Hardware detection for switchable storage

1 . A data processing apparatus, comprising:

(a) a switch;

(b) a plurality of storage devices, wherein each storage device is connected to said switch;

(c) a plurality of host computers, wherein each host computer:

(i) is connected to said switch such that each host computer is provided with switchable storage;

(ii) has internal storage on which is stored:

(1) first data that is necessary for said communication between itself and the storage devices to which it is connected; and

(2) second data that relates to at least one of said host computers and storage devices;

(iii) is configured to identify each of said host computers that is missing from said second data; and

(iv) is configured to request said first data from each of said identified host computers in order to construct said second data.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each host computer includes adapters and said first data includes information on the adapters that are connected to said switch.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 2 , wherein said information includes the gigabit characteristics of said adapters and the ports of said switch to which said adapters are connected.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein for each said host computer, said first data includes information on the framestore currently controlled by said host.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein said information includes characteristics of the storage devices making up said framestore, including at least one port on said switch to which each device is connected.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein said characteristics of said storage devices include the number of disk drives, the capacity of said disk drives and the gigabit characteristic of said storage device.

7 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein each of said hosts includes a display means on which said second data may be represented graphically.

8 . A method of configuring a switchable storage environment comprising:

storing, in internal data on each of a plurality of host computers, first data necessary for communication between the host computer containing the internal data and one or more storage devices to which the host computer is connected, wherein each host computer is connected to a plurality of storage devices, a plurality of host computers, and a switch;

storing, in the internal data on each host computer, second data that relates to at least one of the plurality of host computers and one of the plurality of storage devices;

each of the plurality of host computers identifying each of said host computers that is missing from said second data; and

each of the plurality of host computers requesting said first data from each of said identified host computers in order to construct said second data.

9 . A method according to claim 8 , wherein each host computer includes a plurality of adapters and said first data includes information on the adapters that are connected to said switch.

10 . A method according to claim 9 , wherehn said information includes the gigabit characteristics of said adapters and the ports of said switch to which said adapters are connected.

11 . A method according claim 8 , wherein for each of said host computers said first data includes information on the framestore currently controlled by said host computer, wherein a framestore is composed of one or more of said storage devices.

12 . A method according to claim 11 , wherein said information includes characteristics of the storage devices making up said framestore, including at least one port on said switch to which each device is connected.

13 . A method according to claim 12 , wherein said characteristics of said storage devices include the number of disk drives, the capacity of said disk drives and the gigabit characteristic of said storage device.

14 . A method according to claim 8 , including the step of displaying said second data graphically on a display means.