Patent ID: 8479210

Claim:
An apparatus for distributing load in a data replication system comprising a first storage device and a second storage device, the apparatus comprising: a processor; a generation module to generate an I/O request for processing in one of a first storage resource group and a second storage resource group; a routing module to direct the I/O request to the first storage device in the event the I/O request is to be processed in the first storage resource group, and to direct the I/O request to the second storage device in the event the I/O request is to be processed in the second storage resource group; a first mirroring module associated with the first storage device to mirror a copy of the I/O request to the second storage device in the event the I/O request is directed to the first storage device; and a second mirroring module associated with the second storage device to mirror a copy of the I/O request to the first storage device in the event the I/O request is directed to the second storage device; the routing module further configured to, in the event the I/O request is to be processed in the first storage resource group but communication with the first storage device fails, redirect the I/O request to the second storage device: and the routing module further configured to, in the event the I/O request is to be processed in the second storage resource group but communication with the second storage device fails, redirect the I/O request to the first storage device.