Patent ID: 8112507

Claim:
A device comprising: a first protocol engine (PE) to process tasks to be forwarded to a first remote node in a network that includes a plurality of remote nodes, the plurality of remote nodes including the first remote node and another remote node, the first remote node being a bridge and having two or more attached sub-nodes, the first remote node and the sub-nodes each having an identical serial attached storage (SAS) protocol address, the sub-nodes being attached behind the first remote node in the network; a remote node search unit (RNSU) having a three-dimensional (3-D) task list corresponding to tasks to be forwarded to the plurality of remote nodes, respective remote nodes in the plurality of remote nodes having different respective SAS protocol addresses, the tasks in the list to be forwarded to the respective remote nodes using the different respective SAS protocol addresses; and a connection pointer to be assigned the different respective SAS protocol addresses to open different respective connections between the respective remote nodes and the first PE, the connection pointer to be assigned the identical SAS protocol address of the first remote node and the sub-nodes in such a way as to permit the connection pointer to be used to keep open a connection between the first PE and the first remote node until the following occurrence: no tasks remain in the three-dimensional task list that are for the first remote node and the two or more sub-nodes; the connection pointer to be assigned another one of the different respective SAS addresses to open another connection with the another remote node after the occurrence; the RNSU also including a bit to be set after closing of the connection between the first PE and the first remote node to indicate that a subsequent servicing of one or more tasks in the task list is to be deferred, the bit to be reset after deferral of the subsequent servicing.