Patent ID: 7305590

Claim:
A unit connected to a plurality of devices and operating as a switch, comprising: a plurality of communications ports connected to the plurality of devices respectively, the plurality of devices including a storage device; a buffer area for temporarily storing data respectively received from said plurality of devices via the plurality of communications ports; a trace data storage area for storing trace data; and a processor which stores information related to data received by way of each of said plurality of communications ports in said trace data storage area as said trace data, reads out the trace data stored in said trace data storage area, and transmits the read trace data to the storage device in a storage control system connected to at least one of the plurality of communications ports, wherein the storage device receives a first trace data request, displays a trace data list in response to the first trace data request, and sends a second trace data request to the unit, the unit receives the second trace data request from the storage device, and sends trace data to the storage device in response to the second trace data request, and the storage device receives the trace data sent form the unit, and displays an updated trace data list.