Patent ID: 6944654

Claim:
A network architecture for management of a storage area network by at least one client which is independent of the storage area network, the network architecture comprising: a storage system including a plurality of storage devices; a plurality of host computers connected to the storage system through a first communications network, the host computers including corresponding agents for gathering operation status information associated with the storage area network; at least one storage management server in communication with the plurality of host computers via the corresponding agents to retrieve the operation status information, the at least one storage management server being adapted to communicate with the at least one client via a web-based second communications network; and the at least one storage management server providing the operation status information received from the corresponding agents to the at least one client via use of the web-based second communications network and an object request broker in the at least one storage management server for ensuring that the at least one client is able to access the at least one storage management server, wherein the at least one storage management server further provides information relating to an operation status of storage connectivity devices, which connect storage devices to the host computers, based on communications with the agents; and the at least one storage management server including: a poller for gathering information relating to an operation status of the storage devices and the storage connectivity devices; and a central repository for storing the operation status information; an object server for distributing the information relating to an operation status of the storage devices and storage connectivity devices to the at least one client.