Patent ID: 7124264

Claim:
A storage system, comprising: a first storage unit having a first storage volume for storing data; and a second storage unit communicably coupled to the first storage unit and having a second storage volume for storing data, wherein the first storage unit includes a data transmission unit configured to transmit replicated data to a storage unit when data is written to the first storage volume; the second storage unit further includes a data reception unit configured to receive the replicated data and writing the replicated data to the second storage volume; the first storage unit further includes a disk heart beat write unit configured to repeatedly write a first heart beat message to the first storage volume at intervals within a predetermined time; and the second storage unit further includes a disk heart beat detection unit configured to detect a replication of the first heart beat message to be written to the second storage volume by the data reception unit; wherein a first information processing unit is communicably coupled to the first storage unit, a second information processing unit is communicably coupled to the second storage unit, the first information processing unit further comprises a node heart beat write request unit configured to repeatedly transmit a request to write a second heart beat message to the first storage volume, to the first storage unit at intervals within a predetermined time, the first storage unit further comprises a node heart beat write unit configured to write the second heart beat message to the first storage volume according to the write request of the second heart beat message, the second storage unit further includes a node heart beat transmission unit configured to transmit a replication of the second heart beat message to be written to the second storage volume by the data reception unit to the second information processing unit, and the second information processing unit further comprises a node heart beat detection unit configured to detect the replication of the second heart beat message to be transmitted by the node heart beat transmission unit.