PROTOCOL FOR DYNAMIC BINDING OF SHARED RESOURCES

A method, apparatus, and article of manufacture for dynamically binding shared resources among I/O nodes is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of de-allocating resources requested by an initiating node from a responding node, allocating resources not requested by the initiating node and reachable by the responding node to the responding node, de-allocating resources allocated to the second node from the first node, and allocating unallocated resources reachable by the first node to the first node. The article of manufacture comprises a program storage device tangibly embodying program steps executable by a computer for performing the foregoing method steps. The apparatus comprises a data storage resource having a plurality of storage resources, a first I/O node and a second I/O node. The first and second I/O nodes have an I/O processor for transceiving resource ownership negotiation messages, and for de-allocating and allocating resources as indicated in the information received in the ownership negotiation messages.