US Patent 7334032 System for allocating storage performance resource

A method and structure for a multi-workload storage system is disclosed that is adapted to determine if an additional workload can be placed on the storage system. The invention has storage elements and a proxy load generator connected to the storage elements. The proxy load generator is adapted to create a proxy workload based on an additional workload from a potential client. The proxy workload has a reduced duty cycle when compared to a duty cycle of said additional workload. A control server is connected to the storage elements and the proxy load generator. The control server applies the proxy workload to the storage elements during discontinuous time slices.