Patent ID: 7818606

Claim:
A method, comprising: recognizing a first switch having a first path to a first target, which is coupled to a logical unit, and a second path to a second target; recognizing a second switch having a first path to the first target and a second path to the second target, the second target being coupled to the logical unit; wherein in a first state the first path from the first switch to the first target is active, the second path from the first switch to the second target is passive, the first path from the second switch to the first target is active and the second path from the second switch to the second target is passive, identifying to the first and second switches that the first target is a default owner for the logical unit; determining that the first path from the first switch to the first target is lost; determining that the first switch should issue a trespass command to the second target, if the first path from the first switch to the first target is lost, to enable the first paths to the first target to become inactive and the second paths to the second target to become active; generating a trespass window from the trespass command, the trespass window being a time interval that is greater than an amount of time expected for a trespass operation to complete; determining that the second path from the second switch to the second target is lost; and determining whether the first switch should issue a trespass command to the second target based upon whether the trespass window is expired and the identifying of the default owner, wherein a trespass command instructs a passive target for the logical unit to become active.