Patent ID: 8086773

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: a switching device including a first wide port, a plurality of first narrow ports and a plurality of second narrow port, the first wide port accommodating a plurality of switching device physical links, each of the first narrow ports accommodating only one first switching device physical link of the plurality of switching device physical links, the first switching device physical link having a first link rate, and each of the second narrow ports accommodating only one second switching device physical link of the plurality of switching device physical links, the second switching device physical link having a second link rate; a plurality of first link rate storage apparatuses, each of the first link rate storage apparatuses being connected to one of the first narrow ports via the first switching device physical link; a plurality of second link rate storage apparatuses, each of the second link rate storage apparatuses being connected to one of the second narrow ports via the second switching device physical link; and an interface for controlling the first link rate storage apparatuses and the second link rate storage apparatuses, the interface accommodating a second wide port, the second wide port accommodating a plurality of interface physical links, the plurality of interface physical links including a first interface physical link and a second interface physical link, wherein both the first wide port of the switching device and the second wide port of the interface are configured to partition the plurality of switching device physical links and the plurality of interface physical links, respectively, into two zones, a first zone of the two zones being used for data communication with the first link rate storage apparatuses and including the first switching device physical link and the first interface physical link, and a second zone of the two zones being used for data communication with the second link rate storage apparatuses and including the second switching device physical link and the second interface physical link, and wherein both of the first wide port and the second wide port are configured to set up multiplexing settings on the first switching device physical link and the first interface physical link of the first zone that are different from the multiplexing settings on the second switching device physical link and the second interface physical link of the second zone.