A method of controlling access to a database includes autonomously archiving data within a database from a first storage device into a second storage device, according to an archive condition; the archive condition being input in conjunction with the data and being associated with the data; accepting an input of an access command to the database; determining whether data to be accessed in response to the access command input has already been archived in the second storage device based on the access command and the archive condition; and accessing data included in the database or data archived in the second storage device according to the access command based on the determination.