Patent ID: 8089889

Claim:
An apparatus to configure a port, the apparatus comprising: a quiesce module configured to quiesce communications at one or more first I/O ports of a multi-port communication adapter while allowing communications at one or more second I/O ports of the multi-port communication adapter; a path module coupled to the quiesce module, the path module configured to remove one or more logical paths between the one or more first I/O ports and one or more remote adapters in anticipation of taking the one or more first I/O ports offline; an offline module coupled to the path module, the offline module configured to take offline the one or more first I/O ports wherein the one or more second I/O ports remain online; and an update module coupled to the offline module, the update module configured to update a port resource of the one or more first I/O ports while allowing a concurrent communication on the one or more second I/O ports of the multi-port communication adapter, wherein the port resource is one or more of a port topology and a port protocol, the update module enabled to update the one or more first I/O ports of the multi-port communication adapter while the one or more first I/O ports are offline, wherein the one or more second I/O ports of the multi-port communication adapter remain online during the updating of the one or more first I/O ports; wherein at least a portion of the offline module and the update module comprise one or more of logic hardware and executable code, the executable code stored on non-transitory computer readable storage media.