Patent ID: 7447939

Claim:
A method comprising: configuring a virtualization layer to interface between a host and at least one storage device, wherein the virtualization layer defines at least one virtual volume comprising objects defining a mapping from the at least one virtual volume to data in the at least one storage device, wherein the objects are distributed across more than one processor in the virtualization layer and comprise a virtualization database; storing information about a state of the at least one storage device in the virtualization database; establishing a state manager for each processor, wherein the state manager monitors the state of the at least one storage device; issuing a quiescence instruction to the state manager for each processor; and responsive to receiving the quiescence instruction by the state manager, halting long term operations underway at the time the quiescence instruction is received, and completing short term operations comprising operations that are other than long term operations and that are underway at the time the quiescence instruction is received.