Patent ID: 8397089

Claim:
A control method with a management server apparatus for use in a storage system comprising: a plurality of storage devices each coupled to said management server apparatus and including a plurality of storage units each providing a logical volume and configuring a plurality of RAID (Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks) groups, and an air conditioner coupled to said management server apparatus, said method comprising: a first step of calculating plural combinations of allocations of a work amount to each of said storage devices; a second step of calculating a heating value of each of said storage devices, for each of said combinations; a third step of calculating a distribution factor of said heating value to said air conditioner, based on said heating value and positional information of said storage devices and said air conditioner, for each of said combinations; and calculating a quantity of heat conducted to said air conditioner based on said heating value and said distribution factor of said heating value; a fourth step of calculating a power consumption of said air conditioner to cool said quantity of heat conducted to said air conditioner, for each of said combinations; a fifth step of selecting a combination from among said combinations based on said power consumption of said air conditioner; and a sixth step of issuing, to said storage devices, a move instruction to move data stored in a first storage device that decreases the work amount to a second storage device that increases the work amount, based on said selected combination, wherein, the fifth step includes: setting a first priority to each of said logical volumes in said first storage device and selecting, for the logical volumes, starting with a logical volume with a highest priority, selecting a storage device included in said second storage device as a movement destination for the data stored in said logical volume; meanwhile, setting a second priority to each of the RAID groups in said second storage device and, when selecting a RAID group in said second storage device as the movement destination for the data stored in said logical volume in said first storage device, selecting a RAID group that has a higher priority than other RAID groups and satisfies predetermined conditions, as the movement destination for the data stored in said logical volume in said first storage device; and the predetermined conditions are that: the RAID group in said second storage device includes a free capacity for storing the data in the data movement source logical volume, has the same configuration as the RAID group to which the logical volume in said first storage device belongs, and belongs to the second storage device with the same owner as said first storage device to which the logical volume belongs; and that said first storage device to which the logical volume belongs can be connected to said second storage device to which the data movement destination RAID group belongs.