Patent ID: 8073899

Claim:
A method for proxying data access commands from a first storage system over a cluster interconnect to a second storage system in a storage system cluster, comprising: receiving, from a client operatively connected to the cluster, a block-level data access command at the first storage system that is directed to a file on the second storage system, wherein the block-level data access command comprises a world wide port name (WWPN) and a logical unit number (lun) identifier; transforming at the first storage system the received block-level data access command to a file-level data access request by mapping the WWPN and lun identifier to a file handle associated with the file; forwarding the file-level data access request including the file handle from the first storage system to the second storage system over the cluster interconnect; processing the file-level data access request for the file at the second storage system; generating a file-level response at the second storage system in response to processing the file-level data access request; and returning the file-level response from the second storage system to the first storage system over the cluster interconnect.