Patent ID: 7251664

Claim:
A volume allocating method in a storage management system for managing operation of a storage device connected via a network by use of a storage management server, the volume allocating method comprising: receiving, via the network, a condition for allocating a volume, wherein the condition is designated by a client; obtaining information on operation history of the storage device from a memory device for storing, as history, information including a performance value of a disk group obtained upon actually operating the storage device; obtaining from the storage device information on specification values including a performance value of the storage device; determining at least one candidate of an allocable volume by obtaining a performance margin and using the performance margin to determine the at least one candidate of an allocable volume in accordance with the received condition for allocating the volume and based on the information on the operation history of the storage device and the information on specification values of the storage device; transmitting information on the volume of the at least one candidate to the client; receiving the information on the volume of the at least one candidate in the client; receiving from the client a request to allocate a volume selected from the at least one candidate; allocating the volume to the storage device in accordance with the information on the volume selected from the at least one candidate; storing previously, in the memory device, a plurality of policies, one of which is selected by designating the condition for allocating the volume in the client, wherein each of the plurality of policies includes information on at least the performance value and an operating time zone; and storing previously, in the memory device, information on a forecasted performance value per unit time, a theoretical performance value, and information on the operation history of the volume of the disk group as an allocation target, wherein the forecasted performance value is an average performance value per unit time based on the operation history of a capacity, wherein the theoretical performance value is a performance value at which the disk group theoretically exhibits maximum performance, and wherein the performance value at which the disk group theoretically exhibits maximum performance is obtained by multiplying the number of drives in the disk group by the performance of each drive.