Patent ID: 8880687

Claim:
A system for detecting idle virtual storage servers, the system comprising: a host system configured for: executing a plurality of virtual storage servers, each virtual storage server comprising a virtual machine implementing a storage operating system for providing data storage services to one or more network connected client systems; allocating hardware resources of the host system to each virtual storage server; detecting that a virtual storage server is idle by: monitoring network activity of the virtual storage server; determining that no network activity has occurred on the virtual storage server for a predetermined time period; and identifying the virtual storage server as an idle virtual storage server each virtual storage server is allocated one or more virtual interfaces, each virtual interface having an associated Internet Protocol (IP) address; and suspending an identified idle virtual storage server by: releasing the hardware resources of the host system allocated to the identified idle virtual storage server for availability to another virtual storage server; and transferring the IP addresses associated with the identified idle virtual storage server to virtual interfaces of a placeholder virtual machine configured on the host system.