Patent ID: 7548975

Claim:
A method of implementing storage virtualization in a storage area network, the method comprising: creating a virtual enclosure, the virtual enclosure being a virtual entity having one or more virtual ports and being adapted for representing one or more virtual storage units, each of the virtual storage units representing one or more physical storage locations on one or more physical storage units of the storage area network, wherein creating the virtual enclosure includes receiving an indication of a number of virtual ports to be included in the virtual enclosure; associating each of the virtual ports of the virtual enclosure with a port of a network device within the storage area network to create a set of virtual port associations such that the virtual ports of the virtual enclosure are associated with one or more ports of one or more network devices within the storage area network, wherein each of the virtual ports is associated with the same port or a different port from other virtual port associations and wherein each of the virtual ports is associated with the same network device or a different network device from other virtual port associations, thereby enabling one or more network devices within the storage area network to be associated with the virtual ports; and assigning an address or identifier to each of the virtual ports; wherein the step of associating includes sending a message from a first network device to a port of a second network device within the storage area network to instruct the port of the second network device to handle messages addressed to the address or identifier assigned to the associated virtual port that are received by the port of the second network device subsequent to the message sent by the first network device such that the first network device instructs the port of the second network device to act on behalf of the virtual port.