Patent ID: 7921431

Claim:
A non-transitory storage medium storing an Application Programming Interface (API), the API including one or more functions which, when installed in a host computer executing at least one host Operating System (OS) and driver software and coupled to a Host Bus Adapter (HBA), and when called by the host OS and executed by a processor in the host computer, causes the processor to perform the steps of: determining if the HBA is coupled to a Fibre Channel (FC) fabric; determining if the fabric supports N_Port ID Virtualization (NPIV); instantiating a FC link (vlink) if the HBA is coupled to the FC fabric and the FC fabric supports NPIV; and in response to the instantiation of the vlink, replicating selected driver software to provide replicated driver software for managing the instantiated vlink and enabling the vlink to interact with the host OS, the replicated driver software forming a logical vlink driver for the instantiated vlink, wherein both the selected driver software and the replicated driver software are in shared communication with the HBA.