Patent ID: 8396895

Claim:
A file switch for use in a computer network having a group of file servers and a plurality of client computers, wherein the plurality of client computers are coupled to the group of file servers through the file switch, the file switch comprising: at least one processing unit for executing computer programs; at least one port for exchanging information with the file servers and client computers, the information exchanged including information concerning a specified user file; a file aggregation module including one or more computer programs, the computer programs including instructions for: receiving, at the file switch, a user request for a directory listing of user files for a specified directory; accessing a directory of metafiles corresponding to all user files in the specified directory, each metafile from the directory of metafiles storing information identifying a set of file servers that store respective defined one or more stripe portions of the specified user file, each of the one or more stripe portions comprising one or more strips that have a respective size, wherein the directory listing of metafiles is obtained from a particular file server of the group of file servers in which the metafiles are stored, the particular file server selected at least based upon the size of the one or more strips; constructing, at the file switch, a directory listing of the user files from the directory of metafiles; and sending the directory listing from the file switch to a particular client computer of the plurality of client computers.