Patent ID: 7779423

Claim:
An apparatus to detect entity changes in a storage area network (SAN) and to report entity changes using multiple references for a single event, the apparatus comprising a processor and: a discovery module configured to: probe a plurality of entities of a SAN by directly querying the plurality of entities to detect a first event of one of a plurality of possible events in response to a policy; store attributes of the probed entities; and report the first event with a probe event reference, wherein the plurality of entities are configured to generate a response in response to receiving a query from the discovery module; a monitor module configured to receive a self-announced event reference of the first event in response to an entity communicating the self-announced event reference, which self-announced event reference is autonomously generated by one or more of the plurality of entities in response to the first event; a configuration module configured to record the first event as an initiated event reference that indicates that the first event was initiated by an administrator in response to determining that the first event is initiated by the administrator; and an event manager configured to: determine if the first event is valid using multiple references, the multiple references comprising probe event references generated for the first event, self-announced event references generated for the first event, and initiated event references generated for the first event, synthesize a report comprising an entry for a plurality of events in the SAN, including an entry for the first event, wherein the entry for the first event in the report is generated from the multiple references for the first event, wherein the report is displayed for the administrator.