Monitoring a plurality of objects in a storage area network includes assigning a plurality of primary agents to monitor the objects, assigning to the objects a plurality of secondary agents that are configured to monitor the objects, maintaining a table of agents and objects, and, in response to failure of a primary agent of an object, converting a secondary agent to a primary agent of the object according to information in the table. Monitoring a plurality of objects in a storage area network may also include assigning a cost value to each of the secondary agents, and including the cost value in the table of agents and objects. The cost value for a particular secondary agent may vary according to an amount of processing time for the particular secondary agent to perform an assigned operation with respect to an object associated with the particular secondary agent. Converting a secondary agent to a primary agent may include choosing a secondary agent having the lowest cost.