Patent ID: 7313636

Claim:
A system comprising: at least one host system wherein each host system has multiple SCSI-3 I/O adapters serving as SCSI-3 initiators for coupling the corresponding host system to a storage system and wherein the multiple SCSI-3 I/O adapters define multiple physical paths between the corresponding host system and a storage system; at least one process operable on each of said at least one host system wherein each process is adapted to generate a host system request to exchange information with a storage system and wherein the generated host system requests use virtual path information representing any of the multiple physical paths between the corresponding host system and a storage system without indicating a specific physical path of the multiple physical paths; and a multiple-path driver element configured within each of said at least one host system and coupled to each said process to map virtual path information into physical path information for a selected physical path of the multiple physical paths and wherein the multiple-path driver is further adapted to transparently coordinate SCSI-3 Persistent Reservation operations by all processes operable on all host systems of the system.