Patent ID: 8190696

Claim:
A method for managing alias information associated with fibre channel end devices, the method comprising: receiving a world wide name associated with a fibre channel end device at a first fibre channel switch in a first fibre channel fabric in a first zone, the first fibre channel switch operating as an alias master; receiving an alias associated with the fibre channel end device at the first fibre channel switch; creating a one-to-one correspondence between the world wide name and the alias at the first fibre channel switch; distributing the one-to-one correspondence between the world wide name and the alias to a plurality of fibre channel switches physically connected to the first fibre channel switch in the first fibre channel fabric, wherein the plurality of fibre channel switches operate as a plurality of alias slaves; and migrating the fibre channel end device to a second fibre channel switch, wherein the alias is checked for conflicts if the second fibre channel switch resides in a different fibre channel fabric but a conflict check is not needed if the second fibre channel device resides in a different zone in the first fibre channel fabric.