Patent ID: 8886903

Claim:
A storage management system for managing a storage system having one or more copy functions, comprising: a processor; and a storage device, wherein: the processor is configured to locate data designated to determine a backup method; the storage device is configured to store copy function management information on the one or more copy functions of the storage system; the processor is configured to refer to the copy function management information to ascertain a unit of copy operation of each of the one or more copy functions; and the processor is configured to determine a candidate for a copy function of the storage system to be used to back up the designated data depending on data configuration in a volume holding the designated data and the unit of copy operation of the candidate for the copy function; the storage system is configured to provide a virtual machine running on a host computer with one or more volumes; the designated data are data of the virtual machine; data different in backup condition from the designated data are eliminated in copying the designated data using the candidate for the copy function; the storage device is configured to store condition information for specifying backup conditions for data held in the storage system; and the processor is configured to refer to the condition information to determine the candidate for the copy function and whether to relocate data in a volume holding the designated data before the copy using the candidate for the copy function such that data different in backup condition from the designated data are eliminated in copying the designated data using the candidate for the copy function.