Patent ID: 7606889

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of comparing configurations of a storage area network in which a computer system performs operations comprising: importing a first configuration file and a second configuration file into a first configuration tree and a second configuration tree, the first configuration file representing a first configuration of a storage area network and the second configuration file representing a second configuration of the storage area network; processing the first configuration tree and the second configuration tree into a first comparison tree and a second comparison tree, wherein processing the first configuration tree and the second configuration tree comprises: converting or modifying the format of the first and second configuration trees to one that is compatible with a comparison routine that performs an unordered comparison; removing irrelevant information and/or inserting additional information into the first and second comparison trees; and adding pointers to the first comparison tree and to the second comparison tree, each pointer in the first comparison tree referring back to the equivalent part of the first configuration tree and each pointer in the second comparison tree referring back to the equivalent part of the second configuration tree, wherein the pointers carry over regardless of any changes made to the format of the first and second comparison trees; and performing the unordered comparison on the first configuration tree and the second configuration tree to produce a difference file, the difference file identifying changes between the first configuration of the storage area network and the second configuration of the storage area network.