Patent ID: 7886182

Claim:
A method comprising: operating a storage server in a storage server cluster; and preventing a cluster partner in the storage server cluster from accessing and serving data from taken-over storage devices associated with the cluster partner when the cluster partner is taken over by the storage server while allowing early release of reservations on the taken-over storage devices associated with the cluster partner before control is given back to the cluster partner, wherein said preventing comprises sending a takeover state signal representative of the takeover state of the storage server to notify the cluster partner that the cluster partner has been taken over, wherein the takeover state signal stops the cluster partner from serving the data when the cluster partner does not discover contents of a clustering disk area including clustering information and takeover state information stored on the taken-over storage devices, wherein the storage server and cluster partner are each physically connected to the taken-over storage devices and the reservations are configured to indicate that the storage server owns the control of the taken-over storage devices until the release of the reservations.