Patent ID: 8171414

Claim:
A method for managing a computer network, comprising: operating a plurality of servers connected to the network, each server of the plurality of servers connected to one or more storage devices; organizing a plurality of volumes across the plurality of servers, wherein each volume is a logical arrangement of the one or more storage devices connected to a particular server; consolidating two or more selected volumes of the plurality of volumes into a group of volumes using a graphical user interface, wherein at least two volumes in the group of volumes are located on separate servers of the plurality of servers; identifying a party interested in statistical information related to operation of the group of volumes using the graphical user interface; polling all servers within the group of volumes, by a monitoring process, for statistical information; combining statistical information from the servers within the group of volumes in order to provide a statistical information for the group of volumes; displaying, on the graphical user interface, the statistical information for the group of volumes; comparing the monitored statistical information to a threshold value to determine whether an event has occurred; and in response to determining that an event has occurred, notifying the interested party.