Abstract: A system and method for retrieving performance data from different devices in a storage area network (SAN) use a performance interface to communicate with different types of SAN devices in a heterogeneous SAN environment. The performance interface instructs a device plug-in (DPI) associated with each SAN device to retrieve performance metrics data from the corresponding SAN device. The performance interface determines a minimum polling interval and a maximum polling interval for polling each SAN device for the performance metrics data. The performance interface further provides each DPI with an address of the corresponding SAN device.

Abstract: A method and system are used for reporting performance data for a network. The method includes the step of receiving a request for performance data for one or more devices in the network. The requested performance data for the devices is retrieved and then summarized into individual summaries. Values are then assigned to each individual summary. Each assigned value represents the retrieved performance data summarized over a user-specified period. The individual summaries are sorted based on their assigned values, whereby a list of sorted summaries is created. The list of sorted summaries is then reported to a user.