Patent ID: 8266472

Claim:
A data storage system comprising: a data repository to store data; an active storage controller coupled to the data repository via at least one network device; a standby storage controller coupled to the active storage controller and the data repository via the at least one network device, the standby storage controller configured to monitor an active status of the active storage controller to detect failover of the active storage controller, the monitoring to check whether the active storage controller is running and answering requests, the monitoring neither requiring an acknowledgement from the active storage controller nor a status message to be generated by the active storage controller; and at least one communications link to couple at least one client to the active storage controller and to the standby storage controller to access the data in the data repository via the active storage controller and the standby storage controller, the standby storage controller being configured to become active and at least partially inhibit network connectivity of the active storage controller during the failover, without requiring a host computer to either control the failover or provide switching operations during the failover.