Methods and apparatus for storage virtualization system having switch level event processing

Methods and apparatus for a storage virtualization system with distributed event processing. In an exemplary embodiment, a method comprises receiving an event by an intelligent switch in a storage virtualization system in which the intelligent switch is coupled to a control path cluster, identifying a type of the event to determine whether the event can be processed by the intelligent switch, processing the event by the intelligent switch where the event type is of a type that can be processed by the intelligent switch, wherein the intelligent switch continues to run in the absence of the control path cluster without direct communication between data path controllers, and processing the event at a control path cluster if the event type cannot be processed by the intelligent switch.