Patent ID: 8055815

Claim:
A method for communication between an initiator system and a block storage cluster, comprising: receiving an initial data request transmitted from the initiator system to a first storage system included in a plurality of storage systems of the block storage cluster, a portion of the data requested in the initial data request is not stored by the first storage system, but is stored by a second storage system included in the plurality of storage systems of the block storage cluster; retrieving utilizing the first storage system the portion of the data that is stored by the second storage system; forwarding the portion of the data retrieved by the first storage system to the initiator system; and transmitting a referral list comprising at least one referral from the first storage system to the initiator system, the at least one referral providing information for an optimal path for retrieving the portion of the data that is stored by the second storage system, wherein the initiator system is configured for maintaining a referral cache based on the referral list, and a subsequent data request initiated by the initiator system is directed to the block storage cluster based on the referral cache.