Patent ID: 7203730

Claim:
A storage management device for exchanging data between a plurality of computers that are external to the storage management device and a plurality of storage devices that are external to the storage management device, the storage management device comprising: one or more control modules, each having one or more first data ports; one or more storage control modules, each having one or more second data ports; one or more data stores; a switch fabric configured to selectively exchange data among said first data ports and said second data ports, some of said first data ports and said second data ports to communicate data with said computers that are external to the storage management device, others of said first data ports and said second data ports to communicate data with said storage devices that are external to the storage management device; first program code adapted to execute on each of said one or more control modules, and second program code adapted to execute on each of said one or more storage control modules, said first program code comprising: a first code component configured to operate one of said control modules to issue a request for device information; a second code component configured to operate one of said storage control modules to receive said request for device information and in response thereto to obtain device information corresponding to one or more of said one or more storage devices, said device information being stored in said one or more data stores; and a third code component configured to operate one of said control modules to receive said device information and in response thereto to initialize, characterize, and profile said corresponding storage devices.