Patent ID: 7571387

Claim:
A computer-implemented method in which at least one computer system initiates execution of instructions retrieved from storage to facilitate management of a storage area network, the computer-implemented method comprising: displaying a list of managed objects associated with respective resources in the storage area network; receiving a command to display view mode options associated with a set of at least two managed objects in the list; and in response to receiving the command, displaying a menu of view mode options that can be applied to each of the at least two managed objects in the set, the menu excluding any view mode options associated with the at least two managed objects that cannot be applied to all managed objects in the set; receiving a selection of a given view mode option from the menu; in response to receiving the selection of the given view mode in the menu, simultaneously displaying the at least two managed objects according to the given view mode; wherein simultaneously displaying the at least two managed objects according to the given view mode includes displaying a first view of corresponding logical storage area network connectivity, the first view based on a viewing of the at least two managed objects with respect to a set of other resources in the storage area network related to the set of at least two managed objects, the computer-implemented method further comprising: initiating display of focus history information in the first view of the corresponding logical storage area network connectivity, the focus history information indicating that the first view of the corresponding logical storage area network connectivity is based on the at least two managed objects; receiving a selection of a particular resource from the set of other resources displayed in the first view of corresponding logical storage area network connectivity; in response to receiving the selection of the particular resource, expanding the first view of the corresponding logical storage area network connectivity into a second view, the second view including display of the set of at least two managed objects and an additional set of resources associated with the particular resource; and in addition to expanding the first view to the second view, updating display of the focus history information to indicate that the second view of the corresponding logical storage area network connectivity is based on the particular resource.