Patent ID: 8825919

Claim:
A method for collecting path performance data, comprising: performing a first discovery scan and a second discovery scan according to a predetermined schedule, wherein the first discovery scan and the second discovery scan determine elements of at least one input/output (I/O) data path for at least one host; collecting first path performance data for the at least one I/O data path following the first discovery scan; collecting second path performance data for the at least one I/O data path following the second discovery scant; and providing a user interface having a controller to control collection of the first path performance data and collection of the second path performance data for a plurality of I/O data paths of the at least one host, wherein elements of the plurality of I/O data paths are grouped using the user interface, wherein a change in any I/O path of the plurality of I/O data paths determined between the first discovery scan and the second discovery scan automatically causes the collecting of the second path performance data to be modified to correspond to the change, wherein the collection of the first path performance data and the collection of the second path performance data occurs for multiple I/O paths of the plurality of I/O data paths of the at least one host, wherein the controller enables a consolidated analysis of the multiple I/O data paths, and wherein each of the collections is synchronized for all elements of the multiple I/O data paths to collect statistics for the elements at a same time.