US Patent 7706303 Port pooling

In one embodiment, methods and systems for port pooling are described. An interface may communicate with at least one physical server. The at least one physical server may host a plurality of virtual servers and be connectable via a plurality of gateway ports to a storage area network (SAN). A virtual server manager configured to arrange the plurality of gateway ports in a plurality of port pools, define a virtual server group including a plurality of virtual servers, associate each virtual server with one or more port pools, the one or more port pools defining available gateway ports for access by the particular virtual server; and provide configuration instructions to allow the particular virtual server to communicate with the SAN through the available gateway ports.