An object of the present invention is to integrally manage disk storage
apparatuses through virtualization. Some physical storage apparatuses 14
connected to a host computer 10 via a communication network 12 are
virtualized with a virtual switch 18, a control unit 20, and a virtual
device 22. The physical storage apparatus specifies a command when
receiving the command from the host computer 10, and accesses, if the
command access has been made to its own physical storage apparatus, a
real disk via the virtual control unit 20 and virtual device 22, and
executes I/O processing. If the command access is not made to its own
physical storage apparatus, the physical storage apparatus 14 directs the
command to the transmission target via the virtual switch 18. The
physical storage apparatuses 14 are integrally managed according to the
command in the above described manner.