Patent ID: 8478873

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving, at a metadata server of a set of metadata servers that is interconnected with one or more remote metadata servers of the set of metadata servers, an indication of a value to be used by the metadata server to generate system-unique identifiers that are unique among the set of metadata servers; storing, by the metadata server, the indication and an associated count value; wherein the associated count value specifies a number of system-unique identifiers that are reserved for use by the metadata server; generating, by the metadata server, a modified value based at least in part on a sum of the value of the indication and the associated count value; transmitting, from the metadata server to one of the remote metadata servers, the modified value for use in generating, at the one of the remote metadata servers, system-unique identifiers that are unique among the set of metadata servers; generating, at the metadata server, system-unique identifiers that are unique among the set of metadata servers based, at least in part, on the value of the indication; wherein the method is performed by one or more computing devices.