Patent ID: 8904122

Claim:
A method for managing storage space in a storage port queue, the method comprising: establishing low, intermediate, and high watermarks for a storage port queue associated with a storage port; receiving, at the storage port, a command having an initiator-target-LUN (ITL) nexus associated therewith; processing the command in the event used space in the storage port queue has not reached the low watermark; in the event the used space has reached the low watermark but not the intermediate watermark, rejecting the command if a first number of commands for the ITL nexus is already present in the storage port queue, and processing the command if the first number of commands for the ITL nexus is not already present in the storage port queue; in the event the used space has reached the intermediate watermark but not the high watermark rejecting the command if a second number of commands for the ITL nexus is already present in the storage port queue, and processing the command if the second number of commands for the ITL nexus is not already present in the storage port queue, wherein the second number is smaller than the first number; and rejecting the command in the event the used space has reached the high watermark.