A storage controller is provided with an optical circuit switch (OCS) for managing active-passive backend storage arrays. For this purpose a system includes a host computer system, a backend storage array having a first controller and a second controller, an optical circuit switch (OCS) connected between the host computer system and the first and second controllers, and a storage system controller comprising a failover detector to detect a failover of the first controller when the first controller is in an active state and the second controller is in a passive state, and an OCS controller to control the OCS to switch connection of the host computer system from the first controller to the second controller based on the failover detector detecting a failover of the first controller to place the second controller in an active state.