Patent ID: 7080133

Claim:
A method performed by a controller coupled to a computer storage network for configuring the computer storage network, the computer storage network comprising a plurality of devices coupled together through full duplex bi-directional ports, each of said devices comprising at least two of the ports, each of said ports having at least two states, said network further comprising an initiator coupled to said plurality of devices, wherein said initiator can issue a request for any one of said ports in said plurality of devices to assume any one of said at least two states, wherein each of said ports, when in a first of said at least two states and as part of one of said plurality of devices, is able to bi-directionally communicate with another of said ports in another of the plurality of devices, wherein each of said ports, when in a second of said at least two states and as part of one of said plurality of devices, is coupled to itself by having an output thereof coupled to an input thereof, said method comprising: inhibiting said initiator from issuing any requests for any of said ports of said plurality of devices to assume one of said at least two states, sending data to said initiator, said data including a port information map describing a desired state for each of the ports in said plurality of devices, and enabling, after inhibiting and sending, said initiator to issue requests for said selected ports in said plurality of devices to assume corresponding desired states described by said data, wherein each of said desired states corresponds to one of the at least two states.