Patent ID: 8204980

Claim:
A method comprising: selecting a path for an I/O in a storage area network, the selecting comprising: receiving path configuration information for paths associated with a host device connected to the storage area network, a listing of components within the storage area network, and a notification of a component failure within the storage area network; correlating the received path configuration information, the received listing of components, and the received notification of the component failure to determine one or more paths associated with the host device affected by the component failure; transmitting to the host device an alert for the one or more affected paths comprising state information for each of the affected paths, the transmitting comprising: transmitting a first state if an affected path is operating; transmitting a second state if an affected path is not operating; transmitting a third state if an affected path is not operating as expected; and transmitting a fourth state if an affected path is experiencing problems and it cannot be determined if an affected path is not operating or is not operating as expected; and selecting, by a path management module, an alternative one of the paths associated with the host device connected to the storage area network to avoid the failed component.