Patent ID: 7716261

Claim:
A computer-implemented method of assigning a logical volume identifier comprising computer-implemented acts of: identifying a first logical volume that is stored on a first storage element in a computer system comprising a plurality of storage elements of a storage domain including the first storage element, each of the plurality of storage elements storing at least one logical volume, said first logical volume being one of a plurality of all logical volumes in the storage domain, wherein the computer system further comprises at least one node that stores information indicating a logical volume identifier for each of the plurality of all logical volumes in the storage domain that has been assigned a logical volume identifier and a communications network that couples together the plurality of storage elements, and wherein each of the plurality of storage elements is a unitary storage system comprising at least one physical storage device and comprising at least one port visible to the at least one node via the communications network; and assigning to the first logical volume, at the at least one node, a first logical volume identifier that is different from each of the other logical volume identifiers assigned to others of said plurality of all logical volumes in the storage domain and is independent of a physical storage location of the first logical volume, said first logical volume identifier uniquely identifying said first logical volume among the plurality of all logical volumes in the storage domain; wherein the first logical volume is accessible via the at least one port of the first storage element via the first logical volume identifier.