Patent ID: 8819218

Claim:
An apparatus for device level enablement of a communications protocol, the apparatus comprising: an adapter compatibility module configured to determine an adapter compatibility status for a plurality of host adapters, a positive adapter compatibility status indicating that each host adapter in the plurality of host adapters is compatible with a fibre channel protocol; a processor compatibility module configured to determine a processor compatibility status for one or more processors that coordinate data transfers to and from the plurality of host adapters, a positive processor compatibility status indicating that each of the one or more processors is compatible with the fibre channel protocol; and a compatibility summary module configured to determine a compatibility summary for the plurality of host adapters and the one or more processors, the compatibility summary indicating a positive compatibility relative to the fibre channel protocol in response to a positive processor compatibility status indicating that each of the one or more processors is compatible with the fibre channel protocol and a positive adapter compatibility status indicating that each host adapter in the plurality of host adapters is compatible with the fibre channel protocol; wherein the adapter compatibility module, the processor compatibility module, and the compatibility summary module comprise one or more of circuitry and executable code stored on a computer readable storage medium.