Patent ID: 7062628

Claim:
A method of allocating storage space to a series of processes, comprising the steps of: determining a process N comprising the highest priority of the series of processes among a predetermined priority of the processes; selecting a storage pool R comprising a highest ranking storage pool among a plurality of storage pools for the process N, said storage pools being ranked according to capacity, reliability, and an access rate; assigning any available devices from the storage pool R up until an amount of storage space in the assigned available devices meets or exceeds a required storage capacity of the process N, said storage capacity including capacity, reliability, and an access rate; if the available devices from the storage pool R do not meet the required storage capacity of the process N, then substituting the storage pool R with the next highest ranking storage pool among the plurality of storage pools for the process N and repeating the steps of selecting and assigning until the required storage capacity of the process N is met.