US Patent 7676471 Graphical, matrixed method for SAS fabric management

In an embodiment of the present invention, in a matrixed method for serial attached SCSI (SAS) fabric management, a user is provided with a graphical dynamic matrix table, which illustrates a plurality of matrixed cells corresponding to a plurality of zone groups in a one-to-one relationship. The matrixed cells are organized as a graphical dynamic table on an X-axis and a Y-axis. The table is a packed table, meaning the X and Y axes only display populated (or active) zone groups. To modify the zoning configuration the user uses a pointing device such as a mouse to left click the appropriate matrixed cell to toggle between states. There are four states ‘mutual access’, ‘previous mutual access’, ‘proposed mutual access’, and ‘no access’.