Patent ID: 7647431

Claim:
A computer-implemented method, the computer comprising a computer processor, a computer memory operatively coupled to the computer processor, the computer memory having disposed within it computer program instructions capable of executing the method, the method comprising: sending device commands from a plurality of independent server blades through an I/O controller included in each server blade; maintaining an uninterrupted first protocol connection conforming to a first protocol between each of the I/O controllers and a plurality of device interfaces each device interface corresponding to one of the I/O controllers; emulating a plurality of mass storage devices conforming to a second protocol which appear at one end of each device interface and to which the commands are directed; wherein the commands are sent across the device interfaces according to the first protocol and encapsulate commands according to the second protocol; deriving the encapsulated second protocol commands from the first protocol commands; translating the derived second protocol commands to a third protocol which corresponds to the protocol of a local removable-media drive; serializing and conditionally redirecting the translated commands to the drive; and in response to receiving a specific command received through a specific device interface: passing the specific command to the drive and returning the result of the specific command through the specific device interface in response to a predetermined condition; and suppressing the specific command to the drive and returning an indication through the specific device interface that no media is present irrespective of whether media is present in the drive in response to a lack of the predetermined condition.