The configuring of a communications environment is typically a complex and tedious task, especially for large or involved environments. For example, to configure an input/output (I/O) subsystem of a communications environment, in which the I/O subsystem has hundreds or even thousands of communications adapters, takes a great deal of effort and is error prone.
Adding to the complexity of configuring is a desire to minimize the loss of connectivity to data. That is, in many instances, it is desirous to avoid single points of failure or single points of repair, in which the loss of a resource causes the loss of connectivity to certain data.
Although some strides have been made in facilitating the configuring of communications environments, further enhancements are needed. For example, a need exists for a capability that enables the automatic mapping of physical identifiers of resources in an environment to logical identifiers of the resources.