Patent ID: 7366784

Claim:
A storage apparatus, comprising: a processor; a memory; at least one storage device operable to provide storage resources for storing user data over a network to at least one network entity and comprising a plurality of virtual volumes; a storage controller, coupled to the at least one storage device; a network interface connectable to the virtual local area network (VLAN) switch; a user interface; wherein the processor is at least intermittently coupled to the memory, the storage controller and the network interface; wherein the memory comprises configuration information including information on at least one file system, the at least one file system being used by a computer different from the storage apparatus to store data in the storage apparatus, each file system being managed by each of a plurality of file server modules, information on mapping of a plurality of segments of a virtual local area network (VLAN) connectable by the network interface to the at least one file system and information on mapping of the plurality of virtual volumes of the at least one storage device to the at least one file system; wherein the processor, the memory, the storage controller and the network interface are operable to control the virtual local area network (VLAN) switch to map the plurality of segments to the at least one file system and the plurality of virtual volumes to the at least one file system based upon the configuration information; wherein at least one of the processor or the network interface control access to the plurality of virtual volumes based upon the configuration information such that a specific network entity associated with at least one of the plurality of segments is allowed to access the plurality of virtual volumes within the at least one file system: wherein the user interface is operable to provide a user with information on mapping between the at least one file system and the plurality of segments of the virtual local area network (VLAN) and information on mapping between the at least one file system and the plurality of virtual volumes; and wherein at least one of the processor, the memory, the storage controller and the user interface is operable to update the configuration information based on a request of the user mapping and un-mapping the plurality of segments of the VLAN to the at least one file system and update the configuration information based on the request of the user mapping and un-mapping the plurality of volumes to the at least one file system.