Patent ID: 8627418

Claim:
A method for accessing data in a storage area network, comprising: receiving a request for a list of targets on the storage area network from a requestor; exposing all the targets on the storage area network to the requestor; requesting authentication requiring a password from the requestor to grant access to the targets on the storage area network, wherein the password is generated based on a name of one of the targets; granting access to the targets if the password is acceptable; and refusing access to the targets if the password is unacceptable, wherein the granting and the refusing are performed without utilizing mapping techniques having any prior knowledge of the requestor, and wherein the access to the targets is invoked upon establishment of an initial relationship between the requestor and the targets on the storage area network, wherein the password is an Internet Small Computer System Interface Qualified Name (IQN), wherein the password is uniquely indexed through a target-name and a user name pair for each of the targets.