Patent ID: 8069229

Claim:
A storage area network (SAN) management system for managing zoning of a SAN, the SAN management system comprising: at least one storage device configured to store information regarding topology of a SAN including information identifying one or more zones of the SAN; a zone manager module configured to generate an event signal identifying a topology change in the SAN and at least one zone of the SAN associated with the topology change, wherein the topology change is associated with a status change of at least one node of the SAN; a monitoring module configured to: receive the event signal from the zone manager module, retrieve information from the at least one storage device related to the at least one zone identified by the event signal and related to the at least one node of the SAN associated with the topology change, wherein the retrieved information indicates a current type of the at least one zone from a plurality of zone types, wherein the plurality of zone types includes a strict topology-static zone (ts-zone) type, a non-strict ts-zone type, a loose ts-zone type and a non ts-zone type, and one or more types of ports associated with the at least one node of the SAN, and generate a correction request responsive to the event signal, wherein the correction request includes an operation that, upon execution, reconfigures the at least one zone and, based on the current type of the at least one zone and the one or more types of the ports associated with the at least one node of the SAN, results in a final zone type from the plurality of zone types being associated with the reconfigured at least one zone; and a switch manager module configured to receive and execute the correction request, and update the at least one storage device with the reconfigured at least one zone and the final zone type associated with the reconfigured at least one zone obtained as a result of the execution of the correction request.