Patent ID: 6954768

Claim:
A method for pooling of storage, the method comprising: assigning volume attributes to a plurality of physical volumes by: (a) selecting a first physical volume from the plurality of physical volumes; (b) indicating in a first field of the volume attributes for the first physical volume a home pool for the first physical volume, wherein the home pool is selected from a plurality of storage pools, and wherein the first physical volume can be returned to the home pool in response to the first physical volume being empty; and (c) indicating in a second field of the volume attributes for the first physical volume a current pool for the first physical volume, wherein the current pool is selected from the plurality of storage pools, and wherein the first physical volume is present in the current pool; assigning pool attributes to the plurality of storage pools, wherein the pool attributes include policies for borrowing and returning the plurality of physical volumes to and from the plurality of storage pools; and allocating one of the plurality of physical volumes to one of the plurality of storage pools based on the volume attributes of the one of the plurality of physical volumes and the pool attributes of the one of the plurality of storage pools.