Patent ID: 7565431

Claim:
A method for providing information on a network storage system, comprising: receiving, by a storage resource manager, information from at least one host system identifying storage units the host systems access through at least one identified storage system; probing, by the storage resource manager, the at least one storage system to determine storage units available through the storage system and an identifier of the storage system, wherein the storage system manages access to the storage units and maintains an assignment of host systems to the storage units; processing, by the storage resource manager, the information received from the host systems on storage units the host systems access and the information probed from the at least one storage system on the storage units available through the storage system; for each storage system determined by probing the at least one storage system, querying, by the storage resource manager, the information received from the host systems on storage units accessed by the host systems to determine at least one host system attached to storage units whose storage unit identifiers match storage unit identifiers available through the storage system; and generating, for each storage system determined by probing the at least one storage system, an association of the determined host systems to storage units for the storage system, wherein the association indicates for each storage system the identifier of the storage system, each storage unit available at the storage system and for each storage unit the at least one host system accessing the storage unit, and wherein the association is generated by using information independently gathered from the host systems and storage systems.