Abstract: A mechanism is provided to automatically retrieve zoning best practices from a centralized repository and to ensure that automatically generated zones do not violate these best practices. A user selects a set of hosts and storage controllers. The user also selects a guidance policy for creating the zone, and also selects a set of validation policies that must be enforced on the zone. If the user selects a guidance policy and a validation policy combination that is incompatible, the mechanism allows the user to change either the selected guidance policy or the set of validation policies. If the user has selected consistent-zoning as a guidance policy, then the mechanism automatically selects a guidance policy that does not violate the known validation policies.

Abstract: An apparatus, system, and method are disclosed for selecting optimal replica sources in a grid computing environment. As disclosed, the present invention overcomes shortcomings in the art involving location and selection of replica sources. In particular, the present invention selects an optimal replica source based on current and historical network statistics, as well as user-defined policies. The user-defined policies allow for customization of the replica source search, and the option of obtaining multiple ranked sources for parallel data transfer.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided to automatically retrieve zoning best practices from a centralized repository and to ensure that automatically generated zones do not violate these best practices. A user selects a set of hosts and storage controllers. The user also selects a guidance policy for creating the zone, and also selects a set of validation policies that must be enforced on the zone. If the user selects a guidance policy and a validation policy combination that is incompatible, the mechanism allows the user to change either the selected guidance policy or the set of validation policies. If the user has selected consistent-zoning as a guidance policy, then the mechanism automatically selects a guidance policy that does not violate the known validation policies.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided to automatically retrieve zoning best practices from a centralized repository and to ensure that automatically generated zones do not violate these best practices. A user selects a set of hosts and storage controllers. The user also selects a guidance policy for creating the zone, and also selects a set of validation policies that must be enforced on the zone. If the user selects a guidance policy and a validation policy combination that is incompatible, the mechanism allows the user to change either the selected guidance policy or the set of validation policies. If the user has selected consistent-zoning as a guidance policy, then the mechanism automatically selects a guidance policy that does not violate the known validation policies.

Abstract: A mechanism is provided to automatically retrieve zoning best practices from a centralized repository and to ensure that automatically generated zones do not violate these best practices. A user selects a set of hosts and storage controllers. The user also selects a guidance policy for creating the zone, and also selects a set of validation policies that must be enforced on the zone. If the user selects a guidance policy and a validation policy combination that is incompatible, the mechanism allows the user to change either the selected guidance policy or the set of validation policies. If the user has selected consistent-zoning as a guidance policy, then the mechanism automatically selects a guidance policy that does not violate the known validation policies.