Patent ID: 8285747
Filing Date: 2012-10-09
Classification: G06F

Abstract:
1. A method of operating a storage server coupled with a storage client over a network, the method comprising: polling a client storage device of the storage client to determine available storage space of the client storage device, the storage client being a client of the storage server and configured to utilize storage services provided by the storage server; incorporating the available storage space of the client storage device into a RAID group managed by the storage server by expanding the RAID group managed by the storage server to include the available storage space of the client storage device; and managing the incorporated available storage space of the client storage device as a part of the RAID group managed by the storage server, wherein said managing includes using file system services provided by the storage server to manage the client storage device, and wherein the storage server is capable of satisfying data access requests from incorporated storage space of the client storage device managed by the storage server.