Patent ID: 8572318

Claim:
A method for distributing a storage device among multiple storage devices to any of multiple tiers in a storage apparatus, the method comprising the steps performed by one or more computers of: (a) distributing the storage device among the multiple storage devices of the storage apparatus to a tier among the multiple tiers based on a storage device type of the storage device and type/tier information that denotes a corresponding relationship between multiple storage device types and the multiple tiers; (b) acquiring, subsequent to the (a) step, performance information denoting a performance of the storage device; (c) when the performance information of the storage device is acquired, distributing the storage device to a tier among the multiple tiers based on the performance information of the storage device; and (d) when the performance information of the storage device is not acquired, determining a presence or absence of a representative tier corresponding to the storage device type of the storage device, wherein the (d) step further comprises: (d1) when the representative tier corresponding to the storage device type of the storage device is present, distributing the storage device to the representative tier; and (d2) when the representative tier corresponding to the storage device type of the storage device is not present, (d2-1) determining a ranking corresponding to the storage device type of the storage device registered in type/ranking information, wherein the type/ranking information denotes a corresponding relationship between multiple storage device types and rankings; (d2-2) selecting, based on the type/ranking information, a storage device type of another ranking that differs from the ranking corresponding to the storage device type of the storage device; (d2-3) identifying a representative tier corresponding to the storage device type selected in the (d2-2) step; and (d2-4) distributing the storage device to the representative tier identified in the (d2-3) step.