Patent ID: 7503045

Claim:
A method for managing a computing grid comprising a plurality of computing resources, wherein the plurality of computing resources comprises a plurality of processors and storage devices, the method comprising: logically partitioning at least a portion of the computing grid into a plurality of partitions, wherein each partition comprises a subset of the plurality of computing resources; dynamically changing a number of computing resources logically assigned to a particular partition from the plurality of partitions; assigning a first partition from the plurality of partitions to a first user; assigning a second partition from the plurality of partitions to a second user; and providing secure access to the first partition and the second partition to allow the first user to access the first partition but not the second partition and the second user to access the second partition but not the first partition, wherein the step of providing secure access is performed using virtual local area network switches, wherein logically partitioning at least a portion of the computing grid into a plurality of partitions further comprises generating instructions to logically couple together the subset of computing resources within each of the plurality of partitions, and wherein logically partitioning at least a portion of the computing grid into a plurality of partitions is performed through a plurality of control ports associated with the plurality of computing resources such that the plurality of computing resources in the computing grid are unable to access computing resources which they are not authorized to access.