Patent ID: 7103686

Claim:
A method for providing device type information using a Fibre Channel network, comprising the operations of: obtaining device type information for a device coupled to a Fibre Channel based network; constructing an address database having a device entry for the device, by defining the device entry by a device address and the device type information, the device address associating a Fibre Channel Address with a SCSI-based address, the SCSI-based address including a port target identifier (port target ID) and a logical unit identifier (LUN ID), wherein the address database facilitates translation of an operating system independent command received by a Fibre Channel wrapper module into a Fibre Channel command usable by a Fibre Channel layer module that is in communication with a Fibre Channel controller, the operating system independent command being a Common Hardware Interface Module (CHIM) command; receiving a request for the device type information from a SCSI-based network application, wherein the request includes the SCSI-based address; and returning the device type information and the Fibre Channel Address associated with the SCSI-based address to the requesting application.