Patent ID: 7805565

Claim:
A method for storing digital data in a virtualization storage system having one or more using systems having virtual volume mappings, a storage subsystem, and one or more physical storage devices, the method comprising: a) creating a virtual storage volume; b) communicating the location of the virtual storage volume to the storage subsystem; c) identifying a mapping type between the virtual volume and at least one virtual volume-related physical device; d) creating virtualization metadata describing the virtual volume, the mapping type, and the virtual volume-related physical device; and e) associating at least a portion of the virtualization metadata with the virtual volume-related physical device; f) providing at least a portion of the stored virtualization metadata to the using system; and g) updating virtual volume information in the using system such that the using system responds to a request for specified data stored by allowing the using system to access the specified data that was originally requested by direct access to the at least one virtual volume related physical device if the storage subsystem is unable to identify the virtual volume-related physical device as a result of a failure of the virtual volume.