A method, device, and system are provided for the automatically assigning
identification numbers or enclosure IDs to enclosures in a data storage
system. Each enclosure is assigned a unique enclosure ID that can be used
to reference the enclosure in the data storage system. The enclosure IDs
are generated and assigned to enclosures based on the network topology.
Specifically, each enclosure is assigned an enclosure ID that not only
uniquely identifies the enclosure but the enclosure ID can be used to
determine the location of the enclosure in the data storage system.