Patent ID: 7697554

Claim:
Apparatus for use in a storage system comprising a fabric having a database that associates Fibre Channel names and Fibre Channel addresses of Fibre Channel ports coupled to it, the apparatus comprising: a plurality of groups of logical units of storage; at least one physical port coupled to the groups through which the groups can be coupled to a fabric; each group assigned a unique virtual port address for each physical port to which it is coupled; a first said group comprising a source virtual array, the source virtual array having at least one source virtual port coupled to the fabric, each source virtual port having a source virtual port name and a source virtual port address; a second said group comprising a destination virtual array, the destination virtual array having one or more destination virtual ports coupled to the fabric, each destination virtual port having a destination virtual port name and a destination virtual port address; logic for copying all data resident on the source virtual array to the destination virtual array; logic for replacing the destination virtual port names with the source virtual port names; logic for causing the fabric to reload its name server database so that the database associates the source virtual port names with the destination virtual port addresses.