METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DYNAMICALLY DETERMINING WHETHER ACCESS TO A RESOURCE CONNECTED TO A COMPUTER HAS CHANGED AND DETERMINING HOW TO ACCESS THE RESOURCE WITH A NEW IDENTIFIER

One embodiment is directed to a method and apparatus for modifying a configuration of a computer system including a host computer and at least one computer system resource accessible to at least one application program executing on the host computer. The computer system is dynamically reconfigured, without reinitializing the host computer or the application program, to alter a manner in which the at least one application program accesses the at least one computer system resource. Another embodiment is directed to a method and apparatus for responding to changes in a configuration of the computer system impacting a manner in which the at least one computer system resource is accessed by the host computer. Information relating to a first configuration of the computer system at a first point in time is stored, the first configuration relating to a first manner of accessing the at least one computer system resource by the host computer. A second configuration of the computer system at a second point in time is determined, the second configuration relating to a second manner of accessing the at least one computer system resource by the host computer. The second configuration of the computer system is compared with the first configuration to determine whether the second configuration differs from the first configuration. When it is determined that the second configuration differs from the first configuration, the second manner of accessing the at least one computer system resource by the host computer is determined.