Patent ID: 7334029

Claim:
A system comprising: a first device; a second device; a third device; and a network for mutually connecting said first, second, and third devices, wherein said first device designates to said second device creation of a storage area having an identifier identical to an identifier assigned to a storage area that is owned by the first device itself and accessed by said third device, said second device creates a storage area having said identifier based on the designation from said first device; and said third device accesses the storage area owned by said second device by using said identifier; wherein said first device and second device are storage devices, and said third device is a computer; wherein each of said first and second devices has one or more ports, and said identifier is associated with the combination of one of said ports and said storage area; wherein said third device establishes a first communication path with a first port corresponding to said identifier of said first device; establishes a second communication path with a second port corresponding to said identifier of said second device after the storage area having said identifier has been created in said second device; and disconnects said first communication path based on the designation of said first device and then conducts communication with said second device by using said second communication path; the system further comprising a name management device connected to said network, wherein said second device sends to said name management device information of said second port together with information of said identifier after the creation of the storage area having said identifier; said name management device notifies said third device that there are changes in information of the storage area corresponding to said identifier based on the information sent from said second device; and said third device establishes said second communication path with said second port based on the notification from said name management device.