Patent ID: 7725568

Claim:
A method of collecting information related to the operation of a storage network, comprising: identifying a data type transported on the storage network and used in analyzing data carried over the storage network; selecting a port-storage identifier that references a particular combination of at least one initiator port from a server device and at least one target port from a virtual storage exchange device that transports data through the target port associated with the virtual storage exchange device and onto each of the individual one or more storage devices in the storage network and is used to measure the data type transported across the storage network through a path described by the port-storage identifier; monitoring the port-storage identifier on the storage network for the data type to associate the data type with the path described by the port-storage identifier; and enumerating occurrences of the data type associated with the port-storage identifier while monitoring the port-storage identifier and the data type to determine how data is carried over the storage network, wherein the port-storage identifier includes a combination of one or more initiator ports, one or more target ports and one or more storage devices.