Patent ID: 8031703

Claim:
A method comprising: within a network fabric, identifying a plurality of fabric subsets, such that networked devices coupled to the network fabric that are included in a particular fabric subset of the plurality of fabric subsets are permitted to exchange information with each other; identifying a plurality of fabric subset configurations, such that each particular fabric subset configuration includes one or more fabric subsets of the plurality of fabric subsets that are active when the particular fabric subset configuration is active; detecting that a first networked device has become uncoupled from the network fabric; and in response to detecting that the first networked device has become uncoupled: automatically modifying the plurality of fabric subsets; and automatically modifying the plurality of fabric subset configurations wherein: a first fabric subset includes the first networked device; and a first fabric subset configuration includes the first fabric subset: modifying the plurality of fabric subsets comprises modifying the first fabric subset such that the modified first fabric subset does not include the first networked device; and modifying the plurality of fabric subset configurations comprises modifying the first fabric subset configuration such that the modified first fabric subset configuration does not include the first fabric subset.