Patent ID: 7958388

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: one or more memory sections, including: one or more memory devices having storage locations for storing data, and a memory section controller capable of detecting faults in the memory section and transmitting a fault message in response to the detected faults; one or more switches, including one or more interfaces for connecting to one or more external devices; a switch controller that executes software, including a routing algorithm; and a selectively configurable switch fabric connected to one or more memory sections and the one or more interfaces and interconnecting the memory sections and the one or more interfaces based on the routing algorithm; and a management system capable of receiving fault messages from the memory section controllers and inactivating the memory section corresponding to the fault message received by changing the routing algorithm, and wherein the management system is further capable of determining the routing algorithm for use by the selectively configurable switch fabric in interconnecting the memory sections and the one or more interfaces, and providing the routing algorithm to the switch controller.