The MPIO drivers described herein may comprise, for example, otherwise conventional MPIO drivers, such as PowerPath? drivers from Dell EMC of Hopkinton, Mass., suitably modified in the manner disclosed herein to implement for interfacing applications using kernel space block devices with IO load balancing and submission functionality in the user space. Other types of MPIO drivers from other driver vendors may be suitably modified to incorporate for interfacing applications using kernel space block devices with IO load balancing and submission functionality in the user space as disclosed herein.

Paths may be added or deleted between the host devices 102 and the storage array 105 in the system 100. For example, the addition of one or more new paths from host device 102-1 to the storage array 105 or the deletion of one or more existing paths from the host device 102-1 to the storage array 105 may result from the respective addition or deletion of at least a portion of the storage devices 106 of the storage array 105.

Addition or deletion of paths can also occur as a result of zoning and masking changes or other types of storage system reconfigurations performed by a storage administrator or other user.

In some embodiments, paths are added or deleted in conjunction with the addition of a new storage array or the deletion of an existing storage array from a storage system that includes multiple storage arrays, possibly in conjunction with configuration of the storage system for at least one of a migration operation and a replication operation.