Abstract: When an active data copy process relative to a logical storage device is performed without involving a computer, an access permission/rejection of the computer to the logical storage device is checked by referring to a correspondence between WWN of the computer and a logical storage device identifier LUN to thereby determine whether an access to a copy source logical storage device and a copy destination logical storage device is permitted or not. It is therefore possible to prevent an outflow of illegal data from a storage subsystem to be caused by an active copy instruction command.

Abstract: The present invention provides a method, a system and code for backing up information on a storage system, for example, a disk system, connected to a storage area network. The host or server system off loads the task of backing up its data to the storage system that stores the data. In an exemplary embodiment a server sends an E-Copy command to a disk system. Next, the disk system finds an available back-device, for example a tape or DLT library, and then backups the information indicated in the E-Copy command to the back-up device. A user interface is provided so that one or more path groups, comprising at least a target port and an initiator port, on a disk system may be designated.