Patent ID: 7788459

Claim:
A storage system comprising: a first storage controller; a plurality of first physical disk drives connected to the first storage controller; a second storage controller; and a plurality of second physical disk drives connected to the second storage controller; wherein the first storage controller includes a first interface configured to receive block-level I/O requests, a second interface configured to receive file-level I/O requests and a third interface configured for communication with a second storage controller, wherein the second storage controller includes a fourth interface configured to receive block-level I/O requests and a fifth interface configured to receive file-level I/O requests, wherein the first storage controller presents a first logical volume by using a first storage area of the first physical disk drives, and a second logical volume by using a second storage area of the first physical disk drives, wherein the first storage controller receives a block-level write request to the first logical volume at the first interface and then a file-level write request to the second logical volume at the second interface, wherein the second storage controller presents a third logical volume by using a first storage area of the second physical disk drives, and a fourth logical volume by using a second storage area of the second physical disk drives, wherein the first storage controller performs a write operation to the first logical volume and a write operation to the second logical volume, wherein the first storage controller copies, through the third interface, write data corresponding to the block-level write request to the third logical volume and then write data corresponding to the file-level write request to the fourth logical volume, wherein the first storage controller controls the first logical volume and the second logical volume which belong to a consistency group, and maintains information of the third logical volume and the fourth logical volume which form pairs with the first logical volume and the second logical volume, respectively, and wherein upon receiving a split command from the host, the first storage controller controls to execute a split operation on both the first and second logical volumes if the split command is directed to one of the first or second logical volumes.