Patent ID: 8762668

Claim:
A system comprising: a first data storage system including at least one first interface port, a first CPU, a first memory, and a plurality of first logical units; a second data storage system including at least one second interface port, a second CPU, a second memory, and a plurality of second logical units, the second data storage system connected to the first data storage system; a plurality of switches; and a server which is connected with the first data storage system via a first group of the switches and is connected with the second data storage system via a second group of the switches, the first group and the second group having at least one switch which is not included in both the first group and the second group; wherein the first data storage system receives I/O commands targeted to the plurality of first logical units from the server via the first group of switches; wherein the first data storage system maintains a first information regarding the ports of both the first storage system and the second data storage system; wherein the first information is used to generate multipath communication between the server and the first data storage system, including at least one path which passes through the second data storage system and at least one other path which does not pass through the second data storage system; and wherein the first information includes load information for transmitting data between ports of the first data storage system and the plurality of switches and the server and load information for transmitting data between ports of the second data storage system and the plurality of switches and the server.