Patent ID: 8751741

Claim:
A plurality of storage controllers within a clustered storage system, each of the storage controllers communicatively coupling host systems with storage devices, wherein each of the storages controllers comprises: an interface operable to communicate with other storage controllers within the clustered storage system; and a control unit operable to generate a proposed Logical Unit Number (LUN) for a logical volume provisioned at the storage devices, and to communicate with each of the other storage controllers within the clustered storage system requesting that the other storage controllers determine if the proposed LUN is in use, responsive to determining that the proposed LUN is not in use by the other storage controllers, the control unit is further operable to: assign the proposed LUN to the logical volume; and responsive to determining that the proposed LUN is in use by at least one of the other storage controller, the control unit is further operable to: generate a new proposed LUN; re-try communication with each of the other storage controllers requesting that the other storage controllers determine if the new proposed LUN is in use; and assign the new proposed LUN to the logical volume responsive to determining that the new proposed LUN is not in use by the other storage controllers.