Patent ID: 7240116

Claim:
A method for determining configuration data comprising: performing a command request to dynamically modify a communication path between a first group of devices of a first storage system and a second group of devices of a second data storage system, wherein said command request is one of dynamically creating a new group or dynamically removing a group, and said command request modifies dynamic configuration data about both said first group of devices and said second group of devices referenced by a same group identifier; updating dynamic configuration data in accordance with the performing; determining if said dynamic configuration data includes data about the first and second groups; and if said determining determines that the dynamic configuration data includes data about the first and second groups, using the dynamic configuration data, and otherwise using static configuration data about the first and second groups, wherein the communication path is used for automatically copying data from the first group of devices to the second group of devices when a write operation occurs to the first group of devices.