Patent ID: 7636820

Claim:
A storage system to couple to one or more computers comprising: a plurality of disk array apparatuses, wherein each of the disk array apparatuses comprises a control unit and plural disk devices, wherein said control unit of at least one of said disk array apparatuses comprises: plural channel interface units able to couple to said one or more computers and able to transfer data between said one or more computers and said control unit; plural disk interface units able to couple to said disk devices and able to transfer data between said disk devices and said control unit; at least one processor unit independently allocable to said channel interface units and said disk interface units for controlling transfer of data between said one or more computers and said channel interface units, and between said disk devices and said disk interface units; an interconnection that connects said channel interface units, said disk interface units and said at least one processor unit; and a management terminal unit connected to said at least one processor unit, wherein said at least one processor unit is allocated to a plurality of tasks for data transfer by using the channel interface units, the disk interface units, and the interconnection; wherein said management terminal unit receives a first information that includes a use condition of said at least one processor unit, said channel interface units, and said disk interface units, and a surplus capacity of said at least one processor unit, said channel interface units, and said disk interface units, and wherein said management unit terminal checks the use condition, and further allocates a part of said surplus capacity of said at least one processor unit to the plurality of tasks, and allocates a part of said surplus capacity of said channel interface units to the plurality of tasks, and allocates a part of said surplus capacity of said disk interface units to the plurality of tasks.