Patent ID: 7496723

Claim:
A storage area network (SAN), comprising: one or more host servers, wherein one of the host servers comprises a backup server; a plurality of storage devices; a SAN fabric comprising one or more fabric devices configured to couple the one or more host servers to the plurality of storage devices; wherein one or more of the host servers are configured to store primary data on one or more of the storage devices; wherein, subsequent to the primary data being stored, one or more of the host servers are configured to initiate a backup operation of the primary data to store backup data of the stored primary data on one or more of the storage devices; and wherein one or more of the storage devices comprise one or more archival storage devices, and wherein the backup server is configured to initiate a server-free backup through the SAN fabric of said backup data to one or more of the archival storage devices, wherein to perform said server-free backup, said backup data is copied to the one or more of the archival storage devices through the SAN fabric without said backup data passing through the backup server.