Abstract: Scanning a storage device for viruses includes determining physical portions of the storage device that have been modified since a previous virus scan and scanning at least parts of the physical portions for viruses. The physical portions may correspond to tracks of the storage device, sectors of the storage device, and/or to subportions of the storage device. Determining the physical portions of the storage device that have been modified may include creating a table that is indexed according to each of the portions and has entries indicating whether a corresponding one of the portions has been modified, the entries being cleared after a virus scan to indicate that no portions have been modified and setting a specific one of the entries in response to a corresponding one of the portions of the storage device being subject to a write operation. Creating the table may include copying an other table provided by the storage device and/or using an other table provided by the storage device.

Abstract: Described are techniques for processing a data storage configuration request for an application A first user level of a plurality of user levels at which said data storage configuration request is made is determined. One or more rule sets defining mappings between different ones of said plurality of user levels are provided. Each of the different user levels is associated with a different level of abstraction with respect to processing performed in the data storage system for implementing the data storage configuration request. One of the rule sets is selected in accordance with the application, a data service requested in said data storage configuration request, and a user grouping including said plurality of user levels. The data storage configuration request is serviced using rules of the selected rule set.

Abstract: Described are techniques for processing a data storage configuration request for an application A first user level of a plurality of user levels at which said data storage configuration request is made is determined. One or more rule sets defining mappings between different ones of said plurality of user levels are provided. Each of the different user levels is associated with a different level of abstraction with respect to processing performed in the data storage system for implementing the data storage configuration request. One of the rule sets is selected in accordance with the application, a data service requested in said data storage configuration request, and a user grouping including said plurality of user levels. The data storage configuration request is serviced using rules of the selected rule set.

Abstract: Detecting computer viruses includes providing a disk space having at least a portion that is partitioned into separate segments, each segment being accessed by at least one of a plurality of hosts. A first one of the segments is accessed using a different file system than a second one of the segments. An antivirus unit scans at least part of the disk space for viruses. The part of the disk space that is scanned by the antivirus unit includes at least some parts of the first and second segments. The first and second segments may correspond to different physical portions of the disk space. The first and second segments may or may not overlap. The first and second segments may correspond to logical entities. Part of the disk space that is scanned by the antivirus unit may correspond to particular types of files stored in the disk space. The disk space that is scanned by the antivirus unit may correspond to files that have been modified since a previous virus scan.

Abstract: This invention is a data storage system that includes logic configured for carrying out a method to allow a so-called “re-labeling” of a logical volume. Re-labeling changes the label configuration originally put in place by the host at a first device and replicated to a second device. The re-labeling takes place during a certain operation that takes the second device offline to a host computer in communication with the data storage system. This re-labeling avoids labeling conflicts that could arise when duplicate labels result on two different devices as a result of the replication.