Patent ID: 8694725

Claim:
A storage apparatus, which is connected to a plurality of external apparatuses so as to perform data transmission to the plurality of external apparatus and data reception from the plurality of external apparatuses using Fiber Channel over Ethernet (FCOE), the storage apparatus comprising: a plurality of storage areas for storing data; a temporary storage area for temporarily accumulating transmission data read from the plurality of storage areas; a plurality of FCOE-enabled I/O (input/output) interfaces, the plurality of I/O interfaces being connected to the plurality of external apparatuses so as to perform data transmission and reception with the plurality of external apparatuses; and a controller for controlling data transmission and reception performed by the plurality of I/O interfaces, wherein each of the plurality of external apparatuses comprises a buffer memory for temporarily accumulating data transmitted from the storage apparatus, monitors an amount of data accumulated in the buffer memory, and transmits a data transmission pause request to the storage apparatus if the amount of data accumulated in the buffer memory has become greater than or equal to a predetermined value, and wherein in response to reception of the data transmission pause request by one of the plurality of I/O interfaces, the controller causes data transmission to the external apparatuses that have transmitted the data transmission pause request to pause.