<p>A storage management apparatus (1) manages a plurality of storage apparatuses connected to each other over a network in a storage system that distributes data among the storage apparatuses and stores the data therein. The storage management apparatus has a patrol process executing unit (1a) configured to execute a patrol process to confirm whether a storage area of each storage apparatus operates normally and a patrol flow controlling unit (1b) configured to control a patrol flow indicating the speed of the patrol process executed by the patrol process executing unit.
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