Patent ID: 7120757

Claim:
An integrated storage management system in which access computers each having an auxiliary storage are coupled to each other via a network, said system comprising: a plurality of access computers; and an integrated storage management server, wherein an access computer as the write source sends an inquiry about an access computer as a write destination to be written to the integrated server, said inquiry including file information of a file to be written by the access computer as a write source, wherein said integrated storage management server selects a candidate of said access computers as the write destination to be written and returns said candidate of said access computers to said access computer as the write source, wherein said access computer as the write source selects, when writing the file from the access computer as the write source, an access computer to be used as the write destination to be written which has been returned as the candidate, and writes a file to the access computer as the write destination thus selected as the write destination, wherein said integrated storage management server has policy information which defines a write policy that is used when said access computers are used as an access computer as a write destination, wherein said integrated storage management server uses said policy information and said file information in order to select said candidate of said access computers as the write destination to be written, and wherein said policy information is extracted from policy registration messages received from the access computers used as the write destination to be written.