Patent ID: 7706303

Claim:
Apparatus comprising: a processor-implemented interface to communicate with at least one physical server, the at least one physical server hosting a plurality of virtual servers and being connectable via a plurality of gateway ports to a storage area network (SAN); and a virtual server manager configured to: arrange the plurality of gateway ports in a plurality of port pools; define a virtual server group including a plurality of virtual servers; determine in which of one or more port pools a virtual server group is permitted access to at least one gateway port; define a pool listing for the virtual server group, the pool listing defining a selected number of the plurality of gateway ports from the one or more port pools available for access by the virtual server group; associate each virtual server with one or more port pools, the one or more port pools defining available gateway ports for access by the particular virtual server; and provide configuration instructions to allow the particular virtual server to communicate with the SAN through the available gateway ports.