Method for selective replication of physical devices on a virtual self-configuring zoning expander

Disclosed is a method and a SAS controller device that abstract access from one or more virtual machines operating on a host system to SAS physical devices connected to the SAS controller without a routing table for port-to-port messaging on the SAS controller. An embodiment may create a virtual expander for each physical port of the SAS controller and further create virtual ports within the virtual expanders to provide abstracted access to SAS physical devices for the virtual machines. The SAS physical devices may be replicated/cloned within the virtual ports. Each replicated/cloned SAS physical device may be assigned a unique SAS address for the SAS controller (i.e., unique for the SAS controller such that other replicates/clones on other virtual ports have a different SAS address). If a physical expander that supports zoning is connected to a SAS controller port, an embodiment may further selectively replicate/clone the SAS physical devices for a virtual port based on whether or not a SAS physical device is included in a zoning group associated with the virtual port. An embodiment may further abstract access to SAS physical devices through a virtual function that permits access to one virtual port per virtual expander in order to permit access for the virtual machine associated with the virtual function to more than one physical port of the SAS controller.