wherein the volume comprises a virtual storage object that is logically mapped to one or more non-volatile storage devices, wherein the volume is shared by a plurality of virtual machines in the virtual machine cluster; creating a second private region in a first non-volatile storage device; mapping the first private region to the second private region; receiving an I/O fencing request from a virtual machine addressed to the first private region in the volume, wherein the I/O fencing request is formed according to an I/O fencing protocol, and wherein the I/O fencing request comprises a request to isolate the volume from one or more virtual machines in the virtual machine cluster; and translating the I/O fencing request to address the second private region in the first non-volatile storage device.