Patent ID: 7451289

Claim:
A storage system comprising a storage device communicating with a host computer and another storage device through a network, a storage management device communicating with said storage device through said network, and a network-path information management device communicating with said storage management device through said network, wherein said network-path information management device comprises: means for receiving from said storage management device a request for network-path information regarding a network path coupling said storage device to said another storage device; means for acquiring the network-path information on the network path in accordance with said request for network-path information from a network-path information acquisition device, which measures the network-path information; and means for transmitting said network-path information to said storage management device; wherein said storage management device comprises: means for making an inquiry toward said storage device about an available-buffer size; means for calculating a recommended buffer size by use of said network-path information; means for determining a reserved buffer size as a result of a comparison of said available-buffer size and said recommended buffer size; means for transmitting a buffer reservation request specifying said reserved buffer size to said storage device; and means for transmitting a request to start an application to said storage device; and wherein said storage device comprises: an available buffer including a plurality of memory buffers; an in-use buffer including a plurality of memory buffers allocated as memory buffers dedicated for communications; means for notifying said storage management device of the available-buffer size in response to the inquiry from the storage management device; means for fetching the memory buffers as much as said reserved buffer size, which is specified in said buffer reservation request, from said available buffer, to secure a reserved buffer for a buffer-reservation target specified in said buffer reservation request, in response to said buffer reservation request transmitted from said storage management device through said network; means for allocating the memory buffers of said reserved buffer to said buffer-reservation target to make the allocated memory buffers a part of said in-use buffer, in response to the request to start the application from said storage management device; and means for executing the application by using said in-use buffer allocated in accordance with said request to start the application.