Patent ID: 7185223

Claim:
A method, comprising: partitioning a plurality of processing nodes in a storage system into a plurality of logical processing units, wherein the plurality of logical processing units can respond to I/O requests from a host coupled to the storage system; grouping at least two logical processing units, wherein data in a first storage coupled to a first logical processing unit of the least two logical processing units is mirrored by data in a second storage coupled to the second logical processing unit of the at least two logical processing units; and in response to a failure of the first logical processing unit, responding to an I/O request from the host via the second logical processing unit, wherein the method further comprises: (i) receiving from the first logical processing unit, a request for a reinitialized program load of a logical processing unit; (ii) determining, by one or more partitioning applications coupled to the plurality of logical processing units, whether the logical processing unit is grouped with the first logical processing unit; (iii) if the logical processing unit is grouped with the first logical processing unit, then allowing the reinitialized program load of the logical processing unit; and (iv) if the logical processing unit is not grouped with the first logical processing unit, then preventing the reinitialized program load of the logical processing unit.