Patent ID: 7797394

Claim:
A storage enclosure, comprising: a first expander port within a storage enclosure; a second expander port within the storage enclosure; a first storage enclosure processor within the storage enclosure; a second storage enclosure processor within the storage enclosure; wherein a first command line is coupled between the first expander port and each of the first storage enclosure processor and the second storage enclosure processor, and wherein the first storage enclosure processor is operable to monitor operational status of the second storage enclosure processor and receive commands routed from each of the first expander port and the second expander port; wherein a second command line is coupled between the second expander port and each of the first storage enclosure processor and the second storage enclosure processor, and wherein the second storage enclosure processor is operable to monitor operational status of the first storage enclosure processor and receive commands routed from each of the first expander port and the second expander port; and wherein an interrupt and a command initiated by either the first expander port or the second expander port is received by each of the first storage enclosure processor and the second storage enclosure processor, wherein each storage enclosure processor masks the interrupt if the interrupt was initiated by the expander port associated with the other storage enclosure processor, and wherein the first storage enclosure processor or the second storage enclosure processor are operable to process the command; and if it is determined that one of the first storage enclosure processor and the second storage enclosure processor is not operational, the operational storage enclosure processor unmasks the interrupt received from the expander port associated with the non-operational enclosure processor.