Patent ID: 7987226

Claim:
In a data processing system having a server device which is connected to a target network device, a method comprising: creating, on the server device, a group of data management objects including: (a) a boot station, wherein said boot station operates as a boot server; and (b) a dump collection point, wherein said dump collection point operates as a dump server; generating, using the server device, software (S/W) targets using: (a) the boot server; and (b) the dump server; providing backing storage of a plurality of backing files on the target network device by using the software (S/W) targets exported from the server device; assigning, using the server device, a set of backing files that are included in the plurality of backing files to block ranges of the target network device; mapping, using the server device, a request from a client to the set of backing files according to an identification of the client based on one or more of: (a) an IP address; and (b) identification of an associated initiator; enabling the client to access the target network device in order to access the set of backing files, wherein said set of backing files contain one or more of: (a) a boot image file; and (b) a file for storing dump images; and identifying via block range mapping (a) a boot image within a first set of files for the client and (b) a second set of files for collection of a dump image from the client, wherein said first set of files provides a first block range for read requests and said second set of files provides a second block range for write requests, and wherein said first and second set of files are included in said set of backing files.