Zone group reassignment using storage device signatures

1. A method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure, comprising:

detecting when the physical storage enclosure is added to a fabric;

creating a signature from each storage device in the physical storage enclosure;

comparing the signature against the signature of a physical storage enclosure that is offline;

when the created signature matches the signature of the offline storage enclosure, copying zone groups from the offline storage enclosure to the physical storage enclosure that was added to the fabric.

2. The method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the signature is based on the serial numbers of each of the storage devices in the physical storage enclosure.

3. The method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the fabric comprises at least one serial attached SCSI (SAS) switch.

4. The method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure of claim 1 , wherein each of the storage devices in the physical storage enclosure is a storage device selected from the group: a hard disk drive, a tape drive, or a solid state device.

5. The method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:

when the new signature does not match the signature of the offline storage enclosure, storing a zone group record for the physical storage enclosure in a non-volatile storage location wherein the zone group record includes the signature of the new storage enclosure based on the storage devices loaded in it.

6. The method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure of claim 5 , further comprising:

detecting when a change is made to the storage devices in the physical storage enclosure and;

updating the zone group record to reflect the change in storage devices.

7. The method for assigning zone groups to a physical storage enclosure of claim 5 , further comprising:

detecting when each storage device is assigned into a zone group;

associating the zone group assignments with the signatures; and

storing the zone group assignments in the non-volatile storage location.

8. A switch, comprising:

a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports;

logic for controlling access between the plurality of input ports and the plurality of output ports, the logic limiting access from the input ports to the output ports based on a zone group record;

wherein the zone group record comprises:

a list of input ports that are included in each zone group; and

at least one storage enclosure record comprising:

a storage enclosure logical ID;

a listing of drive bays in the storage enclosure, the zone groups associated with each drive bay and a signature of a storage device loaded in each of the drive bays; and

logic to, in response to detecting a new storage enclosure being coupled to one of the plurality of output ports;

create a signature from each storage device loaded in the new storage enclosure;

compare the signature of the new storage enclosure with the signature of an offline storage device: and

copy all zone groups from the offline storage device to the new storage device if the new storage enclosure matches the signature of the offline storage device.

9. The switch of claim 8 , wherein the switch is a serial attached SCSI (SAS) switch.

10. The switch of claim 8 , further comprising:

at least one storage enclosure coupled to at least one of the output ports;

the logic detecting a change to a storage device loaded in the storage enclosure;

in response to the detected change the logic updating the zone group record.

11. The switch of claim 10 , wherein each of the storage devices loaded in at least one storage enclosure is a storage device selected from the group: a hard disk drive, a tape drive, or a solid state device.

12. A switch, comprising:

a plurality of input ports and a plurality of output ports;

means for controlling access between the plurality of input ports and the plurality of output ports, the means for controlling access limiting access from the input ports to the output ports based on a zone group record;

wherein the zone group record comprises:

a list of input ports that are included in each zone group; and

at least one storage enclosure record comprising:

a storage enclosure logical ID;

a listing of drive bays in the storage enclosure, the zone groups associated with each drive bay and a signature of a storage device loaded in each of the drive bays; and

means for, in response to detecting a new storage enclosure being coupled to one of the plurality of output ports:

create a signature from each storage device loaded in the new storage enclosure;

compare the signature of the new storage enclosure with the signature of an offline storage device: and

copy all zone groups from the offline storage device to the new storage device if the new storage enclosure matches the signature of the offline storage device.

13. The method of claim 1 , in which the signature is based on a hash of each of the serial numbers of each of the storage devices in the physical storage enclosure.

14. The method of claim 1 , in which the signature is created based on a unique worldwide ID stored onto a number of storage devices in the storage enclosure.