Patent ID: 8902736

Claim:
A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions for causing a computer system to perform a method comprising: accessing an input/output (I/O) request that is directed to a disk in a disk array; identifying a first path for forwarding said I/O request from a host device to said disk, wherein said first path comprises two endpoints separated by a storage area network, said two endpoints comprising a first initiator endpoint on said host device and a first target endpoint on said disk array; and in response to an indication that said first path is non-functional, identifying a second path to said disk for said I/O request as an alternative to said first path, wherein said second path comprises a second initiator endpoint and a second target endpoint and is identified by selecting a path from among a plurality of paths, wherein said plurality of paths comprises only those paths that have at least one endpoint that is different from said first initiator endpoint and said first target endpoint, wherein said plurality of paths are associated with subpath failover groups, wherein paths in a subpath failover group have common initiator endpoints and common target endpoints.