A storage system, comprising: a physical node in a plurality of physical nodes (802A-802E); and a set of virtual nodes in a plurality of sets of virtual nodes, the set of virtual nodes being name resolution nodes managed by the physical node, each virtual node in the set being configured to manage a respective set of directory blocks, wherein each directory block is a respective partition of a flat namespace, and is managed by a corresponding single virtual node, and each virtual node maintains a directory block map that maps file system object names in a hierarchical namespace to entity block identifiers in the flat namespace for entity blocks stored in directories corresponding to the managed set of directory blocks, wherein each virtual node comprises command forwarder, a path resolver, and a mapping manager, the command forwarder being configured to receive a command regarding a file system object, to identify whether or not the file system object is managed by the virtual node comprising the command forwarder and, when not, to forward the received command to a name resolution node in charge of identifying a virtual node managing the file system object, the path resolver being configured to receive commands, to resolve directory names or paths included in those commands to flat namespace identifiers, and to use the flat namespace identifiers to identify the virtual nodes that are the storage nodes for managing the directories or files to which the commands are directed, the mapping manager being configured to receive a command regarding a first file system object managed by the virtual node comprising the mapping manager from a name resolution node of the virtual nodes, the command indicating a path name associated with the first file system object and a directory block identifier, interact, according to the command, with an entry corresponding to the name and the directory block identifier in the directory block map associated with the virtual node, and register, in a registry associated with the virtual node, the name resolution node in association with the path name indicated in the command. a physical node in a plurality of physical nodes (802A-802E); and a set of virtual nodes in a plurality of sets of virtual nodes, the set of virtual nodes being name resolution nodes managed by the physical node, each virtual node in the set being configured to manage a respective set of directory blocks, wherein each directory block is a respective partition of a flat namespace, and is managed by a corresponding single virtual node, and each virtual node maintains a directory block map that maps file system object names in a hierarchical namespace to entity block identifiers in the flat namespace for entity blocks stored in directories corresponding to the managed set of directory blocks, wherein each virtual node comprises command forwarder, a path resolver, and a mapping manager, the command forwarder being configured to receive a command regarding a file system object, to identify whether or not the file system object is managed by the virtual node comprising the command forwarder and, when not, to forward the received command to a name resolution node in charge of identifying a virtual node managing the file system object, the path resolver being configured to receive commands, to resolve directory names or paths included in those commands to flat namespace identifiers, and to use the flat namespace identifiers to identify the virtual nodes that are the storage nodes for managing the directories or files to which the commands are directed, the mapping manager being configured to receive a command regarding a first file system object managed by the virtual node comprising the mapping manager from a name resolution node of the virtual nodes, the command indicating a path name associated with the first file system object and a directory block identifier, interact, according to the command, with an entry corresponding to the name and the directory block identifier in the directory block map associated with the virtual node, and register, in a registry associated with the virtual node, the name resolution node in association with the path name indicated in the command. receive a command regarding a first file system object managed by the virtual node comprising the mapping manager from a name resolution node of the virtual nodes, the command indicating a path name associated with the first file system object and a directory block identifier, interact, according to the command, with an entry corresponding to the name and the directory block identifier in the directory block map associated with the virtual node, and register, in a registry associated with the virtual node, the name resolution node in association with the path name indicated in the command.