A system comprising a plurality of storage devices (115 1 , 115 L , 222, 224, 308) and a plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201) communicatively coupled to each other and to the one or more storage devices (115 1 , 115 L , 308) via a network , wherein a plurality of failure resilient address spaces (518 1 , 518 2 , 518 A ) are distributed across the plurality of storage devices (115 1 , 115 L , 222, 224, 308) such that each of the plurality of failure resilient address spaces (518 1 , 518 2 , 518 A ) spans more than one storage device of the plurality of storage devices, and the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201) is operable to maintain metadata that maps each failure resilient address space to one of the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201), the system characterized by : the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201) comprising a plurality of virtual file system (VFS) nodes (206 1 ... 206 6 ), the metadata being divided into a plurality of metadata shards ; each metadata shard, of the plurality of metadata shards, being maintained in a bucket (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2) of a plurality of buckets (A, B, C, D), and each VFS node (206 1 ), of the plurality of VFS nodes (206 1 ... 206 6 ), being responsible for one or more buckets (C1); the VFS nodes that can run a particular bucket agree upon a leader of the particular bucket; and in the event a bucket leader determines the load imbalance can be improved, the system is operable to split and redistribute buckets and/or change bucket leadership. the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201) is operable to maintain metadata that maps each failure resilient address space to one of the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201), the system characterized by : the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201) comprising a plurality of virtual file system (VFS) nodes (206 1 ... 206 6 ), the metadata being divided into a plurality of metadata shards ; each metadata shard, of the plurality of metadata shards, being maintained in a bucket (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2) of a plurality of buckets (A, B, C, D), and each VFS node (206 1 ), of the plurality of VFS nodes (206 1 ... 206 6 ), being responsible for one or more buckets (C1); the VFS nodes that can run a particular bucket agree upon a leader of the particular bucket; and in the event a bucket leader determines the load imbalance can be improved, the system is operable to split and redistribute buckets and/or change bucket leadership. the plurality of computing devices (104 1 , 104 N , 201) comprising a plurality of virtual file system (VFS) nodes (206 1 ... 206 6 ), the metadata being divided into a plurality of metadata shards ; each metadata shard, of the plurality of metadata shards, being maintained in a bucket (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D1, D2) of a plurality of buckets (A, B, C, D), and each VFS node (206 1 ), of the plurality of VFS nodes (206 1 ... 206 6 ), being responsible for one or more buckets (C1); the VFS nodes that can run a particular bucket agree upon a leader of the particular bucket; and in the event a bucket leader determines the load imbalance can be improved, the system is operable to split and redistribute buckets and/or change bucket leadership. <EOS>