Patent ID: 8229893

Claim:
A method, operative in a redundant array of independent nodes networked together, comprising: storing metadata objects in a set of regions distributed across the array, and wherein a given region is identified by hashing a metadata object attribute and extracting a given set of bits of a resulting hash value; generating a map that, for each region, identifies a node that stores an authoritative copy of the region and is responsible for receiving and responding to requests directed to the region, and that further identifies one or more nodes with each said node storing a backup copy of the region and acting as a backup region copy to the authoritative region copy; distributing the map across the array of independent nodes so that each said node has an identical, global view of where authoritative and backup region copies are located, wherein, upon distribution of the map, the map has associated therewith a guarantee that a given authoritative region copy the one or more backup region copies associated with the given authoritative region copy are deemed to be synchronized; and as the number of independent nodes in the redundant array of independent nodes networked together increases, modifying the map to create at least one new region and to force a given metadata object into a different region, wherein the map is modified by incrementally partitioning the map to adjust a given first hash value while maintaining a second given hash value unchanged.