Patent ID: 7827260

Claim:
An apparatus for configuring a network feature for a network fabric, the apparatus comprising: a SAN fabric comprising a plurality of switches coupled to each other; a plurality of host data processors coupled to the SAN fabric; a plurality of storage devices coupled to the SAN fabric; a plurality of agents coupled to the SAN fabric; a feature configuration manager comprising an input module configured to receive a network feature configuration for a network fabric, wherein the network fabric is a heterogeneous storage area network (“SAN”) comprising a set of devices from two or more different vendors; a discovery module configured to determine the zone control network feature capabilities of each of a plurality of agents coupled to the network fabric, the zone control network feature capabilities specifying the relative ability of each agent to perform zone control on the set of devices from the two or more different vendors; a selection module configured to select a preferred agent from the plurality of agents based on the determined zone control network feature capabilities of the plurality of agents; an assignment module configured to assign the preferred agent to apply the network feature configuration to the network fabric through a management interface coupling the preferred agent to the network fabric; and a lock module configured to prevent an agent from applying another network feature configuration to the network fabric as the preferred agent applies the network feature configuration to the network fabric; wherein at least one of the input module, discovery module, selection module, assignment module, and lock module is implemented in a tangible memory, and wherein the preferred agent comprises a capabilities module configured to provide zone control capability information to the feature configuration manager; a task module configured to receive a zone control configuration from the feature configuration manager; and a customization module configured to apply the zone control configuration to the SAN fabric through a management interface coupling the preferred agent to the SAN fabric.