Patent ID: 7287193

Claim:
A method for correlating error events of a cluster, the method comprising: identifying systems of the cluster potentially impacted by an error based upon a topology of the cluster, wherein a first system of the systems of the cluster includes two ports for communicating with other systems of the cluster, wherein the topology of the cluster comprises loop data describing a loop including the first system and a second system in the systems of the cluster via the two ports; identifying an error event associated with the first system, from the error events; and selecting the error event based upon error identification data associated with the error event, wherein selecting the error event comprises comparing the error identification data with the loop data to identify an error in the loop including the first system and the second system in the systems of the cluster, to report the error to a maintenance provider; wherein selecting the error event comprises at least one of: (i) identifying a redundant error event of the error events, the redundant error event having error identification data that describes the error, wherein the error event and the redundant error event are associated with the first system of the systems and the loop; (ii) identifying a duplicate error event of the error events, the duplicate error event having error identification data that describes the error, wherein the error event is associated with a first system of the systems and a loop and a second error event is associated with a second system of the systems and the loop; and (iii) identifying a symptomatic error event of the error events, the symptomatic error event having error identification data that describes a second error, wherein the second error results from the error.